EJS: Discography of the Edward J. Smith Recordings: "The Golden Age of Opera," 1956-1971 (Discographies) [Hardcover]

William Shaman (Author), William J. Collins (Author), Calvin M. Goodwin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313278687 | ISBN-13: 978-0313278686 | Publication Date: February 28, 1994

Between 1956 and 1981, Edward J. Smith issued three series of private long-playing recordings devoted almost entirely to historical operatic performance. Smith's first series, "The Golden Age of Opera," appeared between 1956 and 1971, and its contents are catalogued here for the first time. Notorious for their lack of accurate documentation, the LPs have remained a source of great frustration to collectors and historians. This volume presents an exhaustive accounting of the thousands of individual recordings contained on the 479 "Golden Age of Opera" LPs, documented from the most reliable primary and secondary sources, studio and opera house archives, and personal correspondence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“There is a wealth of information on American broadcasting, expecially during the early decades of radio. And there is much interesting and seemingly reliable anecdotal information ...this discography could in some ways be viewed as a series of snapshots taken by a real American opera buff of American musical culture during the first three-quarters of this century.”–Sonneck Society Bulletin

“The compilers of this discography have done a superb job of detective work in correcting the errors and noting falsifications and wrong attributions and pitch and playing speed problems. Some releases required commentaries several pages long because of the number of mistakes that needed to be addressed. Those working with these recordings in archives and private collections have always wanted and needed this discography. They will rejoice that it has been so well done.”– ARBA 95

“This is a work that should prove of overwhelming interest to serious collectors of vocal records. An unusually valuable reference.”–American Record Guide

About the Author

WILLIAM SHAMAN is on the library faculty of Bemidji State University, Minnesota.

WILLIAM J. COLLINS, an Assistant Professor of English at Kutztown University, teaches American Literature and Science Fiction courses.

CALVIN M. GOODWIN, a priest of the Society of Jesus, teaches classics in a Jesuit secondary school in Portland, Maine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 864 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (February 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313278687
• ISBN-13: 978-0313278686
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,536,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A noble pirate of the high C's, January 5, 2009

By 

pclaudel (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: EJS: Discography of the Edward J. Smith Recordings: "The Golden Age of Opera," 1956-1971 (Discographies) (Hardcover)

Eddie Smith was personally known to many friends and acquaintances of mine, and I at least knew his work, which the moguls of the world's biggest record companies called piracy. Eddie produced about a thousand pirate records, almost all of them of operatic performances originating from the Metropolitan Opera, in New York City, the remainder coming from virtually every other opera house in the Western world.

Americans seldom question conventional wisdom, especially when it comes with a seal of approval from the government or a television talking head, and one of the things they have been told for decades is that making and distributing pirate recordings is a Bad Thing, in part because they left "struggling artists" (Callas, Pavarotti, Norman, Gheorghiu, and the like) to suffer the loss of royalty revenues. Rubbish! Everyone who has ever met an actual living, breathing opera buff knows that the acquisition of a pirate recording never once deterred him from buying a commercial recording. Eddie's clients were operatic omnivores: they wanted EVERY performance they could lay their hands on by the singers they treasured and pursued from role to role, theater to theater, and city to city.

Gratitude is due the publisher (Greenwood Press, a household name in reference publishing) and the editors (Messrs. Shaman, Collins, and Goodwin) of this volume and its sequel, "More EJS" (what else would it be called?), for producing a truly outstanding work of reference. The editors leave no stone unturned in their quest for full and accurate documentation of Smith's releases, which were noted for two things above all: the miserable quality of their production and the near-complete absence of documentation of any sort. Smith's failings in these areas may well have been deliberate. Certain institutions and singers--the Met and Jessye Norman are examples in each category that come to mind--used their influence to bring the heavy hand of state power down upon record pirates. The better a pirate's productions, the hotter the pursuit by the Mets and Jessyes of this world. Smith got hammered more than once, of course, but the pirates who produced better-sounding, better-looking stuff got hammered much harder and much more often.

Forty and more years ago, most of the collectors and fans of my acquaintance knew, as did I, that Eddie Smith, the documenter of live operatic performances, was a priceless historical and cultural resource. This thoroughly researched, scholarly book and its sequel are the tribute that Eddie has long merited.