The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record [Hardcover]

J. B. Steane (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

It's no exaggeration to say that this is the single most important music book published this year, perhaps in several years. Steane (longtime music critic of vocal discs for Gramophone magazine) first published this magisterial history of recorded singing in 1974; it has been out of print for a number of years and is virtually unattainable. Steane has brought back the original book with errors corrected. Writing with elegance and wit that's always put at the service of the music and the listener, the author uses the recorded legacy of well over one hundred classical performers to illuminate the art of singing from Patti and Caruso to Price and Domingo. Both opera and song are included. A bible of singing on record, this should be in every collection that seeks to assist the musically inclined. A second volume, bringing the story up to the present, has been announced and is prayerfully awaited; meanwhile, get this one before it disappears again. (B&w illustrations--139--and an appendix of specific performance comparisons) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 628 pages
• Publisher: Timber Pr; 2nd edition (December 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0931340640
• ISBN-13: 978-0931340642
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,661,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible of Recorded Singing, November 10, 1999

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M. (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record (Hardcover)

Anyone interested in opera and singing would appreciate this book. Steane is one of the greatest listeners around, and reading (and re-reading) his insights on these singers will make you a better listener too.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Contents:, April 22, 2004

By 

Judy Smith "judylynnsbooks" (jamestown, ky United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record (Hardcover)

Part 1: The Golden Legend, Pre-Electrical Recording 1900-1925
The Old Order: Nineteenth-Century Echoes (Adelina Patti, Francesco Tamagno, Lilli Lehmann)
The Golden Age: Five Great Singers (Nellie Melba, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Fernando de Lucia, Mattia Battistine, Pol Plancon)
New Times, New Gods: The Changing Opera (Enrico Caruso, Titta Ruffo)
Good Deeds in a Naughty World: Lyricism Resistant (Lucrezia Bori, Alma Gluck, John McCormack, Alessandro Bonci, Giuesppe de Luca)
Coloratura: The Soprano as Virtuoso (Marcella Sembrich, Luisa Tetrazzine, Amelita Galli-Curci, Frieda Hempel, Selma Kurz, Margarethe Siems)
Approach to Wagner: Questions of Balance (emmy Destinn, Johanna Gadski, Jacques Urlus, Hermann Jadlowker)
Eastern Europe: A Cultural Exchange (Olimpia Boronat, Antonina Neshdanva, Dmitri Smirnoff, Feodor Chaliapin, Leff Sibiriakoff)
France: Years of Plenty (Emma Calve, Edmond Clement, Leon Escalais, Maurice Renard, Marcel Journet)
America: Talent and Training (Emma Eames, Geraldine Farrar, Frances Alda)
Italy: Bel Canto con Forza (Celestina Boninsegna, Salomea Krusceniski, Giuseppe Anselmi, Riccardo Stracciari, Pasquale Amato)
Part II: Decline and Survival, The Electrical 78 1925-1950

Decline: New Talents and Lost Discipline (Lily Pons, Aureliano Pertile)
Italy: A Handful of Exceptions (Toti dal Monte, Hina Spani, Tito Schipa, Benjamine Gigli, Renato Zanelli)
Around Italy: A Second Harvest (Lina Pagliughi, Magda Olivero, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Mariano Stabile, Tancredi Pasero)
Germany and Austria: Keepers of the Seal (Maria Ivogun, Meta Seinemeyer, Sigrid Onegin, Richard Tauber, Heinrich Schlusnus)
Lieder: More than Singing (Elisabeth Schumann, Lotte Lehmann, Elena Gerhardt, Karl Erb, herbert Janssen, Gerhard Husch, Alexander Kipnis)
Wagner: The Triumph of Lyricism (Frida Leider, Lauritz Melchior, Friedrich Schorr)
Splendid Isolationists: Standards in Britain and France (Florence Austral, Eva Turner, Claire Croiza, Ninon Vallin)

Old Worlds and New: Chicago and the Elevating Influence (Claudia Muzio, Dusolina Giannini, Conchita Supervia, Marian Anderson, Richard Crooks)
Metropolitan: Five Great Singers (Rosa Ponselle, Elisabeth Rethberg, Giovanni Martinelli, Lawrence Tibbett, Ezio Pinza)
Survival: Wartime and Aftermath (Helen Traubel, Maggie Teyte, Kathleen Ferrier, Julius Patzak, Mark Reizen)
Part III: Renaissance, The Long Plaing Record 1950-1970

Wagner: Every Note, Every Word (Kirsten Flagstad, Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Hans Hotter, Gottlob Frick)
Trial by Mozart: Vintage Soprano (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Irmgard Seefried, Lisa della Casa, Hilde Guden, Ljuba Welitsch, Sena Jurinac)
Opera at Home: Five Great Singers (Maria Callas, Victoria de los Angeles, Jussi Bjorling, Tito Gobbi, Boris Christoff)
Let the Florid Music Praise: Rococo Revival (Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills, Anna Moffo, Teresa Berganza, Marilyn Horne)
America: The Seal Goes West (Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, Shirley Verrett, Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers, James McCracken, Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill)
Italy: A Tale of Two Tableaux (Renata Tebaldi, Mirella Freni, Giulietta Simionato, Fiorenza Cossotto, Franco Corelli, Carlo Bergonzi, Giuseppe di Stefano, Luciano Pavarotti)
European Notes: Moscow to Madrid (Regine Crespin, Rita Gorr, Irene Arkhipova, Nicolai Gedda, Geraint Evans)
Singer and Song: An Exhibition of Artists (Janet Baker, Christa Ludwig, Peter Pears, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerard Souzay)

Ancient and Modern: The Singer as Musician
1971: Present and Prospective (Montserrat Caballe, Gundula Janowitz, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Nicolai Ghiaurov
Conclusions: The Grand Tradition

Index of Composers

General Index

Bibliographical Note

The pictures are of the singers mentioned above.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Grand Experience, November 28, 1999

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[e-mail] (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record (Hardcover)

I am saddened that this book is OP though perhaps a reprint is in the works. JBS from Gramaphone takes us on a tour of the history of recorded opera and lieder singing. His knowledge and enthusiasm lead me into a world of singing that I scarcely knew existed. His lucid style and comprehensive take on the records have had me buying and enjoying scores of CD's as an entire era has opened for me. I can't thank him enough for guiding me through the thicket of various recordings and providing insights that have deepened my understanding and enjoyment of singing. This exciting history has been a bedside favorite for years and I still turn to it when I see a new historical issue. Though the book covers singing up to more recent years, I may never make it to the 50's! Though the book could stand updating for current CD issues, it's not hard to translate dates of recordings to current issues. A tremendous acheivement. I could only wish for more, though I get that in his long running column in Gramaphone.