Customer Reviews

Nelson Eddy: Operatic Arias and Concert Songs

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ah Sweet Mystery. A trip back in time. Is there any music medium Nelson Eddy did not excel in? First opera, concerts, movies, radio, tv, nightclubs. He was the master of them all. This is a great introduction to the early years when he was opera's leading and most exciting baritone.

This CD contains all of Nelson Eddy's recordings of classical music. However, given that he recorded over 200 songs, this is a small amount of his recorded legacy. Also note that, other than the Mozart (Italian), the Strauss (German), and the last 4 selections in French, the rest of these selections were recorded in English, although Eddy could and did sing them in the original languages. Despite what the previous reviewer said, these recordings are not from "the early years", when Nelson Eddy was an opera singer. These recordings are from the 1940's. Nelson Eddy had performed in his last operas in 1935, and he was almost never associated with actual opera on film. He performed yearly in concerts, solely of classical repertoire, from before his national fame, until the early 1950's. He was a very popular radio performer in the 1930's and 1940's. He sang many more operatic pieces/classical songs on radio (usually in their original language) which he never recorded. I, for one, regret that he did not record more from his classical repertoire, because that essential part of appreciating his art is mostly gone forever. My point is, that these songs do not give a full sense of the wide range of Eddy's work in the non-popular areas of song.
The liner notes are pretty good, although there are some errors in them.

Fans of Nelson Eddy's classic musical films, will be in heaven when they hear his golden tones on this collection of the Operatic Arias and Concert Songs recorded between 1939 and 1944.
Eddy was not what you would call a booming Baritone, but wow, what a voice. Sweet, smooth, breathtaking. Gorgeous!

His masterful rendition of the Arias, and Concert Songs in Italian, English, German and French are impeccable. Whatever the emotion, sadness, joy, etc, Eddy captures it. You will feel the story in the words.Some are very solemn and moving, others are upbeat and will leave you smiling. Enjoy 2 from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro"(Non Piu Andrai/Se Vuol Ballare), Haydn's "The Creation",2 from Wagner("Jerum! Jerum"/"Evening Star") ,Moussorgsky, several from Tchaikovsky including "Don Juan's Serenade. You can see the complete list of 20 tracks in the buying info, but some of the other highlights, I thoroughly enjoyed are Schubert's "Serenade" and "Ave Maria", "Chanson Du Toreador", Bizet(from Carmen)and "Hopak"(Moussorgsky).

The original recordings are over 60 years old. This CD is a wonderful digital transfer. The album will give you over 70 minutes of enjoyment. It also come with a nice little bio booklet, detailing the singing career of Nelson Eddy, and the track listings, with the composer and the year Eddy first recorded it. The only thing it is missing, is the credits for the fine orchestras and musicians accompanying Eddy. I would have liked to have known who they were. None the less a fabulous and 5 star find for fans of Nelson Eddy, and a nice taste of some familiar Operatic pieces.

Enjoy....Laurie

also recommended:
Cinema Choral Classics

Le Nozze Di Figaro (Staatskapelle Berlin)

A very good sampling of Nelson Eddy's operatic and concert work.
DVD in good condition.

I have enjoyed quite a few of these Nelson Eddy recordings for many years on 33 rpm LPs, and it's good to see that they have been made available on CD. These are not, by any means, the only classical selections that Eddy recorded. On my LPs, I have at least seven other arias and duets by Berlioz, Godard, Wagner, Massenet, Bizet, and Mussorgsky which are not among the selections included in this anthology.

Also, I think it would be helpful to provide some background about "the classical Eddy" which is not well known, and which gives a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been. He did not just "drop in" on classical music in some of his movies. In his early days, classical music WAS his career, and he became something of an ascending star. Eddy studied under the Metropolitan Opera baritone David Bispham, and made his operatic debut in 1924 with the Philadelphia Opera Society as Amonasro in "Aida". Later that year, when the Philadephia company played at the Met in New York, Eddy sang Tonio in "I Pagliacci"--Eddy at the Met, but not of the Met! He went to Germany in 1927, auditioned for Fritz Busch (most famous for conducting at the Glyndebourne Festival), and was offered a contract as a leading baritone with the Dresden Opera. For some reason, he came back to the U.S. instead. He sang in the American premieres of Strauss' "Feuersnot" in 1927 and "Ariadne auf Naxos" in 1928, both with the Philadelphia Civic Opera. In 1931, he performed in the American premiere of Alban Berg's terrifyingly dissonant "Wozzeck" (yes, you read that right) under Leopold Stokowski in Philadelphia, and later that year sang in it at the Met, once again in a visiting production. In 1932, he took part in the premiere of Respighi's "Maria Egiziaca" in New York, with Respighi himself conducting. That same year, he was called upon for a recital in Los Angeles to replace the legendary Lotte Lehmann, who had fallen ill--no small tribute to the talents of a fast-rising young singer.

But that concert was a good news/bad news event, at least for lovers of classical music. Someone from MGM Studios was there; Eddy was offered a movie contract; and the rest, as they say, is history. The success of his movies, especially with Jeanette MacDonald, introduced millions of people to the joys of semi-classical music (including this reviewer, in later TV reruns). But he never concentrated on fully classical music again, except for an occasional aria in his movies or on his radio programs. Even his concerts came to be dominated by "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life", "Indian Love Call", and so forth, with opera and art songs showing up, if at all, as novelty items.

The selections on this CD, some of them made after his operatic and classical career tapered off, show what audiences missed. Eddy's voice was essentially a fine lyric baritone, with excellent legato and a poised, even noble, tone in the upper half of his voice. The main reason for my giving four stars instead of five is a sometimes bothersome nasality in his lower-middle notes. (His teacher, David Bispham, was also sometimes criticized for being too nasal.) Eddy sometimes also seems a bit generalized in his characterizations, and there is a bit of tonal instability in the "Herodiade" aria, as well as a slightly light-weight, almost tenorish quality in a few others. Nevertheless, there is much pleasure here. The fast, fluent passagework in "Now Heaven in Fullest Glory" will stand comparison with anyone's. The "Evening Star" melody from "Tannhauser" and "Se vuol ballare" from "The Marriage of Figaro" are models of legato that today's Wagner and Mozart baritones might do well to study. "Christ Had a Garden" rings out strikingly, with Eddy's pristine musical style redeeming the somewhat sappy lyrics, and Eddy has such fun with "Song of the Flea"! All in all, this collection is a worthy reminder of the more serious side of a talented and beloved musician.