The Immortal Voice (1923) - how phonograph records are made - piano score by Ben Model

[@sodality3970]

As a collector of 78 rpm records , I find this enormously informative and edifying .

[@VictrolaJazz]

My mother (1902-1997) got to hear Caruso in one of last performances when she was a newly arrived freshman at Texas Womens University in October, 1920, at the Civic Auditorium in Ft. Worth, TX--he would make only four more appearances before his death. I still have the stub from that performance in her college album of memories in which she later said "Glad I went, 'cause he went and died".

[@silentfilmmusic]

Wow, what a great story and connection to Caruso. Thanks for watching.

[@VictrolaJazz]

You're welcome!

[@dariowiter3078]

Ben Model - silent film accompanist/historian Yes, amazing story! 👍 😀

[@LandondeeL]

This film shows an acoustic recording session. Just a few years later, electrical recording was made possible, which, ironically, made sound films possible as well.

[@The1920sDandy]

Quite emotional to be almost in 2023 and be able to see their hope of being remembered come more or less true :')

[@Agamemnon2]

What's funny is that they probably could not even imagine their film itself would be disseminated all over the world and people would delight in the things they took for granted, not just the lofty artistic bits.

[@jsl151850b]

@@solinus7131 I'm not sure our DVDs will last a hundred years. No more VCRs and DVDRWs are falling out of fashion. (Have fallen) You can't really SAVE anything you stream. We live in a new dark age the future won't know that much about.

[@jsl151850b]

@@solinus7131 Oh... Was the title mentioned?

[@johnbowditch3706]

A fantastic film. I've never seen a better explanation of how records are made.

[@WorldRockumentaryChannel]

That was excellent... and it choked me up... It applies to all music now in 2021 with only two more years to go... (1923-2023)

[@jimdrake-writer]

Priceless footage! In my second Ponselle book (Amadeus, 1997), I refer to this Columbia recording session and to the publicity which her then-manager William Thorner (who was on a retainer with Columbia) generated about it. According to Musical America (June 1922), and consistent with the diary of Edith Prilik, Ponselle's secretary, she was recording "Ernani, involami" and the Otello "Ave Maria," with Romano Romani conducting, "twenty-three stories above the bustle of Columbus Circle" in Manhattan.

[@comedyshorts2]

Besides films, record collecting is another hobby. They date back to the 1890s plus I have many of the Columbia and Victor catalogs dating back to 1902. Nice score Ben.

[@osdelced]

In the 80s, 90s and part 2000, I was fortunate to be able to get some 78's of acoustic recordings by Enrico Caruso, under the labels 'Victor' and 'Victrola' Red Seal. I consider them part of my greatest treasures as a record collector. Mr. Caruso passed away in August 02 1921; we are in April of the year 2020: Almost a year after the centenary of his death, and his voice is still immortalized in those original old '78 of that time, which already turned 100 years or more.

[@rickituarte]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2K0e6p-jNuahpo

[@musicurio]

lovely on so many levels- accurate for the layman, clear and informative and with charming improvised music. I particularly liked the "graphiting melody" Thank you.

[@smithfieldandwesston8000]

After several years of collecting records and phonographs. I'm sure glad I got to see this. Awesome.

[@Kennephone]

I love how it says your children's children will be able to hear these records, my great-great grandparents would have been young adults when this was made, my grandparents would be their children's children, and I their children's children's children

[@EndingSummerwithRalph]

Only 6 more years to go for Rosa to bring delight to the children's children!

[@lilylyons961]

The six years have passed, and she has delighted them. Go Rosa!

[@singatune]

I greatly enjoyed this presentation. My parents had a Eindhoven up victrolia as they called it. They had many records which I now have. Some are very thick and have music on only one side. They are pretty beat up because they were played often. So in my lifetime I have seen the first records to 33 1/3. And 45s. To music reel to reel to music cassettes to cds to ipods to the cellphone in my hand. Wow. I miss the those records with their imperfections. Great score by Ben. 😊

[@mrrkdino]

The footage of Rosa Ponselle is a real find. I have never seen it mentioned in any of her biographies which I find odd. Amazing. Oh if only it were a sound film.

[@rickituarte]

agree

[@lucienhardy5887]

The director of the film, and seemingly of the whole "Romances" series was Jack Norling (John. A. Norling), cinematographer, technician, animator and founder of Norling Studios, later celebreated as a stereoscopic cinematographer and a pioneer of #D films (Motor Rhythm 1939 and 1953, the Oscar-nominated Audioscopiks 1935 and its sequel The New Audioscopiks 1938 (bothwith Jacob Leventhal).

[@silentfilmmusic]

Thanks for posting all this info and research!

[@ThrivingJean]

❤❤❤The great Rosa Ponselle!!!

[@philipcarli3718]

Ponselle's conductor and mentor Romano Romani (1881-1958) had been associated with Columbia's Milan studios since 1912, coming over to this country during World War I. He was then placed as second conductor to Columbia's chief music director, Charles Adams Prince (1869-1937), who is seen later in this short as the orchestra conductor with the shot that pans over the orchestra, showing the Stroh violins in use, and also in the shot of evaluating the test record for flaws. Romani made some interesting recordings on his own for Columbia both in Milan and New York, including the Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony in 1914 with the "Milan Symphony Orchestra" (actually the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, whittled down to 4 twelve-inch sides for a total playing time of just about 16 minutes) and a very energetic and colourful reading of Berlioz's "Roman Carnival" overture in NY in late 1918 with the company's resident "Columbia Symphony Orchestra". Romani and Metropolitan Opera conductor Gennaro Papi (1885-1941) conducted the accompaniments for Columbia's operatic recordings starting in 1918, with Papi leaving to conduct for the Aeolian Company's Vocalion record label in 1922.

[@silentfilmmusic]

Thank you, Philip!

[@philipcarli3718]

@@silentfilmmusic Hello Ben - long time no see/chat/talk! It had been bothering me - for 5 years, such is my mind - as to what orchestra Charles Prince is conducting in the film around the time of Ponselle's recordings with Romani that year, as it's a pretty big orchestra for an acoustic recording and I doubt Columbia brought in musicians just for Bray to film them. Columbia made very few concert orchestra records in 1922 - indeed, none with its house musicians - and Prince left the company in 1923. However, the Metropolitan Opera House orchestra came into Columbia's studios on 13 and 14 April 1922 and made 4 sides: a highly abbreviated 1-side version of Herold's ZAMPA overture, a selection (unnamed) from Borodin's PRINCE IGOR, an orchestra arrangement of the Soldiers' Chorus from Gounod's FAUST, and the Grand March from Wagner's TANNHAUSER. No Columbia documents list the conductor of these records, and the conductor is unnamed on the discs themselves. All other Columbia Met orchestra recordings named the conductor on their labels, either Giorgio Polacco or Giuseppe Bamboschek. This leads me to believe that this is Charles Prince conducting the Met orchestra in these four pieces, and judging from Prince's conducting and the playing in the orchestra I think it's the opening of the ZAMPA overture, the first piece they recorded, taken 13 April 1922. It would make sense that Bray's cameramen would have come in for the first session, cranking as the orchestra did a run-through prior to cutting the disc. To quote W. C. Fields asking Shemp Howard about whether he spent a $20 bill the night before and getting an affirmative in THE BANK DICK, "Whew! That's a load off my mind."

[@janettewalker3991]

Thank you so much for this exceedingly interesting and informative recording.

[@highinfidelity72]

Very cute movie, and what a great work with the accompanying music you have done! Bravo!

[@silentfilmmusic]

thanks!

[@rickituarte]

agreed

[@atlanteum]

1923: Perfectly clear and concise technical manual for cutting edge, breakthrough technology. 2024: Not a clue how one image relates to another in technical manual for any electronic device.

[@MattHawes]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing, and great job on the score!

[@oldworld1]

fabulous

[@susmateja]

Ponselle singing 'O sole mio' , Caruso singing '...infarina, la gente paga e rider vuole qua, e se arlecchin t'invola Colombina, ridi Paglia...' (from 'Vesti la giubba'), but at least in Caruso's case (if not both) the motion picture is a bit fast, I don't think he actually sang it that fast ...

[@silentfilmmusic]

Yes, you're correct -- the film was most probably shot at 16 or 18 fps and projected closer to 20, a practice not uncommon in 1923.

[@undeadnightorc]

Wow, from wax master to metal master to mother matrix to final wax record. A copy of a copy of a copy. With so many steps in the process I wonder if or any sound quality is lost along the way.

[@frankgoldberg3860]

Very interesting thanks for sharing. Always a great score. Do you ever find it difficult to come up with a melody line?

[@teamtreat3286]

silent films they are cool way back in 1920s but I have a record player from 1929 but the piano sounds in the silent film is great

[@guildx700]

cool

[@DavidLGill]

Any word on the origin of the footage of Caruso? Presumably because it refers to him posthumously, it may have come from another documentary of the Bray studio or could've come from elsewhere...newsreel, another documentary. I ask because I've not actually ever seen film of him singing before and I wonder how much of it exists/existed. Great work, Ben! Loved the score! I have friends who look at my record collection and say, "I have no idea how these discs do that." Well, now I have something to show them and your score makes it easy to watch and understand. Thanks!

[@jimdrake2437]

+David L. Gill The footage of Caruso is from the silent film "My Cousin," produced by Jesse L. Lasky and released by Famous Players--Lasky in 1918. For detailed information about the film, please consult the ultimate biography of the great tenor by Enrico Caruso, Jr. and Andrew Farkas (Amadeus Press, 1990).

[@matthewrichards88]

It must be possible. If a lip reader could decipher what she is singing, we could sync the record she had cut with the film (is it known what record or if it was issued)?

[@silentfilmmusic]

I suppose that's possible. When I first posted this there were a lot of comments in the thread here trying to figure that out.

[@Zalgud]

I'm pretty certain her performance was strictly for the camera and no actual recording was being made at that exact moment - if she were recording, she would be facing, and singing directly into, the recording horn.

[@susmateja]

She's definitely singing 'O sole mio', the words match perfectly, but as short as the clip is, it's not even a continuous recording. It must have indeed been only for the camera.

[@paulnicholson1906]

it is a bit ironic that there is a silent film about audio recording technology....

[@jsl151850b]

1:19 Well... Not quite 100 years but here you go! kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2nNpoiXgptnb9E

[@silentfilmmusic]

Yes! thanks for watching this.

[@drednm]

Bray Studios? Not the best name for phonographs. Elizabeth Taylor in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?.... "I DON'T BRAY!!!!" LOL

[@rickituarte]

Thank you so much for this exceedingly interesting and informative recording.

[@silentfilmmusic]

You're welcome! Thanks really are due the Library of Congress for preserving, scanning and posting this film with my score.