FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS Rare 12-inch LOCK Lacquer - Aria: Queen of the Night

$30.00 USD
3
May 24, 2020 - 08:47:42 PM GMT (almost 4 years ago)
rwade1947
Lock Recording Studios unnumbered, 12-inch Acetate/Lacquer, 78 RPM Record is in Nice V+ condition, plays quite nicely with some light surface noise. Labels are good, typewritten, number written on one side. FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS (Soprano) performing Aria: Queen of the Night (from The Magic Flute) / Serenata Mexicana. issue date not known to me; recorded in New York c. 1941. "Florence Foster Jenkins (born Narcissa Florence Foster; July 19, 1868 November 26, 1944) was an American socialite and amateur soprano who was known, and mocked, for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor singing ability. Stephen Pile ranked her "the world's worst opera singer ... No one, before or since, has succeeded in liberating themselves quite so completely from the shackles of musical notation." Despite (or perhaps because of) her technical incompetence, she became a prominent musical cult figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Cole Porter, Gian Carlo Menotti, Lily Pons, Sir Thomas Beecham, and other celebrities were fans. Enrico Caruso is said to have "regarded her with affection and respect". The poet William Meredith wrote that a Jenkins recital "was never exactly an aesthetic experience, or only to the degree that an early Christian among the lions provided aesthetic experience; it was chiefly immolatory, and Madame Jenkins was always eaten, in the end." from wikipedia "According to published reviews and other contemporary accounts, Jenkins's acknowledged proficiency at the piano did not translate well to her singing. She is described as having great difficulty with such basic vocal skills as pitch, rhythm, and sustaining notes and phrases. In recordings, her accompanist Cosm McMoon can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her constant tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes, but there was little he could do to conceal her inaccurate intonation. She was consistently flat, sometimes considerably so. Her diction was similarly substandard, particularly with foreign-language lyrics. The difficult operatic arias that Jenkins chose to performall well beyond her technical ability and vocal rangeserved only to emphasize these deficiencies. "There's no way to even pedagogically discuss it," said vocal instructor Bill Schuman. "It's amazing that she's even attempting to sing that music." The opera impresario Ira Siff, who dubbed her "the anti-Callas", said, "Jenkins was exquisitely bad, so bad that it added up to quite a good evening of theater ... She would stray from the original music, and do insightful and instinctual things with her voice, but in a terribly distorted way. There was no end to the horribleness ... They say Cole Porter had to bang his cane into his foot in order not to laugh out loud when she sang. She was that bad." Nevertheless, Porter rarely missed a recital". from wikipedia Terrific and Scarce Comic Operatic 12-inch acetate/lacquer 78 in Nice VG+ condition. Buyer to pay calculated shipping in the USA and worldwide. PAYPAL may be used by US and most overseas bidders to pay by credit card. Don't forget to visit Really Old Records, my ebay storefront, at http://stores.ebay.com/Really-Old-Records?RefID=store for a look at over 500 fine 78s, 45s, LPs, CDs and other items at reasonable fixed prices. If you see something you like, you may combine it with this item, should you win it, and save on combined shipping. Just wait for my combined invoice with savings on combined shipping. International Bidders Please Note... Ebay's new required statement... Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyers responsibility. Please check with your countrys customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying. About Combined Shipping for Multiple Purchases: The shipping calculator does not calculate shipping accurately for multiple purchases. If you purchase more than one record we will send you an invoice with savings on combined shipping. If you pay the total using the shopping cart on our website we will promptly refund any overpayment for shipping. _gsrx_vers_856 (GS 7.0.20 (856))
164205471511
May 17, 2020 - 08:47:42 PM GMT (almost 4 years ago)
US
Opera
12"
78 RPM

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