Aureole etc.




Golden Age singers

Nimbus on-line




Faure songs
Charlotte de Rothschild (soprano);

  Founder: Len Mullenger
Classical Editor: Rob Barnett

A number of rare operetta recording come from an Operette series of re-releases from Universal France. Max de Rieux initiated this series of recordings in the 1950s and 1960s to provide a testament to a forgotten age.  A few of the recordings make use of the soloists who had originally created the parts.

This Operette series on the Accord (Universal) label  is amongst a series of 20 Musidisc sets that were previously released as LPs and until now have been lost from the catalogue. A matching format of presentation is used throughout the series with smart 'themed' card cases and short booklet containing a composer biography and synopsis.
In the series are some titles that are not generally known outside France, and offer something that is both fresh and appealing: in Lecocq's Le Petit Duc, Maillart's Les Dragons de Villars, and Offenbach's La Grande Duchesse we have utterly charming operettas (opéra-bouffe and opéra comique). Some are almost complete while others are abridged for mastering to 4 LP sides. The quality of performances vary but are generally on the good side and compete well with some of the later recorded EMI France titles.

Operette series from Universal Accord (UK distributor: Discovery)
Audran, La Mascotte [465 877-2]
Benatzky, L'Auberge du Cheval Blanc [465 880-2]
Christiné Phi-Phi [465 886-2];  Dédé [461 961-2 ]
Dumas, Ignace [472 877-2]
Ganne, Les Saltimbanques [465 868-2]
Goublier, La Cocarde de Mimi Pinson [461 964-2]
Lecocq, La Fille de Madame Angot [465 883-2] Le Petit Duc [472 874-2]
Lehar, Paganini [472 868-2] Rose de Noel [472 871-2]
Maillart, Les Dragons de Villars [472 865-2]
Messager, Véronique [465 864-2]
Offenbach, La Belle Hélène [461 954-2]; La Fille du Tambour Major [461 673-2]; La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein [465 871-2]
Planquette, Les Cloches de Corneville [465 861-2]
Strauss, Trois Valses [461 958-2]
Varney, Les Mousquetaires au Couvent [465 874-2]
Yvain, Là-Haut [461 967-2]
 


Raymond Walker

Further reading: "Operetta", Traubner (Routledge 2003); "Le Théâtre des Années folles" (Editions du Milieu, Geneva 1943)



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