G&T 78rpm Red Label. Maria Galvany & Titta Ruffo. Rigoletto "Si Vendetta" GC5316
£
37
$
49
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
Buy this 1906 operatic rarity,
and help rescue BADGERS, and other wildlife!
We'll be selling LOTS MORE lovely 78 rpm RARE operatic
and classical-vocal items soon, so keep an eye on our listings.
Don't forget!
If you buy MORE THAN ONE ITEM we will offer you
a HUGE POSTAGE DISCOUNT!
Here we have "Si Vendetta" from Rigoletto (Verdi) performed by Italian Baritone Titta Ruffo (crazy name.. crazy guy) and lovely Maria Galvany, the Spanish Soprano.
It was recorded on 20th October 1906 in Milan (thank you Robert Johannesson) and here it is on a lovely RED G&T number 54316.
The Mx number is 4730h but we can't see that anywhere in the wax.
This is not a vanishingly rare item. It was kept in the catalgue for a long time, because it is such a remarkable performance. This means that you can find it on a double-sided disc in the HMV DA series, on a single-sided HMV, a "Dog Monarch" or on the original RED LABEL G&T, which it what this one here is.
This may not be an absolutely first pressing, because it has a raised rim and a bevelled label surround. Maybe the very first pressings were with flat flush labels.. we don't know.. please email if you can help.
If it ain't a first pressing, it's pretty darn near to being one.
Ruffo used his name backwards. He was actually named Ruffo Cafiero Titta. He was born in Pisa, and like Sir Keir Starmer (who won't stop going on about it) he was the son of a metal worker.
His declamatory resonant style was largely self taught (so says the internet which is NEVER WRONG) which is why he "lost" his voice quite early on, and brought his career to a premature end. He refused to teach singing afterwards, because "he did it all wrong". He sounds pretty remarkable to us, and famously this record has just about the most amazing final fifteen seconds of any operatic record... or any record at all.. (even "Go Now" by The Moody Blues, which never fails to make Ken Bruce gasp with admiration).
It is as clean as an anecdote told by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and it plays very well. There are a few very very light sleeve marks (NOT scratches.. they are gentle storage scuffs) and it plays magnificently. Using the VJM system, we reckon it's a very strong V+++ heading up towards an E- or thereabouts.
What look like, at first glance, greying or worn grooves, are actually not worn.. they're just Ruffo singing so darn L-O-U-D.
Buy it immediately, or Go Now.
NO OVERSEAS bidders please.
And NO OVERSEAS bidders using UK addresses please.
SORRY, NO BUYER COLLECT...but.. if you buy MORE THAN ONE RECORD we will give you a HUGE discount on POSTAGE!
price rating
![ROLLING STONES [Pintalo de Negro] MEXICO [London/Peerle](https://www.popsike.com/php/thumbnail.php?url=https://www.popsike.pics/pix/20110906/140603098999.jpg)
