Volume I
Volume II
Volume III
Volume IV
Volume V
Volume VI
Volume VII
Volume VIII
Volume IX
Volume X
Volume XI
Volume XIII
Volume XIV
Volume XV
Volume XVI

01 AIDA

Arturo Toscanini rehearses the NBC Symphony in the aria "Celeste Aida" from Verdi's opus. He sings the aria (well, his voice sort of ends around middle C). The most amazing thing about this is how beautiful his orchestra sounds playing just the accompaniment.

02 AIDA

Maria Callas interpolates a high Eb at the end of the Triumphal Scene on May 30, 1950 in Mexico City.

From an interview by Stefan Zucker with Giulietta Simionato:

SZ: How were relations between Callas and Kurt Baum [who sang with her in Mexico]?

GS: [Laughs.] Terrible! They disagreed about everything and always were fighting. He was jealous because, when they sang Aïda, she interpolated a high E [E-flat] in the concertato, saying that [Angela] Peralta, a celebrated 19th-century soprano, had sung it. And the director of the theater said, "Yes, yes, sing it. Peralta also sang it. But don't tell Maestro Serafin. He'd kill me." It was in questionable taste. That man, Baum, was furious because she had an enormous success with that E [laughs]. He stepped on the train of her costume, to prevent her from moving forward, and she was rabid--RABID.

SZ: But not to the point of refusing to sing with him.

GS: No, no. They were there--they had to sing together. She didn't refuse. He didn't refuse either. However, they were enemies.

SZ: You lived with Callas in Mexico. How was she as a roommate?

GS: She always was sleeping. I couldn't sleep at night, so I got up and began arranging the flowers. Our room was full of them. They overflowed into the hall. She slept. We had adjoining rooms. I went into her room, changed the water, shortened the stems and arranged the flowers. And she slept right through it. But she was a good colleague, I must admit. She behaved like a true friend with me.

SZ: Was she well-prepared in Mexico?

GS: Yes, yes.

SZ: You can find mistakes on the records.

GS: Of course you can. But it depended on her condition at the time. Perhaps there were times not when she wasn't well-prepared but when she didn't feel well. She wasn't perfect--perfection doesn't exist. But she always was trying to attain it. Naturally there probably are flaws in her records; she was a human being.

03 AIDA

A case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Callas takes the high Eb again the next year on July 3 1951 in Mexico City - this time with collegial tenor Mario del Monaco, along with Oralia Dominguez and Giuseppe Tadei.

04 BARBIERE

The overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia is lampooned by Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in The Rabbit of Seville.

05 BARBIERE

A crude run through of the "Largo al factotum" from that same Disney opus from above, The Rabbit of Seville.

06 BARBIERE

The same aria sung during a Tom 'n Jerry cartoon

07 BOHEME

Renata Scotto performs the Puccini song "Sole e amore" during which the composer quotes the final quartet of La boheme's Act III.

08 CARMEN

During a March 14, 1970 Rome Carmen, Grace Bumbry demonstrates a soprano ossia near the end of the "Seguidilla". The Don Jose is Richard Tucker.

09 CARMEN

The finale of the final duet from the same Carmen performance and, once again, Grace Bumbry throws in a soprano ossia. She also pulls a Resnik when she gets stabbed.

10 CHENIER

The Farewell of Mme. Zinka Milanov on April 13, 1966 was one of the most heartfelt events at the house ever presented. The cast of this Andrea Chenier performance included Richard Tucker and Anselmo Colzani.

After Act III, there was a ceremony onstage which began with Lowell Wadmond, Vice Chairman of the Board, presenting Mme. Milanov with a silver plate, honoring her house career which began in 1937. Later, General Manager Rudolf Bing gives her his gratitude. He also presents her with a gold ----.

Finally, Mme. Milanov steps before the microphone and delivers a short (18 seconds) emotional farewell to her public.

Then on to Act IV with the finale of one of the greatest love duets in opera. And the traditional transposition did not take place, ending on a high B for her and Tucker.

11 DEVEREUX

Edita Gruberova in the finale of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, ending with a blazing sustained high E.

12 ELISIR

Alfredo Kraus appears in the movie "Gayarre" and sings "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore.

13 FAKE LAYNX

A contraption designed to mimic the human voice. Near the end, there's a fleeting moment when it really does. Do any of these sounds remind you of anyone? I'm just sayin...

14 FAVORITA

In his studio recording of arias, tenor Franco Bonisolli delivers a sanity-defying interpolated high C# at the end of "Una vergine, un angiol di Dio" 1) attacking straight on and2) and makes a diminuendo.

15 FAVORITA

Franco Corelli sings the same La favorita aria with a great (albeit single) high C# within the aria.

16 FILLE

Lily Pons, at the age of 73, sings "Salut a la France" from La fille du régiment", "Chere Nuit" of Bachelet and Délibes' "Les filles des Cadix". The orchestra is conducted by her ex-husband André Kostelanetz. The announcer is Lorne Greene of "Bonanza" fame.

17 FUNNY GIRL

Barbra Streisand delivers a closing speech at the end of her 2-year run of Funny Girl on December 26, 1965. She then offers "My Man, I Love Him So"

18 GATHERING SHELLS FROM THE SEASHORE

Actress Jan Duggan seemingly sings all 285 verses of "Gathering Up the shells from the Seashore" to the great discomfort of W.C. Fields.

CD 2:

01 GYPSY

The final minutes of the final performance of Ethel Merman in Gypsy on March 25, 1961.

02 LUCIA

Alfredo Kraus soars the high range interpolating a high Cb at the end of the Lucia sextet and then a high D at the end of the wedding scene. The January 14, 1967 cast includes Roberta Peters (their only Lucia together), Mario Sereni, Justino Diaz and Robert Nagy

03 MAHLER

The Mahler 4th Symphony was premiered by Wilhelm Mengelberg (listen for his tapping on his stand with his baton to alert the orchestra) and the Concertgebouw Orchestra with the composer present at the rehearsal. Here is the opening minutes: first, conducted by Daniel Gatti and the second Wilhelm Mingelberg. Quelle ritard.

04 MAKE BELIEVE

Renata Scotto and Mike Douglas perform the song "Make Believe" during an early 1970s performance on television.

05 MANON LESCAUT

Renata Scotto sings "Mentia l'avviso" which quotes the tenor aria "Donna non vidi mai" from Puccini's Manon Lescaut.

06 NATIONAL ANTHEM

A dude proceeds to make 99.99% of the words to the National Anthem.

07 NATIONAL ANTHEM

Amidst a noisy street fair, a girl gets up onstage to raise patriotism and accidentally raises her key..

08 NATIONAL ANTHEM

It's a good thing Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis kept his day job and not continue running his mouth off by singing the National Anthem.

09 PAGLIACCI

Jose Cura does a del Monaco and sings the Prologue from Pagliacci. He gets off most of the high notes just to be safe.

10 PURITANI

Nicolai Gedda and Joan Sutherland pop out glorious high Ebs in "Vieni fra queste braccia" from I Puritani during a Philadelphia performance of April 18, 1963.

11 RIGOLETTO

Here's a rough ending for Paolo Gavanelli in the finale of the duet between Rigoletto and Gilda, sung by Anna Netrebko.

12 SCREAMER

A woman on roller skates singing frantically. Which movie is this from?

13 SHE BANGS

A perfect personification of delusion is William Hung. He amazingly went far in the "American Idol" competition but the judges regained their sanity about three rounds into the competition. In spite of this, this guy had a career. Briefly.

14 SIEGFRIED

Martha Mödl and Wolfgang Windgassen in the finale of the love duet from Wagner's Siegfried. Unfortunately, Mödl conks out for the climactic high C during this broadcast of February 16, 1957. It was her only Met broadcast during her Met career of twelve performances in all of the Wagner heroines.

15 TOSCA

Birgit Nilsson gives good scream during the "Recognition Scene" (when she discovers her Mario is dead) of Act III of Puccini's Tosca. This certainly was a Tosca where one needn't worry at all whether the soprano would have the high notes. She also does the fun scream at the leap

16 TURANDOT

Sirach van Bodegraven shares his stentorian and creamy top in "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot, accompanying himself of course.

17 TURANDOT

And here's an even worse performance of the same aria by Helmut Lotti. The end is painful.

18 WHAT"S MY LINE?

From "What's My Line?", a delightful game show from the '50s thru the '70s where a blindfolded panel tries to guess who the celebrity guest is (first, the guest signs their name on a blackboard). Play along. This recording is a bit jumbled.

19 WHAT"S MY LINE?

From "What's My Line?", a delightful game show from the '50s thru the '70s where a blindfolded panel tries to guess who the celebrity guest is (first, the guest signs their name on a blackboard). Play along.

20 WHAT"S MY LINE?

From "What's My Line?", a delightful game show from the '50s thru the '70s where a blindfolded panel tries to guess who the celebrity guest is (first, the guest signs their name on a blackboard). Play along.

21 ZAUBERFLÖTE

A sad performance by an unknown bass of "O Isis und Osiris" from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte".