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

01 BACH

Peter Ustinov made some hilarious shorts on BBC radio. Here a professor introduces a newly discovered cantata by the then 3-year-old J.S. Bach.

02 BACH

Via Peter Ustinov, an excerpt from the 18th suite for solo cello by J. S. W. E. Bach.

03 BACIO

Ingeborg Hallstein warbles effortlessly through "Il Bacio" by Arditi. She sparkles high Gs and some quick high As above high C. At the end, she sings a sustained high Bb above high C cadencing down to a high Eb, which has begun to sound as if it's her mid-range.

04 BIRDS OF FLAHOOLEY

"The Birds from Flahooley" - not exactly a Peruvian sounding name - is the vehicle for the inimitable Yma Sumac. This piece allows her to show off her wide, wide, wide, wide range, not to mention her Louis Armstrong technique..

05 BOHEME

This tenor tries and fails on the high C in "Che gelid manna" from La bohemie..

06 BORGIA

One hears lots of gear changing coming from the throat of Edita Gruberova during this 2009 cabaletta from Lucrezia Borgia. It's especially evident on upon the release after the trills. She ends it all with a sustained high E.

07 CARMEN

Remember Margarita Castro Alberti? Well, she doesn't, but we unfortunately do. Here she is, singing the Habanera form Carmen (accompanied by the MMO Orchestra & Chorus) strutting forth and back on a fashion show runway - yes, a fashion show runway - wearing what seems to be a red lamé dress hugging her ginormous frontal trunk. And yet, she is unable to visit chest voice.

08 CAT DUET

The Allegro section from Rossini's "Cat Duet" with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Victoria de los Angeles accompanied by Gerald Moore.

09 CAVALLERIA

A memer of the audience voices his disapproval of the set during a New York City Opera production of Cavalleria rusticate.

10 CAVALLERIA

Not only does Franco Bonbisolli interpolates a high B at the end of the drinking song during this April 25, 1980 Vienna performance of , he throws one in in the middle of the aria. I've cut a bit to cut to the chase.

CHARLOTTE SWEET

Charlotte Sweet, told entirely in song, is the story of a poor but virtuous soprano (Mara Beckerman), who, to save her father (Timothy Landfield) from ruin, is traduced by the caddish leader of a music-hall troupe (Alan Brasington) in his

11 CIRCUS OF VOICES - which includes a low voice (Lynn Eldridge), a bubble voice (Merle Louise)

12 BUBBLES IN ME BONNET], a split personality (Polly Pen), and a fast voice (Michael McCormick). Charlotte is such a hit that she winds up giving six shows daily

13 A-WEAVING - When she and her voice give out

14 QUEENLY COMMENTS - The wily manager attempts to murder his troupe but is defeated, and all ends happily, of course.

15 CHOCOLATE SOLDIER

As Ethel Mertz, Vivian Vance sings "Shortnin' Bread" and then "My Hero" is a skit from the "I Love Lucy" series. Going on behind and unbeknownst to her are the antics of the other three protagonists, Lucy, Ricky and Fred. Near the end Ethel realizes what's been going on and goes through a vocal breakdown.

16 DEBUSSY

Peter Ustinov gives his comedic take on the songs of Debussy

17 ELEMENTS

Satirist Tom Lehrer performs his setting of the table of elemtns in the style of a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song.

18 EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE SONDHEIM

A spot-on Sondheim spoof by Alan Chapman.

19 FRAU

Anfter the Ponselle sisters, there was Leonie and Lotte Rysanek. Here, during this 1982 Vienna performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten, Leonie sings the role of the Empress and her sister Lotte sings the role of the Falcon.

20 GIACOMO LAURI-VOLPI

Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, age 79, talks about the art of singing then sings "Amor ti vieta" from Fedora.

21 I THINK HE'S GAY

Song by Pussy Tourelle, sung by Deb del Mastro.

22 I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND

Mrs. Yetta Bronstein performs the first Beatles hit, "I wann hold your hand".

23 KEEPING UP APPEARANCES

Patricia Rutledge portrays Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bou-QUET) forcing her wobbly piercing tones on anyone she can corner. Here she arrogantly shows up to help prepare a church production of The Boyfriend. She compares herself to a great diva.

24 KOL NIDREI

Johnny Mathis sings the Jewish prayer, Kol nidrei

25 LEHMANN

Lotte Lehmann explains away the excuse for her being short-breathed.

26 LITTLE JACK HORNER

Bass Alexander Kipnis sings the nursery song "Little Jack Horner".

27 LITTLE 'OL STATE OF TEXAS

In the 1951 film "Sons of the Prairie", bass Ezio Pinza sings "Little 'Ol State of Texas".

28 LOHENGRIN

Sandor Konya has a failed moment during "In fernem land" in this February 1964 performance of Lohengrin.

29 LUCIA

Ornell Smith clucks her way through Lucia. She even throws in her little mad scene cadenza.

30 LUCIA

At the end of the first half of the Mad Scene, soprano Renata Scotto ends the final note in a peculiar release during this April 21, 1973 broadcast.

31 LUCIA

The same moment, same singer eight years earlier (her fourth appearance in the house, 1st Lucia for the house). Did she ask that the orchestra come in and support her for the climax?

32 MACBETH

Dolora Zajic gives a ghoulish lauch during this performance of "la luce langue" from Macbeth.

CD 2:

01 MENOTTI

Peter Ustinov's uncanny spoof on the composer Gian-Carlo Menotti.

02 MINUTE WALTZ

Shari Lewis and her puppet Lambchop perform Chopin['s Minute Waltz (later recorded by Barbra Streisand).

03 MUSSORGSKY

Peter Ustinov was great with extemporaneous foeign accents, such as this parody on Modeste Mussorgsky.

04 NOTRE AMOUR

It's rare that there's a high-note-finish ossia in a classical art song. In Fauré's "Notre amour" soprano Mattiwilda Dobbs takes the high B instead of the A natural.

05 NOZZE

Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya, the mother of conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky sings "Porgi amor" from a 1948 Ru8sian language recording of Le nozze di Figaro .

06 NURSERY RHYMES

Cyril Ritchard, Boris Karloff and Cyril Ritchard recite nursery rhymes.

07 OKLAHOMA

"The Surrey With the Fringe On Top" sung in Yiddish.

08 ON OLD BROADWAY

Who knew Bette Davis could sing? Or can she sing "On Old Broadway".

09 OPERA OVERTURES

Mary Schneider yodels through The William Tell and Carmen.

10 OTELLO

Carlo Cossuta gets through a rough "Esultate!" and the announcer interrupts him.

11 PLEASE DON'T SAY NO

From the 1944 flick "Thrill Of A Romance", Lauritz Melchior sings "Please Don't Say No".

12 PURCELL

Peter Ustinov imitates due counter tenori as members of the Introspective Opera Group singing an aria from Purcell's King Knut.

13 PURITANI

Giovanni Roberti delivers a cat-like high F from I Puritani but ends the aria with a downward gliss to low Db...

14 PURITANI

Benvenuto Fellini sings the high F, adds adds a cadenza for tthe end.

15 PURITANI

Juan Diego Florez delivers perfect high Ebs and Dbs in this duet with Diana Damrau.

16 RIGOLETTO

Ornell Smith clucks "Caro nome" from Rigoletto.

17 RIGOLETTO

During a small Chicago production of Rigoletto, a man named Dahlstrom sings a hideous "Si, vendetta" and creates a scandal when he hits a high note in falsetto.

18 RIGOLETTO

Giacomo Lauri-Volpi is interviewed and then sings a verse of "La donna e mobile" from Rigoletto in a 1977 Madrid appearance.

19 SAMSON

Maria Maksakova and Nikander Khanaev sing "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" in this 1946 Russian language recording of Samson et Dalilah.

20 SCHÉHÉRAZADE

James Levine has to vamp an extra measure for Tatiana Troyanos during this performance of "Asie" from Ravel's Schéhérazade.

21 SCHICCHI

Call Child Protective Services! 10-year-old Jackie Ivanco has been forced into maturity about 15 years early. It appears her mother has made her darken her voice to sound "impressive". Of course, she's a big hit, but, thank God for her, she didn't win "America's Got Talent" Here she sings "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi.

22 STRANGERS ON MY FLIGHT

Before profiling, a Sinatra-wanna-sound-alike-plus-racist changes the words for "Strangers in the night"..

23 TCHAIKOVSKY & OTHERS

From the movie "Lady In The Dark", Danny Kaye recites the names of all those Russian composers.

24 THANK YOUS

In an early cabaret appearance, Patti Lupone thanks her stage crew and then sees Stephen Sondheim in the audience. She embarassingly and shamefully begs him to cast her in his next show..

25 TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS

At first, I thought this recording was pitched high. No, it's jsut Tiny Tim in good form.

26 TOSCA

"E lucenvan le stelle" never had it so bad: Sirach van Bodegraven gives his usual vocal styling.

27 TOSCA

The Tosca production really offends an audience member while Jose Carreras sings his Act III aria "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca

28 TOSCA

Grace Bumbry's Tosca sings a C in chest when she compliments her (now dead)Cavaradossi during this New Year's Day 1977 broadcast.

29 TOSCA

The producers of the recording of Tosca with Birgit Nilsson, Franco Corelli, Dietrich Fuscger-Dieskau and Georg Solti went to great pains of realism: they recorded running feet in the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, cannon shots, the opening of a creaky window in the Palazzo Farnese and gun shots from the top of Castel Sant Angelo. Here they all are.

30 TRAVIATA

Irena Milkeviciute and Virgilijus Noreika battle it out in Lithuanian in this Act II, Scene 2 excerpt from La traviata.

31 TROVATORE

Here are two combined recordings (sorta) of the Miserere from Il trovatore. They artists, Giovanni Martinelli and Celestina Boninsegna, were recorded separately.

32 TURANDOT

The young tenor Hugues Cuenod made his Met debut at the green age of 81 as the Emperor Altoum in the Zeffirelli production-that-ate Detroit in 1983. He's seated basically at Amsterdam Avenue so his singing is a bit distant.

33 WE'RE IN THE MONEY

Ginger Rogers lapses into pig-latin while singing "We're In The Money" in the film "Golddiggers of 1933".