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

01 CAT DUET

The proper way to begin Volume IV. The Rossini Cat Duet as sung by Leontyne Price and Regine Crespin.

02 CHOCOLATE SOLDIER

Josef Durchstecher, at the age of 16, entered one of those booths at an arcade and made a record, his first of many. You can actually hear the gun shooting at the moving ducks.

03 COLORATURA VARIATIONS

One of those sopranos for whom time has stopped, Maria Calabro sings the "Twinkle, twinkle little star" variations at the age of 83.

04 D7

A british "tenor" sings a reallyhigh D7 on a talk show.

05 FRA DIAVOLO

A man whose last name is Julius Lieban sings a soprano aria from Auber's Fra Diavolo.

06 GIOCONDA

In his inimitable style and key, Michael Aspinall sings "Suicidio" mimicking a certain diva.

07 GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG

Marilyn Horne strolls through the dramatic soprano realm singing the Immolation Scene with Erich Leinsdorf conducting. The excerpt is the rollicking finale.

08 GREETING

Giacomo Puccini sends a greeting to his fans.

09 HOFFMANN

A soprano whose last name is Prell shows off her high Eb at the end of the Doll Song from Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann.

10 HOFFMANN

Anja Silja, age 19 sings a charming Doll Song (auf Deutsch), a preparatory role for Brünnhilde (see CD 2, track 17).

11 LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

Mr. and Mrs. James McCracken (Sandra) sing this little Christmas tune.

12-16 LUCIA

A truly mad, mad, mad, mad performance of the mad scene from Lucia mad Anna Moffo madly delivers on this 1969 broadcast.

17 MADAMA BUTTERFLY

A true trainwreck happens in this entrance of Butterfly from a Philadelphia performance with Montserrat Caballe.

18 MAME

Eleanor Steber and Blanche Thebom, a duo who performed very often together in opera as well as recital, sing "Bosom Buddies."

19 MIGNON

The age of 88 has not depleted any of the rich sound of Giulietta Simionato, sung in Italian.

20 MORGEN

The Blanche to Maria's Baby Jane, Jacqueline Callas sings the well-known Strauss lied.

21 MY FAIR LADY

Renee Fleming goes overboard once again and sings "I Could Have Danced All Night."

22 NATIONAL ANTHEM

The Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton, sorta sings the National Anthem.

23 NIGHTINGALE

A Russian soprano with the name Alla Solenkova, sings a remarkable "Song of the Nightingale."

24 NORMA

Donald Gramm interpolates an aria written by Wagner in this 1971 Boston performance of Norma.

25 NOZZE DI FIGARO

Giulietta Simionato, at a birthday party for Karl Böhm, sings Cherubino's "Non so piu". Down an octave.

CD 2:

01 NYMPHS AND SHEPHERDS

Cathy Berberian sings her rendition, or rather someone else's rendition in this classic performance from a recital.

02 OTELLO

In this 1980 broadcast, Richard Cassilly should have thought twice about agreeing to perform. He cancelled after the first act.

03 OUR VOICES WERE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER

Helen Traubel and Jimmy Durante in one of their many radio shows.

04 PAGLIACCI

Jose Carreras makes an appearance on TV's Sesame Street and sings Vesti la giubba for Ernie.

05 PARIDE ED ELENA

The youthful-sounding 64-year-old Erna Berger sings the classic "O del mio dolce ardor."

06 PATRIOTIC SONG

Tenor Lucien Muratore sings a patriotic melody. The voice in the distance is his wife, Lina Cavalieri.

07 REQUIEM

On March 29, 1959 the second of two performances of theVerdi Requiem occured. For the first, the week before, Heidi Krall replaced Zinka Milanov (go figure). Milanov decided she would do the second performance, but apparently she knew something no one else knew as she carried her purse onstage with her, thus being prepared for a hasty exit if necessary. Here is her complete albeit incomplete performance that Friday night. The other soloists were Rosalind Elias, Carlo Bergonzi and Giorgio Tozzi. The conductor was Bruno Walter in his final appearance at the Met.

She "fainted" slightly, got back stage left (closer to the stage door) and was tended to by Francis Robinson. Zinka overheard someone suggest a glass of whiskey. At that, Mme. toned lowly, "Brandy!" Robinson ran to the bar across the street from the stage door, ordered a glass of their finest brandy and proceeded to run back to the house and at the same time, being chased by the bartender.

08 SALOME

It is rather obvious that Richard Lewis was not in the best of health for the wonderful recording of Salome conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. He was able to vocally emit everything except for two phrases: "Sie ist ein Ungeheuer, deine Tochter. Ich sage dir, sie ist ein Ungeheuer!" The Herod of the sessions, James King, sang these phrases for him as they were below Lewis' available range.

09 TANCREDI

A baritone named Andre Bauge and Ninon Vallin sing this duet version of Di tanti palpiti from Rossini's Tancredi.

10 TANNHÄUSER

Jazz great Stan Kenton presents his rendition of the overture form Tannhäuser.

11 TE AMO

A popular duet as sung by Judy Canova and Ezio Pinza

12-14 TOSCA

Michael Aspinall demonstrates how Act II of Tosca really should be done.

15 TOSCA

Galina Vishnevskaya and Matteo Manuguerra sing the finale of Act II of Tosca. Ms. Vishnevskaya really gets into it and that's putting it mildly.

16 WALKÜRE

At the Levine Gala, Birgit Nilsson made a brief speaking appearance and gave the audience a morsel of her Ho jo to ho.

17 WALKÜRE

19-year-old Anja Silja, ten months after having sung the Doll in a Les contes d'Hoffmann, sang her first Brünnhilde in Stuttgart.

18 YMA DREAM

A very funny monologue by Thomas Ian as read by Christine Ebersoll.

19 ZAUBERFLÖTE

Ingrid Höfer, who is classified as a dramatic soprano but she's more closer to the fach eighteen-wheeler soprano. She sings everything from Elsa to Erda. The opening section of this Queen of the Night aria has as much "Goddamnitall, let's get this section over with" attitude as the B section is slow and prodding. And boy does she prod.