Lauritz Melchior

This is a companion to my recent post of Lauritz Melchior in The Student Prince, which can be found on the Big 10-Inch Record.

This 78 offers up the supposed "Bach-Gounod" version of "Ave Maria", a Melchior encore, and couples it with the 1898 Ethelbert Nevin groaner "The Rosary", a song that was considered outdated a generation before this recording was made in 1947.

The famous heldentenor was branching out from Wagner in the 1940s, appearing in movies, recording operetta, and indulging in salon songs such as this pair, which he inscribed for the record arm of M-G-M. He also was endorsing a variety of products, including the drug store after-shave lotion called Aqua Velva. The ad below displays the peculiar notion that you could sell scent by associating it with tenors, actors, violinists, generals and writers. Why, everyone knows that half-naked women are the way to go!

On this single, in the grand M-G-M tradition, Melchior has the posh backing of the studio orchestra, led by Georgie Stoll. The sound is reasonably good.

1947 ad (click to enlarge)