I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Victor Musical Masterpieces Series Album (M-76)
1929
Since the beginning of the recording industry it had long been an elusive dream to record entire Classical works on single long-playing records. Seven-inch discs only gave two minutes of sound, ten-inchers three and twelve-inchers four at a speed in the upper 70s-80 RPM. Edison briefly marketed LPs in the late 1920s with very tiny grooves at 80 RPM but they proved a failure. RCA Victor tried a 33-1/3 RPM format in the early 1930's but that too didn't take off. That new speed, however, was used by Columbia to finally launch a lasting product in 1948.

In the meantime, the other answer was to record a long piece on several sides/discs and sell it together in an album. European record companies had already been doing this for awhile while American ones did so sporadically. However, the pre-1925 acoustic method of recording didn't provide the technical quality needed to capture such performances in the way they could be heard satisfactorily. The introduction of mainstream electrical recording in 1925 changed that. Interest in recording complete Classical works spiked and albums, introduced by Victor and Columbia in 1924, really took off in the late 1920s. However as mentioned, they weren't single long-playing records. These albums were usually in book form with each page being a sleeve for the appropriate disc. Printed descriptions were sometimes present too. If the symphony or opera was long enough, two or more "books" were used so a singular one wouldn't be so heavy and easily damaged by its own weight. This arrangement is why later on LPs and CDs were called "albums", even though most of them are singular discs. It was an inherited term.

Victor launched its Musical Masterpiece Series line of albums in 1927. This one, M-76, was recorded on 18 12-inch sides (9 discs). Some sides were re-recorded months later with higher take numbers to replace earlier issued ones since deemed substandard.
Encoded Speed: 192 Kbps

	Page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
To listen to The Prologue (Parts 1 & 2) consecutively, click HERE.
To listen to Act 1 (Parts 3-11) consecutively, click HERE.
To listen to Act 2 (Parts 12-18) consecutively, click HERE.
To listen to all parts consecutively, click HERE.

I Pagliacci: Part 1: Prologue: Si può? (A Word Allow Me!)	I Pagliacci: Part 2: Prologue: Un nido di memorie (A Song of Tender Memories)
Apollo Granforte, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Apollo Granforte, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9655-A	Victor 9655-B
Matrix# 58239 (CM 807(delta) IIA), Take 2	Matrix# 58240 (CM 816(delta) IIA), Take 2
April 11, 1929	April 15, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy

I Pagliacci: Part 3: Act 1: Son quà (They Come!)	I Pagliacci: Part 4: Act 1: Via di lì! (Un tal gioco, Credetemi) (Get Away!-Such A Game, Believe Me, Friends)
Alessandro Valente-Nello Palai, with Members of Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Alessandro Valente-Adelaide Saraceni-Apollo Granforte-Nello Palai-Menni, with Members of Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9656-A	Victor 9656-B
Matrix# 58241 (CM 805(delta) I), Take 1	Matrix# 58242 (CM 820(delta) III, 2_054310), Take 3
April 10, 1929	September 24, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy

I Pagliacci: Part 5: Act 1: I zampognari! Coro delle campanelle (Hark! 'Tis The Bagpipes)	I Pagliacci: Part 6: Act 1: Qual fiamma avea nel guardo! (How Fierce He Looked)
Alessandro Valente, with Members of Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Adelaide Saraceni, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9657-A	Victor 9657-B
Matrix# 58243 (CM 804(delta) IA), Take 1	Matrix# 58244 (CM 806(delta) I), Take 1
April 10, 1929	April 10, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy

I Pagliacci: Part 7: Act 1: Sei là? (So, ben che difforme) (What! Thou?-I Know That You Hate Me)	I Pagliacci: Part 8: Act 1: Nedda! Silvio! A quest'ora che imprudenza (Nedda! Silvio! At This Hour)
Adelaide Saraceni-Apollo Granforte, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Adelaide Saraceni-Leonildo Basi, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9658-A	Victor 9658-B
Matrix# 58245 (CM 815(delta) IIIA), Take 3	Matrix# 58246 (CM 825(delta) IIA), Take 2
April 15, 1929	April 19, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy

I Pagliacci: Part 9: Act 1: No! Più non m'ami! (No! You Do Not Love Me!)	I Pagliacci: Part 10: Act 1: Cammina adagio e li sorprenderai! (Tread Lightly)
Adelaide Saraceni-Apollo Granforte-Leonildo Basi, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Alessandro Valente-Adelaide Saraceni-Apollo Granforte-Nello Palai-Leonildo Basi, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9659-A	Victor 9659-B
Matrix# 58247 (CM 826(delta) IV), Take 4	Matrix# 58248 (CM 829(delta) II), Take 2
April 22, 1929	April 22, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy

I Pagliacci: Part 11: Act 1: Recitar! (Vesti la giubba) (To Act! With My Heart Maddened With Sorrow)	I Pagliacci: Part 12: Act 2: Intermezzo to Act 2
Alessandro Valente, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9660-A	Victor 9660-B
Matrix# 58249 (CM 802(delta) II), Take 2	Matrix# 58250 (CM 801(delta) IA), Take 1
April 10, 1929	April 10, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy

I Pagliacci: Part 13: Act 2: Presto, affrettiamoci (Quickly, Sweet Gossip)	I Pagliacci: Part 14: Act 2: Pagliaccio, mio marito (My Husband, Punchinello)
Adelaide Saraceni-Apollo Granforte-Nello Palai-Leonildo Basi, with Members of the Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Adelaide Saraceni-Nello Palai, with Members of the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9661-A	Victor 9661-B
Matrix# 58251 (CM 821(delta) II), Take 2	Matrix# 58252 (CM 814(delta) IIIA), Take 3
April 18, 1929	April 15, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy
Note: Source overmodulated.

I Pagliacci: Part 15: Act 2: E dessa! Dei, com' è bella! (Behold Her! Ah, How Surpassing Fair!)	I Pagliacci: Part 16: Act 2: Arlecchin!-Colombina! (Dear Harlequin!-My Colombine!)
Adelaide Saraceni-Apollo Granforte-Nello Palai, with Members of the Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Alessandro Valente-Adelaide Saraceni-Apollo Granforte-Nello Palai, with Members of the Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9662-A	Victor 9662-B
Matrix# 58253 (CM 817(delta) IA), Take 1	Matrix# 58254 (CM 818(delta) IIA), Take 2
April 16, 1929	April 16, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy

I Pagliacci: Part 17: Act 2: No, Pagliaccio non son! (No Punchinello No More)	I Pagliacci: Part 18: Act 2: Suvvia, così terribile davver non ti credeo! (I Never Knew, My Dear)
Alessandro Valente-Adelaide Saraceni-Leonildo Basi, with Members of the Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno	Alessandro Valente-Adelaide Saraceni-Apollo Granforte-Nello Palai-Leonildo Basi, with Members of the Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Carlo Sabajno
Victor 9663-A	Victor 9663-B
Matrix# 58255 (CM 810(delta) X), Take 10	Matrix# 58256 (CM 811(delta) I), Take 1
January 3, 1930	April 12, 1929
Milan, Italy	Milan, Italy

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