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CARUSO RECORDS: A History and Discography (John Bolig)
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$49 postpaid (US & Canada)
($60 postpaid elsewhere)

FEATURES INCLUDE:

Detailed chronological discography of all published and unpublished Caruso recordings, including:

  • Recording dates and locations
  • Matrix and take numbers
  • Accompaniment details
  • Correct playing speeds
  • All known issues in cylinder and 78-rpm format
Introductory chapters examining all aspects of Caruso's recording career and and records, including labels; physical characteristics and markings; recording contracts; piracies and other unusual issues; and Caruso-related records, sheet music, and ephemera

Newly discovered information concerning the recording and manufacture of Caruso's earliest releases

Eight pages of rare and unusual Caruso labels in full color

Complete subject index, plus title, partner, and issue-number indexes for easy location of any recording in the discography

216 pages, illustrated
Deluxe cloth library binding / dustjacket
ISBN 0-9671819-0-9
Library of Congress #2002115618

UNPUBLISHED CARUSO RECORD FOUND

May 20, 2004 - The 248th Caruso record has recently been found, and we can now account for exactly half of the 496 recordings made by the great tenor.

Caruso recorded two takes of the Pearl Fishers aria “De mon amie” on December 7, 1916, and the second take was published. The newly found version is the first of the two takes, and it is somewhat shorter in duration. John Bolig recently purchased this record, and a copy of a ten-inch introduction to the Rigoletto Quartet. Dr. Bolig was attracted to the Rigoletto record because it was autographed, and he immediately suspected that both records were unpublished test pressings. Three copies of the Rigoletto recording are now known to exist, and all were autographed by the great tenor.

In his book, Caruso Records, A History and Discography (Mainspring Press, 2002), Bolig wrote,

From time to time, a rumor will circulate about somebody hearing a Caruso recording that I have not listed, or of somebody owning unpublished test pressings. The first claim can be dismissed; it is highly unlikely that Caruso made any undocumented recordings. The test pressings are a different matter… Victor Talking Machine Company test pressings do not look like published records and only an expert would know what they are. They are usually oversized (eleven or thirteen inches in diameter), and they are usually unlabeled.

Bolig stated,

I believe that a few more Caruso recordings may be found someday, but I seriously doubt that I will ever again get the chance to buy two unpublished test pressings on the same day. It has been said that "luck favors the prepared mind," and that was probably true in this case. I wanted the autographed copy without realizing at first that it was the unpublished Rigoletto fragment, but the unlabeled second record was eleven inches in diameter, and it got my attention as soon as I heard about it.

For a lifelong record collector this is as good as it gets. It is quite a thrill to listen to a record that has not been played for almost eighty-eight years. I might be the only person alive who has ever heard it.


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