this screen might appear when comparing two different singers' recordings of a single title. Corresponding points in the score may be set on each applet so that they may be compared phrase by phrase.
This first CD-ROM in the projected Audio Encyclopedia covers many of the major male singers of the British Empire born in the 19th century. The recordings vary widely in their inherent interest and audio quality. Since our purpose has been to provide insight into the wealth of vocal talent of that era, we have processed the data only to the extent needed for fair representation and supplied them in modest sound quality. Related matters are discussed below, with information on browsers for this disc and information on contacting the publisher.
You are invited to continue with this text or to jump directly to the files
on
John McCormack ,
Peter Dawson,
Horace Stevens,
Fraser Gange,
various Men of Empire or
all singers arranged by composer and title.
The author of Men of Empire is Harold Byrnes, whose decades of collecting and transcribing historic recordings led to the selections on this disc. Hal also provided most of the biographies and other text. His contribution was supplemented by many of the titles and all of the text on Fraser Gange, which were provided by Patty Fagan and John Graves.
The hundreds of sides on this disc barely scratch the surface of Hal's collection, which alone will be enough to supply many more volumes of the Audio Encyclopedia. Your response to this first volume will be essential in continuing the project; please take a moment to let us know of your interest.
An encyclopedia is a comprehensive condensation of information on a topic. In general, it contains summary material and references to full treatments. If one looked up Shakespeare, one would find a biography; a background; sketches of the natures and relationships of the plays and sonnets; and references to many of the volumes on his life, work and times. For a painter, it might include thumbnails of some or even all of his work. A paper volume on a singer would convey similar information without any audible indication of the performer's art. One needs a 'thumbnail' of a singer, a low-fidelity copy of a complete recording.
Where a conventional CD is limited to about 74 minutes, a CD-ROM can hold 20 hours of audio at 11 KHz sampling, 8 bits, monaural sound. Because the sound quality is low, the result will no more substitute for the best quality of recording than a summary of a Shakespeare plot can replace the original. But like a plot outline, it can fill some very valuable roles including locating an elusive snippet and resolving uncertainties in such documentation as matrix numbers. By using the CD-ROM format, the encyclopedia also offers a range of indexing options. On this disc, the McCormack recording of "Vesti la giubba" may be compared immediately with those of his contemporaries or assessed against other recordings he made in the same session by selecting the appropriate index into the sound files.
In those and other respects, an audio encyclopedia resembles its paper cousin. It is a reference work, not a comprehensive treatment, and it supports locating authoritative sources rather than being one. In this case, one may hope it serves another function: to inspire publishers to seek out and to issue some of this material in more popular format, taken from superior masters and processed to enhance the sound quality. To that extent, this volume may not only inform scholars but also entertain the public.
A key design decision for this project was the use of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and of a World-Wide Web browser to access it. Many factors dictated that choice, notably the availability of browsers operational on a wide range of computing platforms. We have verified its operation on PC's and Macintosh's of several types and with different operating systems, and (to a lesser extent) on a Unix system. Since you have reached this point, you are presumed to have found a browser and been able to access at least the text of this prototype. Information on the on-line browser included on this disc is available here.
The choice of browser, helper application(s) and the way that you adapt them
can alter your perception of these files. One notable example is the sound
files, which are in the .WAV format. Some software configurations will begin to
play a selection as soon as the link is clicked; they are very convenient for
'easy listening'. Other configurations will load the selection before offering
you options for starting play; they are advantageous for comparisons of
selections. For example, using the opera browser on this disc in a Windows 3.1
environment,
this screen might
appear when comparing two different singers' recordings of a single title.
Corresponding points in the score may be set on each applet so that they may be
compared phrase by phrase.
Because there are so many hosts, browsers and applets, it is impractical to recommend specific software or configurations even at the time of publication. As computing evolves, the options will become even more numerous. Wendy Fuller-Mora has kindly provided a file macread.txt with assistance for the Macintosh user. Many of those using Unix systems will need to work with their administrators to configure a system.
The purpose of this disc is to provide students of opera access to information on singers of an important but neglected era. The audio files are of far lower quality than can be obtained from commercial discs or LP's; the student or scholar is urged to find other sources with better sound to continue investigating the music and the performers touched on here. Supplementing the present material may prove to be difficult, however. None of these singers is represented significantly today except for McCormack. Even reissues of McCormack appear to omit the essential Odeon sessions included here.
The selections on this disc are from original recordings nominally recorded at 78 rpm. Where necessary, they have been painstakingly repitched by Harold Byrnes. Mike Richter processed the tapes to obtain the best sound quality practical. The most intrusive ticks and pops were edited byte by byte, but little more was done to optimize the sound. As a result, the quality varies considerably among selections and none approaches high fidelity.
Any observations you may have on this disc or on the idea of the Audio Encyclopedia will be welcome. The easiest way to feed back is to send me e-mail at mrichter@mindspring.com or to browse my web site at http://mrichter.simplenet.com. (No off-disc hotlinks are supplied since one must be online to implement them.)
If you prefer to use conventional mail or telephone, the editor/publisher
can be reached at:
Michael Richter
2600 Colby Avenue
Los Angeles, California, USA
90064
310-477-7969 (voice)
310-235-0116 (fax)
(All personal information above is accurate as of January 1997.)