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The Mapleson Cylinders - Program Notes
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Lillian Nordica
(1857-1914), American soprano from Farmington,
Maine, sang with Colonel Mapleson's competing company at the Academy of Music
during the Metropolitan Opera House's first season, 1883-84. Her Met
debut was as Valentine in Huguenots, on December 18,
1891, with Jean and Edouard De Reszke. During 1902-03, when Lionel
Mapleson recorded her in four operas, Nordica performed Isolde, Elsa (she had
been the first to sing that role in Bayreuth), all three Brünnhildes,
Marguerite in Faust, and Donna Anna. The highest paid
woman on the roster that season, she was guaranteed thirty-five performances at
$1,250 each, sang thirty-five, plus three Sunday-night concerts (one of
them the Verdi Requiem ). GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG (Brünnhilde): Side 11/Bands
6-8
HUGUENOTS (Valentine): Side 2/Bands 6-8
SIEGFRIED (Brünnhilde): Side 11/Band 5
TRISTAN (Isolde): Side 9/Bands 6-10
WALKÜRE (Brünnhilde): Side 10/Bands 3, 4, 8
