Ernestine Schumann-Heink 12" Victrola 78rpm Schubert’s "Erlkonig" 1911 s/sided
£
22
$
29
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
Buy this 1911 operatic rarity,
and help rescue BADGERS, and other wildlife!
We'll be selling LOTS MORE lovely 78 rpm RARE operatic
and classical-vocal items soon, so keep an eye on our listings.
Don't forget!
If you buy MORE THAN ONE ITEM we will offer you
a HUGE POSTAGE DISCOUNT!
Here we have the great Czech/German contralto Ernestine Schumann Heink.
She is performing a knockout version of Schubert’s chilling Erlkonig (the Elf King) with orchestral accompaniment on a nice clean single-sided Victrola 12” 78 numbered 88342.
There is a tiny “1” in the dead wax around the label, which leads us to believe that this is the first version recorded in New York on the 7th of December 1911.
She recorded it again, the following month.
Both “takes” appear to have been released, under the same catalogue number, and in the absence of any indications to the contrary, we reckon that this is version one.
Thank you Robert Johannesson.
As a bonus, it has the early non-bat-wing label.
This isn’t a record in totally mint condition.
It has a few very light in-and-out-of-the-sleeve-marks which don’t matter a hill o’ beans, and it plays very well indeed.
Using the vague and confusing VJM grading system, we reckon that it’s a pretty darn good V+++ or thereabouts. It's been stored, probably, in a rough paper sleeve, so the surface looks slightly dull. However.. it plays very well, both electrically and acoustically.
The performance is, of course, exemplary.
Ernestine recorded it electrically some years later, and that 1929 Victor is also well worth seeking out.
However (and we’ve said this before in previous listings) it always amazes us why, after hearing Sigrid Onegin’s blood-curdling version on Brunswick, other contraltos didn’t just pack up and go home.
Meanwhile.. this is probably the second best version ever recorded.
Fill your boots.
NO OVERSEAS bidders please.
And NO OVERSEAS bidders using UK addresses please.
SORRY, NO BUYER COLLECT...but.. if you buy MORE THAN ONE RECORD we will give you a HUGE discount on POSTAGE!
price rating
