Introduction

This volume analyses the interpretations of those arias from the so-called bel canto repertoire which Luisa Tetrazzini recorded between 1904 and 1922. This introduction provides context and draws attention to the technical constraints and the rudimentary technologies involved in the production of early discs. Many limitations affected the manner in which music was recorded and a number of important decisions had to be taken, which we should bear in mind when listening to them. For instance, small ensembles substituted for full orchestras and music scores had to be cut to fit the disc length. Each chapter seeks to reconstruct the phases of the nineteenth-century performing tradition and focuses on the main characteristics of those arias taken into consideration. Given the much-insisted-upon importance of the connection between the dramatic settings and the music, each aria is discussed with regard to the connection between its lyrics and musical structure.