The seven Pathé recordings of Maurice Renaud - Léonore! viens - La Favorite (Donizetti)

The great French baritone Maurice Renaud made seven recordings for the Pathé company in 1902 or 1903. Originally issued on cylinders, Pathé later re-issued the recordings on discs when they began production of that format in 1905. While all of Renaud's recordings for the Gramophone and Typewriter and its French equivalent have been re-issued in recent years, the Pathé recordings, which are poorer in quality and yet of great interest, have not had, to my knowledge, the same privilege. As I happen to have the set on original 29 cm discs I thought it would be useful to put them here.

These have all been transferred acoustically, using a Pathé Concert sound box and large horn. The particular rarity is the Sigurd record, which rôle Renaud himself premiered. I have tried to include all the recorded information on the discs, including the announcements which are done by Renaud himself, as well as some isolated, random tracks found at the end of "Le Soir" on which one can clearly hear the rubbing of the master cylinder from which the the record was dubbed by Pathé (as were all these discs - the rubbing can be also heard prominently of the Tannhauser track). As the discs were made in Paris I have transferred them at the usual French pitch, A=435. I find that the slightest variation from this will alter Renaud's voice considerably.

[sananton]

From Marston:

"Renaud recorded seven two-minute cylinders for Pathé in 1903, and the same selections were subsequently issued by the company in disc format. For years, collectors have assumed that the Pathé discs derived from the 1903 cylinders. Now that five of the 1903 cylinders have come to light, it is evident that they are not the same recordings as the issued Pathé discs. Research by Christian Zwarg indicates that the disc recordings were made in 1906."

It seems that he made at least 14 recordings for Pathé, probably 16.