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Seek Rolls Played By Ruggero Leoncavallo
By Rowland Lee

Leonardo Forti wrote in 21.09.07 MMDigest:

> Does someone know whether the composer Ruggero Leoncavallo
> played himself rolls for any roll company (Welte, or others)?

John McClelland has pointed out [210914 MMDigest] that the few
recordings of his own works which were made by Leoncavallo were
all for Welte; one of these, with music from his biggest hit,
"I Pagliacci", was later re-mastered for Artecho.

It is interesting to compare this list with recordings made by
Leoncavallo's near-contemporary, Pietro Mascagni, who recorded
exclusively for Hupfeld. His rolls, initially released without
expression coding on Hupfeld's hand-played  "Animatic" label,
were later released with added coding as Triphonola rolls, and a
couple, with music from his biggest hit, "Cavalleria Rusticana",
were also re-mastered for Ampico.

The rolls by Leoncavallo with music from "La Boheme" have nothing
to do with the famous opera by Puccini; Leoncavallo wrote
a separate opera on the same story, which premiered one year
later than Puccini's opera, and which was almost immediately
eclipsed by Puccini's version.

It's a shame that the hugely successful Puccini didn't record any
rolls; he composed at the piano, was by all accounts a good pianist,
and was interested in all matters technological and fashionable.
He did, however, have an aversion to performing in public.

Greetings from the UK,
Rowland Lee


(Message sent Fri 17 Sep 2021, 10:39:20 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Leoncavallo, Played, Rolls, Ruggero, Seek

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