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The Durbeck
Archive is primarily a repertory-based documentation of world
composers and their classical vocal works as issued on long playing
phonograph records during the LP era, ca.1950-1990 - in all editions.
The categories of these classical vocal works include all of the art
song literature, all operas, all choral compositions, all symphonic
compositions which include vocal parts and other ad hoc, loosely
associated, classically attributed vocal works. The chronology of The
Durbeck Archive documents about 1700 Years (III-XX Centuries) of
classical vocal music in the development of Western Civilization and
Culture - specializing in opera and music drama. The Durbeck Archive
is essentially the classical vocal "soundtrack" for this
era on long playing records.
The fundamental
intent of The Durbeck Archive, in the realm of classical vocal music
on LP, is to have at least "one of everything," for
example, at least one recording of every Schubert song; at least one
recording of every Mozart opera; at least one recording of every Bach
cantata and mass et cetera.
All LPs are
purchased based on the content of their repertoire. An LP will often
be selected solely for the inclusion of a single song by an obscure
composer, even when performed by a lesser known vocal artist. The
purpose is to represent the composer and the song in The Durbeck
Archive, not to restrict the roster of artists to the
"famous" and "more famous." The singer is
important, but the diversity of the music is the rudimentary
foundation for the musical corpus of The Durbeck Archive - prima
la musica.
Following the
"one of everything" principle, accumulating the widest
possible variety of performing artists is of collateral importance in
The Durbeck Archive. After a single musical selection has been
obtained by a single performer, a second or third - ad infinitum -
performance of the same work is important for the sake of a
comparative stylistic performance legacy. For the student,
historian, biographer, bibliographer, discographer, researcher or
pedagogue, such comparative listening is an invaluable observance for
historical cultural and ethnic studies in terms of musical
interpretation, vocal technique, musicianship, era stylization and
other various eccentricities of all vocal performance.
The Durbeck Archive does muster a world-class multi-national roster
of singers.
Thinking
"outside the groove," The Durbeck Archive is to the LP what
the Library of Congress is to the "book" in terms of being
an important "first edition" repository. While a paperback
edition of Tom Sawyer or Gone With The Wind, will have
the same textual equality as a first edition, it is the first edition
which adds sociological, academic and collector value beyond the mere
content of the novel. Moreover, the owning of subsequent editions,
beyond the first edition, further extends the exponential value of
the publishing history of any major publication or recording.
Concomitantly, LPs in The Durbeck Archive are treated as prized
artifacts with due respect and consideration given to all facets of
an LP's being - "inside the groove" or "outside the groove."
The packaging and
jacket art of the LP industry has been largely ignored by museum
curators and institutional librarians as a publication artform unto
itself. However, edition variations of the printed collateral
provide an important contribution to the significance and
understanding of the recorded music in terms of the musical and
cultural information conveyed. These literary conveyances,
generically known as "liner notes," have often been written
by prominent authors, generally not associated with musical writing;
for example, one by Aldous Huxley on Renaissance music. These liner
notes are often solitary literary excursions into this venue and are
almost never re-published in other scholarly publications. The
Durbeck Archive archives LPs from the inception of the LP as a
consumer item. These include not only domestic (USA) labels, but
internationally produced LP labels as well. The packaging and
jacket art from the earliest produced LPs to the present, is a
catalogue of artistic variety and aesthetic license; consider, one LP
jacket was designed by Salvador Dali specifically for an
individual LP release. This "outside the groove" adventure
conveys an entire cultural milieu which transcends the mere
music in the groove. Thousands of these jacket and packaging
artworks are represented in The Durbeck Archive. Now consider a
first edition of Gone With The Wind without an original dust
jacket: the value is substantially diminished. Consider
thousands of rare LPs with their "dust jackets" and other
original packaging: The Durbeck Archive is a formidable
"first edition library."
Consider, again,
the value of Gone With The Wind, with the dust jacket,
but now autographed by the author! Imagine that this book,
being in the presence of the author and at the same time, being
personally autographed by the author's own hand. There is a
historical presence amalgamated here by the time/space continuum of
this event. The Durbeck Archive considers such a signing as an
endorsement of an author's legacy. In the 50 year history
of The Durbeck Archive development, autographs have been obtained by
thousands of composers, singers, conductors and accompanists,
directors, librettists, liner note musicologists even including
jacket design artists and others. The largest majority of these
autographs are on LP jackets and books. Also included in The Durbeck
Archive are many personal letters and autographed photos. This
personal touch of autographs is a spiritual link to the epochs of
many artistic careers, all represented in The Durbeck Archive,
documenting the legacy of the LP era.
Documenting
Complete Opera
Recordings
of the LP Era
1950-1990
A
Catalogue Raisonné
The
raison d'être of The Durbeck Archive is to physically
own every possible complete opera recording appearing on the LP (long
playing, 33 1/3 rpm) format, both commercially issued and privately
issued. Currently the Archive contains about 8,500+ complete operas,
about 15,000 classical vocal recital LPs, about 8,000 choral LPs,
about 3,000 books and about 1,000+ videos.
The
reason for the 'LP restriction' is that there were (ostensibly) a
finite number of operas pressed and issued during this period, from
1950 to 1990. Therefore, it is not unreasonable (although, unlikely)
that all of these opera recordings issued in this forty year period
might actually be obtained. If it is not possible for me to obtain
all of them, at least what I have obtained will serve as 'best
evidence' for the body of every recording issued and those which I
have missed. Moreover, it is better to document one era and one
format - the LP era - as definitively as possible than to try to cope
with the never-ending issues and reissues of all the various tape
formats and CD's. That can be a lifetime project for someone else as
my LP project has been for me.
The
purpose of 'having everything' is for comparisons in listening,
packaging, documentation and to understand varieties of issuance in
different countries. All of these variables are only examinable when
the records are physically available. A relative comparison can be
made from discographies which have been prepared from dealers' lists,
record company catalogues etc., but the true documentation can only
be made when the records are physically available for inspection.
The
Durbeck Archive is the foremost source for this type of comparative
documentation, and will now make all this information available to
researchers, discographers, scholars, singers, conductors, all
performers and music lovers in general, in the form of my Datalogue®
database. As such, it will be the largest, most comprehensive
database of its kind in the history of recorded sound, and unique,
since the primary data for each initial entry is taken directly from
the recording - which includes the actual LPs themselves, the
packaging, the libretto and the liner notes. Conversely, on many
'pirated' or 'private label' recordings, a minimum of information is
listed, not only because these issues lacked resources, but were
sometimes intentionally sketchy (or even purposefully misleading) to
obfuscate performance dates and performers as a means of protection
for the 'piraters.' Therefore, to make these initial entries as
complete as possible, many details of the specific recording
information must be supplied from other sources. Most Russian
recordings very seldom offer more than role, singer, conductor,
orchestra or chorus information; they don't even provide the first
name of performers, simply 'J. Doevitch.' I have had to find what the
'J' actually stands for - possible in some instances, not possible in others.
The
research for additional entry information for all of these
recordings is about 99% complete. Some of the research digs deeply to
original sources, in that I have written many letters to performers,
composers etc., had many interviews with them - so these, I consider
to be definitive. I have consulted hundreds of books, journals, other
recordings, other discographies, the Internet and various other
printed sources but, certainly, there are many items of information
which I just have not found. To provide 100% of the missing
information is not the ultimate scope of this book.
Filler
Documentation: Another major
aspect of this Archive discography is that since I own all of the
operas I am cataloging, they are available to me for complete
inspection as they are being entered. Therefore, I am able to
determine content not directly related to the complete opera
recording. For example, a common practice with commercial
labels, as with "private" labels, is that often when a
complete opera recording does not completely fill the allotted side
assignment of single or multiple LPs, that unused portion of the LP
is often filled with other recordings - sometimes related to the
major work and sometimes not. For purposes of expediency, I
call these "bonus" recordings
"filler." To the best of my knowledge, these
"filler" recordings have never been documented - until
now. Having the first hand opportunity to directly
inspect each recording catalogued, I have fully documented the
"filler" on all complete opera recordings in The Durbeck
Archive. Often many of these "filler" recordings are
truly unique and singularly one-of-a-kind - only to be found in these
"filler" supplements.
Since
'the book' will actually be an Internet database, this
technology will allow the extraordinary ability to include many
photographs of unique record labels and record jackets. As these
labels and jackets are selected, they will be either scanned or
digitally photographed and held in a special photo-file then
hyperlinked to the appropriate entries. This will give many readers
the opportunity to see labels and jackets which might not be
available to them through standard sources.
Finally,
the question has been raised as to why I do not list operas which I
do not own. Again, to try to include every traceable complete opera
recording is beyond the scope of this book. This book is not meant to
be a history of recorded opera, it is meant only to be a catalogue raisonné
of The Durbeck Archive and, as such, will be an invaluable research
source for some other discographer who would like to write the
history of opera recordings. I am cataloging my Archive, someone else
can write the history books.
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