At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe is living in peace and prosperity. The “Belle Époque” is an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that are created and which evolve funnel both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It is within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction is invented. Early record labels send mobile crews literally all over the world to record local musicians. The range of the repertoire is endless. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favors polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also circulations in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolves dynamically and anisotropically, form a complex network of “centers” and “peripheries” in alternating roles setting musical idioms in motion, both literally and figuratively. The network in which the Greek-speaking urban popular song participates, constantly conversing with its co-tenants, is magnificent. Discography has already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between “national” repertoires. The result of this ongoing research is “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”.

There was no previous management model in the early period of discography. Each company creates their own networks, something that will allow them to take a dynamic lead in the market. New specialties and professions are created and new conditions emerge, or the need to update older facts, with the most serious being intellectual property. The latter, until then, concerned mostly printed commercial musical scores and the publishers’ rights. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but also plays a key role in its transformation. This time, the network is adjusted in a programmatic manner, under different terms and via new paths. The circulation of musics is already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses. Although popular repertoires play a very important part in the vital issue of the movement of musical tunes from place to place, and in their appropriation, recording and often complete incorporation into the repertoires of other ethno-cultural groups, scholar musical forms also participate in this transportation network: symphonic or soloistic pieces, arias, duets and trios from all kinds of operas, but also songs by composers such as Schubert, are translated and recorded in other languages, often with diversified orchestral ensembles. “Classical” music, originating mainly from the German-speaking, Italian-speaking and French-speaking world, through the new diffusion tools offered by discography, seek not only to penetrate international markets as a new medium, but to enter, in fact, into people’s own homes.

This recording is about Mario Cavaradossi's aria "E lucevan le stelle" (And the stars shone) from the third act of the opera "Tosca", to music by Giacomo Puccini and libretto by Luigi Illica - Giuseppe Giacosa. The three-act opera premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on January 14, 1900, with the Italian tenor Emilio De Marchi cast in the role of Mario.

The Italian libretto is based on Victorien Sardou's French drama "La Tosca", which premiered on November 24, 1887 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, with Sarah Bernard in the title role.

Two of the earliest recordings of the aria were those made in Milan in 1902 by the Italian tenors Carlo Caffetto (Gramophone 4272a - 52399) and Enrico Caruso (April 11, 1902, Gramophone 1790b - 5010 91009 52349 DA547 VA29).

The aria has been recorded and arranged countless times in historical discography, in various forms, languages and locations. For the performances, see here, here and here, in the database that emerged from Alan Kelly’s research as well as on Yuri Bernikov's archive website.

It was staged for the first time by the Greek National Opera in the summer theater of Klafthmonos square on August 27, 1942, during the German occupation. The title role was played by the then 18-year-old Elpida Kalogeropoulou, later Maria Callas, in her first participation as a protagonist in an opera performance.

In Greek historical discography, it was recorded either in Greek or Italian, by Antonis Melitsianos, Ioannis Kokkinis, Odysseas Lappas, Kostas Mylonas (present recording), Lysandros Ioannidis, Kostas Petropoulos, Giorgos Kanakis, Antonis Delendas and others. An arrangement, with Greek lyrics, of a short passage from the aria was sung by Petros Kyriakos in the song "Romaiiko glenti".

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis