In fernem Land – Leo Slezak
The book I’m currently reading in the evenings contains a scene in which members of a family listen to a gramophone record of Leo Slezak singing In fernem Land from the opera Lohengrin by Richard Wagner. Being the anorak I am I searched around the many recordings made by Slezak and I reckon it must be this one. The sound quality isn’t great, but then it was recorded way back in 1907 and it always amazes me that you can hear anything at all from over a century ago. It’s an interesting performance because it’s taken at quite a slow tempo and Slezak’s voice sounds to my ears more like a lyric tenor than the Heldentenor one normally associates with Wagnerian roles. Anyway, it’s well worth a listen as there’s much to appreciate and it’s very different from modern renditions.
Now that you’ve heard the record, I wonder if you can guess the book I’m reading? Answers through the comments box please!
In the Dark 
November 13, 2023 at 8:13 pm
I’m now wondering how many 78 rpm records would be needed to record Lohengrin in its entirety.
November 13, 2023 at 8:27 pm
It depends on whether you want to record the intervals.
November 13, 2023 at 9:22 pm
I can’t dispute that.
November 13, 2023 at 10:50 pm
Can’t say have heard of Leo Slezak before. It was a pretty decent recording for 1907. I looked him up a bit, and liked this bit, “Seeing his feathered transportation disappear into the wings, Slezak ad-libbed to the audience: “Wann fährt der nächste Schwan?” (“When does the next swan leave?”).”
No clue about the book.
November 14, 2023 at 11:36 am
I knew that story but not who said it. Thank you!
November 14, 2023 at 11:34 am
You can hear a recording of someone from 1860 here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonautograph
and we have Tennyson reciting a bit of his Charge of the Light Brigade, which is easily found on YouTube.
November 17, 2023 at 9:39 am
[…] This is the novel in which the Mann family sits around listening to a gramophone record of In fernem Land sung by Leo Slezak I mentioned a few days […]