XVI. Opera Recordings
and Discography
This section is a guide to useful works of reference about opera recordings in audio
and video formats.
434.Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound in the United States.Ed. Guy A. Marco;
contributing ed. Frank Andrews. New York: Garland, 1993. xlix, 910p. ISBN
0-8240-4782-6. ML102 .S67 E5.
The first extensive reference work to cover a wide range of topics in the area of
recorded sound: history, terminology, technology, labels, performers, industry
executives, and related subjects; with contributions by 32 specialists. “Opera
Recordings,” by Guy A. Marco and William Ashbrook (p.484–491) is a his-
torical survey of recordings of single arias or numbers and of complete sets.
There are separate articles on singers and conductors that identify their princi-
pal recordings and cite discographies about them. Bibliography of about 1,500
entries (full data); expansive index of names, firms, topics, and categories of
performers.
435.Rigler and Deutsch Record Index. Washington: Association for Recorded
Sound Collections, 1981–1983. 977 microfiches. Online through RLIN.
An index to holdings of 78rpm discs in the New York Public Library, Yale U.,
Syracuse U., Stanford U., and the Library of Congress. Some 615,000 record-
ings are listed. The index offers access by composer, title, performer, and label.
Details in Duckles10.69.- Moses, Julian Morton. Collectors’ Guide to American Recordings, 1895–1925.
New York: American Record Collectors Exchange, 1949. 199p. Reprint, New
York: Dover, 1977. ML156.2 .M67.
Brief biographical information on about 225 performers, with more than
7,000 acoustic recordings made by them. Serial or matrix numbers, index by
opera and instruments. - Blyth, Alan. Opera on CD: The Essential Guide to the Best CD Recordings of
100 Operas.3rd ed. London: Kyle Cathie, 1994. viii, 211p. ISBN 1-8562-
6139-5. ML156.4 .O6 B6.