Unsigned Opera Programs & Posters

Full program for a performance of Otello in London, 1939, with Vittorio Gui conducting, cast includes Lauritz Melchior in the title role, Mario Basiola, Maria Caniglia. Full program, 7.25 x 9.5 inches. Opera director Thomas Beecham is featured on the first page.

Program from Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a performance of Leoncavallo´s opera "Pagliacci" on August 5th, 1917. Caruso performed in the role of Canio, his signature role. This was the last performance he made of Pagliacci in Argentina. Caruso performed in Argentina in the late 1890s, when he was very young and before his great debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1903. He became there a superstar performing many different roles, being Canio in Pagliacci the most famous. He went back to Argentina to perform at Teatro Colon during seasons 1915 and 1917, and unfortunately he never had the chance to return again after 1917. Caruso performed Pagliacci 5 times during the Teatro Colon 1915 season, and only 4 times during the 1917 season, making a total of only 9 performances of Pagliacci at Teatro Colon. These programs are quite a rarity (this is actually the only Teatro Colon / Pagliacci with Caruso program we´ve seen in years). Program is complete, with all pages and covers, and in excellent condition. Program is large format: 6 x 11 inches, in very good quality paper.

Italian soprano (1797-1865), one of the greatest opera singers of the 19th century. Pasta created the title role in Anna Bolena (opera by Donizetti) and Amina in La Sonnambula plus the title role in Norma (both operas by Bellini). Original concert playbill from the Royal Theatre from 1828. Pasta sings music by Rossini and Meyerbeer (listed as "Mayerbeer") with other singers. Size is 8.25 x 12.25 inches, in good condition.

Early Naples 1860 libretto for Rigoletto, which was premiered in Venice in 1851. Full libretto with all pages, original covers are missing, 4.5 x 6.75 inches, in very good condition.

Group of 10 programs and 1 booklet, Salzburg Festivals 1930-32, including some famous conductors. Programs with detailed cast are 4.5 x 9 inches, the 1930 Rosenkavalier booklet is 5.75 x 9 inches, all in very good condition. See scans.

Lot including 4 Festival Almanach (I through IV) and 4 performance programs from the Salzburg Festival in 1942. Almanachs are brochures sized 6.75 x 9.5 inches each, and programs are 5.75 x 8.25 inches. ALSO INCLUDED are 2 Spielplans or brochures with the full festival schedule, each one is 4 x 8 inches, years 1939 and 1941.

Group of 8 Spielplans or Salzburg Festival performance plan programs, these are folded booklets showing all performances in the festival, each one is 4 x 8.25 inches each page. As an example, the 1933 Spielplan is shown expanded. All in very good condition, some repeats: 2 copies of 1934, 4 copies of 1939 and 2 of 1943, plus an extra, more detailed version of the 1938 Festival are all included in this lot.

Sofia Scalchi concert program, 1883, 4 pages, with details, performed with the Damrosch Orchestra in Cincinnati, in very good condition

Star German soprano (1804-1860) - creator of several Wagner roles - and Swedish prima ballerina (1804-1884), both central figures in their arts at their times. Large playbill announcement for a concert including both singers, Schroder-Devrient in a very early (June 1837) performance of Norma, and Taglioni in her signature piece La Sylphide, at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London. Size is 8 x 16.25 inches, minor paper loss on borders, otherwise in fine condition. Rare!!

Program for a recital by contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink in Wetenschappen, Holland, Nov 25th, 1896, Arthur De Greef also performing as piano soloist. Orchestra conducted by Richard Hol. One page, size is 6.5 x 9.75 inches, in good condition.

Performance by an all German cast during German Occupation of Belgium in World War I. Siegfried, May 9th, 1916 with Walther Kirchhof, Julius Lieban, Walter Soomer, Julius Roether, Rudolf Sollfrank, Hertha Dehmlow, Zdenka Mottl-Fassbender, Marta Weber-Neubeck. The orchestra was composed by Belgian and German Army Bands. Conductor : Richard Hagel. A rarity!

Performance program, with Max Lorenz and Astrid Varnay in the cast, Erich Kleiber conducts. Full program

Group of 10 recital programs, Vienna 1939-1944 for performances by :  Erna Sack (2 programs), Karl Schmitt-Walter, Alfred Poell, Heinrich Schlusnus, Elena Nikoloaidi (with 2 ticket stubs), Pretre Munteanu, Julius Polzer (signed), etc. Note the poor print quality of the Nikolaidi program, at the end of the war (December 1944) when paper and resources to print programs was very scarce. Various sizes, see scans

Group of 10 playbills announcing concerts with singers at Carnegie Hall, artists include Marcella Sembrich, Nina Tarasova, Maria Winetzkaja, Berrick von Norden, Geraldine Farrar, Louise Homer, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Fedor Chaliapin, Frieda Hempel, Ethyl Hayden, Lucrezia Bori, Alberto Salvi. Various sizes, all in good condition. See scans.

Group of 7 full programs for recitals at Carnegie Hall, 1917-1919, with soloists including Margarete Matzenauer, Hulda Lashanska, Louis Graveure, Helen Stanley, Marcia van Dresser, Lucy Gates and Belgian tragedian Carlo Liten, and a performance of Handel`s The Messiah with Ruth Rodgers, Arthur Hackett-Granville and others. Each program is complete with all pages and covers, sized 9.25 x 11.5 inches, in very good condition.

Group of 7 programs and 2 playbills for singer recitals at Carnegie Hall, New York. Singers include star soprano Rosa Ponselle, bass Joseph Schwarz, tenor Allen McQuhae, soprano Greta Masson, soprano Marguerite Namara, tenor Dimitri Dobkin, soprano Ms. John Hilton Land. Each program is 6 x 9 inches, in very good condition. ALSO INCLUDED are playbill announcements for recitals by Fedor Chaliapin and Frida Hempel (2 copies), both from the mid-1920s.

Lot of 9 programs Vienna singing recitals 1895-1917. 1) Recital of operasinger and actor Ludwig Wüllner. Songs and texts of Frederic the Great, Will Vesper, Schiller, Theodor Körner, Detlev von Liliencron, Homeros. At the piano : Wolfgang Ruoff. Vienna, 30 November 1915. 2) Recital of actor and violinist Ferdinand Bonn. Godard, Bizet, Schumann. Vienna, 25 January 1901. At the piano : Alexander Manhart. 3) Recital of actor and violinist Ferdinand Bonn. Vienna, 6 March 1902. At the piano : Alexander Manhart. 4) Recital of singer Ferdinand Jaeger and the blind pianist Gennaro Fabozzi. Schubert, Hugo Wolf, Bach, Scarlatti, Fabozzi, Chopin, Carl Lowe.   Musikverein Vienna, 25 November 1899. At the piano for the songs : Ferdinand Foll. 5) Oskar Nedbal conducting the Wiener Tonkunstler Orchestra. Pianist : Marianne Munk. Liszt : Totentanz and recital of singer Paul Bender. Schubert, Schumann, Wolf. At the piano : Carl Lafite. Musikverein Vienna, 27 January 1917. 6) Recital of singer Marcella Pregi and pianist Marie Baumayer. Vienna 21 March 1910. Schubert, Schumann, Brahms. Marie Baumayer plays Beethoven and Brahms. At the piano for the songs : Ferdinand Foll. 7) Amalie Materna sings Wagner Tristan und Isolde Liebestod. Vienna, April 11th, 1911. Rare performance of Amalie Materna close to her 67th birthday. She retired in 1894. 8) Recital of Wagner´s favorite singer Theodor Reichmann and violinist Emile Sauret. Hugo Wolf, Richard Heuberger, Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Ernst, Carl Lowe, Saint Saens, Emile Sauret, Massenet. Musikverein Vienna, 10 February 1899. Program from the estate of Melanie Koechert, lover of Hugo Wolf from 1879 until his death in 1903. 9) Hermann Winkelmann, Sophie Chotek, Pianists : Ferdinand Löwe and Ferdinand Foll. Conductor of the choir : Josef Schalk. On the program : Wagner, Liszt, etc. Vienna Musikverein, 28 November 1895. The Wiener Akademischer Wagner Verein was the first official Wagner Association in history and had amongst its members composers like Bruckner, Hugo Wolf and Mahler.

Beautiful playbill announcement for an upcoming performance of La Fille du Regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment), opera by Donizetti, with star sporano Henriette Sontag (1806-1854) as Marie. Niblo`s Garden, Feb 18th, no year mentioned but 1853 is written in pencil on the lower right end and we assume it maybe correct - this would be just months before she passed away at age 48. Also announced below is an upcoming performance of La Sonnambula, on Feb 21st, with Sontag as Amina.  Size is 5.75 x 11.75 inches, a few rust stains, otherwise in excellent condition. Rare!

Specially designed program for Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin, 17 April 1935, promoting the Nazi regime, 6 x 9.5 inches, excellent condition

Original program for the first ever performance of Otello in London, Lyceum Theatre, in 1889!. Program stars Francesco Tamagno, who created the title role in the world premiere at La Scala 2 years earlier, and Victor Maurel, who was the first Iago. Eight pages, 6 x 8 inches, program has folds, otherwise in very good condition. ALSO INCLUDED are: an original 1887 program from La Scala for a performance of a Otello humoristic version or parody, and a train ticket or pass for a special train from Milan to London, June 1889, to see the English premiere of Otello (see scans). A very cute lot, with rare items.

Program-libretto from around 1840s, for a performance of Tancredi, opera by Rossini, at Millar´s Theater in London. Cast includes star soprano Giuditta Pasta (1797-1865) among other singers, in excellent condition. Program has replacement covers, not the originals, all pages are there, all in excellent condition. Size is 4.25 x 7.25 inches.

London Queen‚ Hall May 22nd, 1913 Program with details on backside. Song Recital : Debussy etc

Group of two original posters announcing upcoming performances at Theatre National Opera in Paris, one for Un Jardin sur L`Oronte (music by Alfred Bachelet), Nov 7th, 1932 (mistyped as 1392), and one for L`Aiglon (music by Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert). Full cast listed, as well as some other upcoming performances. Each one is 17.25 x 23 inches, some paper loss on corners and borders, otherwise in very good condition. Sold together only, not sold individually.

Tristan und Isolde and Lohengrin at Royal Opera Covent Garden, 28 April and 27 May 1931. With Lauritz Melchior, Ivar Andresen, Frida Leider, Herbert Janssen. Conductor: Robert Heger. Set of 2 programs