HOME-MADE TREASURES
What's a diva to do when she is ignored by the classical music recording industry? Produce her own recording, of course! She must leave some tangible document of her ephemeral art as a legacy to future generations -- Philips and EMI be damned!
These so-called "vanity records" are private or small-label independent off-market releases that run the gamut from surprisingly excellent to decently mediocre to much much worse. Often as soon as you hear the record, it becomes alarmingly apparent why these singers never had big careers! We see small-town amateur church sopranos who enshrined in vinyl a squawky benefit lieder recital, fairly talented semi-professional provincial singers who convinced their wealthy husbands to buy them some studio time, very good singers who absolutely should have had a recording contract but were overlooked, memorial compilations put together for singers who may have broken through but died too soon without fame. And then there are singers like Florence Morrison, Mari Lyn, and Florence Foster Jenkins who took this genre to unprecedented heights/depths.
These independently produced records are rare because they were pressed in very small quantities and distributed within a confined geographic area. And often they get tossed out without a second thought by family and local folks due to a lack of interest in classical music. But what genuine treasures they are to some of us! I have a few dozen others not shown here because they were produced on such shoestring budgets they had really no album cover at all.
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Click picture for close up and disc details
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LOIS ALBA
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PEGGY ALBRECHT
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LYNNE ANDERS
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CAROL ANDREW
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JANICE ARCHER
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PHYLLIS ARICK
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ADRIENNE AROW DAVIS
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RENATA BABAK
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FREDA BAKER
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JEAN BENNETT
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BLANCHE BERGMAN
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MIRIAM BERNETT
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INGEGARD BJORKLUND
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JEANINE BLONDY-THIBERVILLE
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MARGOT BLUM
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JEANNETTE BREVAL
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ELISABETH BUCHEL
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VILMA BUKOVEC
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GINA CAPKAS
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GINA CAPKAS
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ETHEL CASEY
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ETHEL CASEY
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ETHEL CASEY
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GABRIELA CEGOLEA
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SUSAN COLLEDGE
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PATRICIA CORBETT
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LIILIA CORRADI
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LYDIA CORTESE
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LYDIA CORTESE
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BETTINA COSACK
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NADINE CREDI
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GINIA DAVIS
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SEMINA DE LAURENTIS
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INA DELCAMPO
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SANDRA DEL MONTE
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STASIA DESZCZ
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LISA DI JULIO
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IRENE DOLNYCKY
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WILLA DORSEY
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MARION DOWNS
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MARION DOWNS
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RUTH DRUCKER
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HELEN-KAY EBERLEY
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HELEN-KAY EBERLEY
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HELEN-KAY EBERLEY
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HELEN-KAY EBERLEY
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JEAN EDWARDS
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VERENA EHRLER
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THEA EKKER VAN DER PAS
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THEA EKKER-VAN DER PAS
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GERTRAUT ERHARD
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MARIAN ESTEP
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SVETLANA EVREINOFF
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SHIRLEY FALUDI
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JANE FYFFE
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ANNA GABRIELI
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DORIS GOERTZEN
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GANNA GORALKA
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REGINA GRYCKIEWICZ NIKEL
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IRENE GUBRUD
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AGNES GUERY
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EDRA GUSTAFSON
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MYRTLE HALL
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MYRTLE HALL
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CHRISTINA HARVEY
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ALBINE HASLER
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EDITH HELENA
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HELENE
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BARBARA HENRY
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ROSE HOWARD
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JANET HOWD
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GOMDA HSI
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UTE JAHR
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PENELOPE JENSEN
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LIONE JODIS
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ROMY KALB-GUNDERMANN
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HELEN KELLOGG
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CAROL KELLY
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BIRUTE KEMEZAITE
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DIANNE KENNAUGH
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SUK SOON KIM
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SADIE KNIGHT
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DEBORAH KO
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TRUDI KOELEMAN
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GINETTA LA BIANCA
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GINETTA LA BIANCA
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GINETTA LA BIANCA
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FRANCES LANGFORD
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CAROL LARSEN
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GEORGIA LASTER
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BARBARA LAW
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COLETTE LEMIEUX
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KATHLEEN LEWIS
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LAIMA LIEPA
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JOSEPHINE LINDERS
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JANINA LIUSTIKAITE
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IYA MACIUK
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MARJORIE MADEY
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EMMA MAHN
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GRACE-LYNNE MARTIN
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MARIA MARTINO
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MARIA MARTINO
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FRANCES MCCANN
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DOROTHY BRANDON MCMILLIAN
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FLORENCE MESLER
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FLORENCE MESLER
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FLORENCE MESLER
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FLORENCE MESLER
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JO NELL
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JO NELL
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CLAUDIA NOGGLE
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ILDIKO ORMAI BUZA
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ELIZABETH HOLLY OUTWIN
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CHLOE OWEN
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MARO PARTAMIAN
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ANNE PERILLO
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GAENOR REES
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CARRIE RICHARDSON
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JEANNE ROGERS
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MONA ROSELL
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MONA ROSELL
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LYNN RUBEL
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VERA RUTHERFORD
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LUCILA SABELLA
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MARJORIE SCHLOSS
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HALFRID CHRISTINE SEELIG
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MARGARET SHAO-RU SUN
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GENEVIEVE SISTIG
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CAROLYN SOLMONSON NORQUIST
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DANA STANKAITYTE
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LAIMA STEPAITIS
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CAROL STUART
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INGRID SUDERMAN
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ELIZABETH TARCZY-KOVACS
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ALICIA TAYLOR
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RINA TELLI
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ROSEMARIE THIESSEN
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CECILIA VAN BEIRENDONCK
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KLASIENE VAN DER VINNE
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VERA JEAN VARY
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THEA VERMEULEN PEEK
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MARIA VINENT
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EUGENIA VYNNYCHENKO MOSGOVA
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VIVIAN WALKER
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BEVERLY WESP
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BEVERLY WESP
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URSULA ZEHNDER
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 Freda Baker, casts a wide net on her vanity recital, singing from Mimi to Never on Sunday.<br><br>PRIVATE LP5593'))
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<br><br>MUSIC LIBRARY (PRIVATE) 7112'))
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.<br><br>PRIVATE SC2'))
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 then again in her own \'singable poetic English\' translations on each Side B (gold labels). Plus her very own composition titled \'Our Wedding Day Prayer\'. Occasionally these aria pairings show up in separate 10-inch Star Records releases (one is shown next in the gallery), but this is the entire Cortese canon in all it\'s vain glory.<br><br>STAR 213-219')){kind=spacer}
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 that includes a photo of the diva with Tennesee Williams taken after a concert in Key West. She sings a few lieder by Schubert, Wolf, Brahms and an aria by Handel from the opera <i>Riccardo</i>.<br><br>PRIVATE TORNAY MANAGEMENT<br><br>'))
. After the scandal, she resumed her singing career (studied with Teyte) and made this collectable recording. She died in 2003 at the age of 90.<br><br>PYE GOLDEN GUINEA GGC 4031'))
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 in a private recording of spirituals.<br><br>AUSTIN CUSTOM RECORDS CS-33-620'))
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, for a long time this was the only soprano recital devoted to American operatic arias. Selections include such rarities as Copeland\'s <i>The Tender Land,</i> Hoiby\'s <i>Summer and Smoke</i>, both arias from Floyd\'s <i>Susannah,</i> and two of Baby Doe\'s pieces, plus some Menotti and Barber.<br><br>EB-SKO 1007'))
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, is almost enough to induce vertigo. Oddly, the disc slips into the top of the jacket, not the side.<br><br>PRIVATE 6802 714'))
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 not only sings old parlour songs about gardens, but introduces some of them with cloyingly sentimental narratives. She has dressed the part, but what true Lady would drop a white parasol on the dirty ground?<br><br>GUILOR KS 1006'))
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 that mimic the tasteful design language of major classical labels like Angel. No question it lends a degree of credibility to the unknown artist.<br><br>BT RECORDINGS BT-014'))
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. Cute photo of Rosina, though.<br><br>LA CAR 7780'))
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. Our diva hails from Budapest, relocated to Ohio, and made this record of lirico-spinto arias and four songs of her own composition several years past her prime. Oh, and she accompanies herself on the organ on side two.<br><br>PRIVATE SRNC-8899'))
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 something for everyone!<br><br>PRIVATE'))
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.<br><br>ALL-MAR PRODUCTIONS (PRIVATE)'))
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; art songs (Donaudy, Poulenc, Ravel); 2 folk songs; 2 operetta pieces by Herbert; and musical selections (Gershwin and <i>Brigadoon</i>). Alright, Vera, we get it, you think you can sing anything! The cover is a template or stock photo I\'ve seen on another self-made pop record from the same era.<br><br>PRIVATE, LISA RECORDS'))
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, and that she didn\'t let the fach system or her own vocal limiations hold her back. Ohio\'s own prima donna assoluta butchers coloratura showpieces -- Alabieff\'s Nightingale and the Doll Song -- lyric and spinto classics from <i>Tosca, Aida,</i> and <i>Louise</i> -- as well as Summertime and spirituals.<br><br>CORONET (PRIVATE)'))
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