Here is an exceptionally rare 1897 cylinder recording of "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Recorded just five years after the premiere of Leoncavallo's groundbreaking work (Milan, 1892), this cylinder, made for Gianni Bettini, is the first documented recording of any excerpt from that opera. Despite the rather antiquated sound, this is truly an historical document for the ages.
As for the artist heard in this recording, Dante del Papa (1854-1924) was one of the musical artists who made the acquaintance of socialite and recording pioneer Lieutenant Gianni Bettini (1860-1938). Bettini made hundreds of cylinder recordings of famous (and not so famous) singers in New York and Paris during the 1890s and early 1900s. Del Papa was frequently invited to Bettini’s Central Park South salon to make recordings, both as a solo artist and in ensembles. Although del Papa recorded scores of cylinders for Bettini (nineteen solo arias are listed in Bettini’s May, 1897 catalogue alone), only about a dozen of the tenor’s recordings are known to survive today.
