Chopin/Viardot - Aime-moi/Kochaj mnie (Mazurka op.33 no.2) - Marcella Sembrich-Kochańska (1907)
Channel: Shellac pot-pourri
Date: 2023-06-16

"Aime-moi" / "Kochaj mnie". Arrangement of Chopin's Mazurka op. 33 no. 2 in D Major (transposed to A major). Arranged by Pauline Viardot (1821-1910).
Lyrics by Louis Pomey (1835-1901).
Polish translation by Jan Chęciński (1826-1874).

Marcella Sembrich-Kochańska (1858-1935) - soprano voice and piano. Sembrich abridged the piece and changed some words. Also the coloratura variations are different than in the score, but it was a normal practice at that time.

Pauline Viardot, the arranger, was an outstanding pianist and singer and a friend of Chopin, with whom she reportedly often played in duos. She also spent some time in Nohant together with Chopin and Georges Sand. These arrangements of mazurkas were reportedly approved by Chopin himself. Interestingly, Viardot also sang during the funeral of Chopin.

Recorded on 9 October 1907 in New York. 
Matrix no. 023034.
This is a later repress on HMV shellac disc no. A.G.S.B. 88.

Score reused from: https://polona.pl/item-view/be75f77f-9d9c-4c14-962b-202a80fb716b

Even if the disc is in a good shape, it is very noisy, due to the acoustic method and (most probably) the use of etched zinc plate for the recording. Digitized at 76 rpm for A=435 Hz used at that time.

Custom declicking and audio filtering applied. No noise reduction used.

Copyright breach not intended.