Featuring Mariano Stabile, Luisa Tetrazzini, Marcel Journet, Rosina Storchio, Carlo Albani, Francesco Navarrini, Clara Butt, Giuseppe Anselmi, Olimpia Boronat, Lucrezia Bori, Giovanni Martinelli, Maria Galvany, Aristodemo Giorgini, Fernando de Lucia, Ernesto Badini, Mattia Battistini, Ricardo Stracciari, Marcel Journet, Renato Zanelli, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Alfred Piccaver, Toti dal Monte, Salvatore Baccaloni, Tito Schipa, Martin Lawrence, Aureliano Pertile, Sigrid Onegin, Ezio Pinza, Anna Rosza and Beniamino Gigli.
“Nimbus has produced a connoisseur's jewel box with these recordings made between 1906 and 1947. The CD covers the pre-electric days when 'Lucia' was not the only one of Donizetti's tragic operas to be in favour. There is Dame Clara Butt, majestic in 'Lucrezia Borgia', and the great French bass, Marcel Journet, cavernous in 'La Favorite', which also gives us the chance to hear the 30-year old Lauri-Volpi sing 'Spirito gentil' ... Unmissable.”