ROSA RAISA “CASTA DIVA… AH BELLO A ME RITORNA” (1920,1929)

Rosa Raisa (30 May 1893 – 28 September 1963) was a Polish-born and Italian-trained Russian-Jewish dramatic operatic soprano who became a naturalized American. She possessed a voice of remarkable power and was the creator of the title role of Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, at La Scala, Milan. In almost all the reviews of her live performances there is usually amazed reference of her phenomenal vocal power. Only on the electric Italian HMVs can some of that power be detected. Alan Kelly, the HMV expert and historian told Larry Lustig of The Record Collector magazine that the company’s logs of that May 1933 recording session had notes: “bad“ microphone technique and “blasting.“ She had to be placed in the middle of the orchestra to achieve some reasonable balance. The HMVs do not show Raisa’s voice at its freshest, but the voice is still golden and beautiful, with magisterial delivery, and a sense of her unusual power.