Regina Prager

[Ethan Minovitz <eminovitz...>]

Original message:

Can anyone give me information on Regina Prager?   (It seems that 
she's included in the recording -- 32 World Famous Artists Sing 
Oldies Of The Yiddish Theatre.  And I have an LP (w/o notes) 
including a selection from Bar Kochba.)

Among other things she apparently made a 78rpm recording of a piece =
loosely translated (from Yiddish?) as "Aria of 2 T'noyim".  Does 
anyone recognize this title?

Bob

______________________________


According to the Truesound Online Discographical Project (based in 
Germany; http://www.truesoundtransfers.de), Regina Prager recorded 
several sides on the Edison Diamond Disc label throughout September 
1923. Some of these are identified as being in Yiddish.

Songs include "She prays for water" (from "Shulamith in the desert")
"Harp of Shulamith" ((from "David, King of Israel"), "A mother's 
prayer," "Kadish -- Die Chasinte," "Dinah at the mill" and "God, show 
your wonders."  All selections were recorded in New York City.

However, the discography has no mention of "Aria of 2 T'noyim" or 
anything similar.  

For what it's worth, the Library of Congress observes that "the 
Edison Diamond Discs offered excellent sound, but were not compatible 
with other disc players." (They're also about a quarter-inch thick 
and heavier any other 78 I've seen -- I wouldn't want to drop one on 
my foot.) As well, Edison disc phonographs tended to be more 
expensive than those of the competitors, making it more likely that 
poorer immigrants would buy cheaper phonographs. That's why Edison 
produced fewer foreign-language recordings than Victor and other 
labels.

Foreign-language and ethnic recordings of Edison Diamond Discs are 
currently scarcer than hen's teeth (the Library of Congress has only 
one Jewish recording in its Edison Diamond Disc collection!), so 
don't toss out a Jewish Diamond Disc if you have one.


Cheers, 


Ethan Minovitz
Co-Host, Anthology of Jewish Music
CFRO-FM 102.7 (Vancouver Cooperative Radio)

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