NOTE FROM THE PRODUCER

     By Ordinance No. 1407 (12.29.1925), May 23, 1927, "LOS Broadcasting Municipal" radio station (later "LR1 Radio Municipal") was created in Buenos Aires for the purpose of broadcasting, as it does to this day, all the performances given at the Teatro Colón (their headquarters until 1969). These broadcasts existed in their entirety on acetate transcription discs in official archives; however, due to the passage of time and to the actions of sinister individuals, few remain today. Fortunately, thanks to the popularization of the magnetic recording medium, first on wire and then on paper, and to the visionary actions of private collectors, today we have these fragments of immeasurable artistic and historical value that have come to light after fifty years.
     The Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires has the double privilege of having been both the site of Maria Callas’ début in America and of having made the first recording of her in a live performance. The present disc contains complete surviving recordings made during Maria Callas’only operatic season in Buenos Aires.
     Divina Records took special care, as with every production, to preserve all possible elements (applause, the radio beep that signaled 10 PM [track 9: 1.43] and announcements) in an effort not to alter the historic value of the original broadcasts in spite of technical inconsistencies found in the non professional recording of these paper tapes.

Pablo D. Berruti
Buenos Aires, 2000