Conditional Gifts: The Acoustic Orchestral Recordings of Edouard Colonne and Karl Muck and their Testament to Late Nineteenth-Century Performing Practices

The study of so-called 'early recordings' has, in recent years, moved from the peripheral sphere of collectors and enthusiasts to the arena of mainstream musicology. That it should do so is much less surprising than the fact that such documents were, for many years, not considered especially interesting. Now, CD re-issue of many acoustic cylinders, disks and, more generally, 78 rpm pressings of the pre- World War II era has become a major industry enabling a surprisingly widespread dissemination of these materials amongst not only scholars but also the wider listening public.