Forgotten Music

In 1907, a "musical time capsule" was interred in a basement room in the Palais Garnier, Paris' opera house. Exhumed in 1987 and scheduled to be examined this month, the two urns contain gramophone recordings of some of the greatest singers of the early 20th century. Here is a list of the songs and artists included on the discs, which the EMI music company will compile for release on CD, at long last, to be heard by the public for the first time in 100 years.

First urn
Marguerite Mérentié, Ariane, by Jules Massenet
Berthe Auguez de Montalant, La Procession, by Seville, by Gioachino Rossini

Second urn
Francesco Tamagno, La Mort d'Otello, by Verdi
Enrico Caruso and Antonio Scotti, La Force du Destin, by Verdi
Pol-Henri Plançon, Sérénade de Faust, by Gounod
Ettore Battistini and the chorus of La Scala, Ernani (scene), by Verdi
Fernando de Lucia and Josefina Huguet, Pêcheurs de Perles, by Georges Bizet
Adelina Patti, Don Giovanni, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Nelli Melba, "Caro nome" from Rigoletto, by Verdi
Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Samson et Dalila, by Saint-Saëns
Celestina Boninsegna, and the chorus of La Scala, La Force du Destin (scene), by Verdi
Emma Calvé, "Habanera" from Carmen, by Bizet
Orchestra, Marche du Prophète, by Giacomo Meyerbeer
Jan Kubelik, violinist, La Ronde des lutins, by Antonio Bazzini