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Cetra was an Italian record company, active between 1933 and 1957, the year in which, by merging with Fonit (Fonodisco Italiano Trevisan), it gave birth to

Fonit Cetra Fonit Cetra was an Italian record label, active between 1957 and 2000. History Fonit Cetra was founded in 1957 from merging two already existing labels: Cetra (acronym from Compagnia per edizioni, teatro, registrazioni ed affini), owned by RAI an ...

. Its roster of artists included

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

Renata Tebaldi Renata Tebaldi ( , ; 1 February 1922 – 19 December 2004) was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. O ...

Lina Pagliughi Lina Pagliughi (27 May 1907 – 2 October 1980) was an Italian-American opera singer. Based in Italy for the majority of her career, she made a number of recordings and established herself as one of the world's finest lyric coloratura sopranos of ...

Ebe Stignani Ebe Stignani (10 July 1903 – 5 October 1974) was an Italian opera singer, who was pre-eminent in the dramatic mezzo-soprano roles of the Italian repertoire during a stage career of more than thirty years. Career Born in Naples in 1903 (some so ...

, Carlo Bergonzi,

Galliano Masini Galliano Masini (7 February 1896 – 15 February 1986) was a leading Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the ''spinto'' (lyric-dramatic) roles of the Italian repertory. Masini was born in Livorno in humble circumstances. He stud ...

Giovanni Malipiero Giovanni Malipiero (20 April 1906 – 10 April 1970) was an operatic tenor who enjoyed a prominent career on stage and on radio in his native Italy during the 1930s and 1940s. Career and recorded legacy Malipiero was born in Padua, Italy, whe ...

Ferruccio Tagliavini Ferruccio Tagliavini (; 14 August 191329 January 1995) was an Italian operatic tenor mainly active in the 1940s and 1950s. Tagliavini was hailed as the heir apparent to Tito Schipa and Beniamino Gigli in the lyric-opera repertory due to the excep ...

Carlo Tagliabue Carlo Pietro Tagliabue (January 13, 1898 in Mariano Comense – April 5, 1978 in Monza) was an Italian baritone. After studies with Leopoldo Gennai and Annibale Guidotti he made his debut in Lodi, Lombardy, in ''Loreley'' and ''Aida''. His ...

Rolando Panerai Rolando Panerai (17 October 1924 – 22 October 2019) was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertoire. He performed at La Scala in Milan, often alongside Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano. He was known for musical ...

Italo Tajo Italo Tajo (25 April 191528 March 1993) was an Italian operatic bass, particularly acclaimed for his Mozart and Rossini roles. Tajo was born in Pinerolo, Piedmont, Italy and studied violin and voice at the Music Conservatory of Turin with Nilde ...

Giuseppe Taddei Giuseppe Taddei (26 June 1916 – 2 June 2010) was an Italian baritone, who, during his career, performed multiple operas composed by numerous composers. Taddei was born in Genoa, Italy, and studied in Rome, where he made his professional debu ...

Tancredi Pasero Tancredi Pasero (11 January 1893 in Turin – 17 February 1983 in Milan) was an Italian bass who enjoyed a long and distinguished singing career in his native country and abroad. Career & recordings After studying with the baritone Arturo ...

and

Cesare Siepi Cesare Siepi (10 February 19235 July 2010) was an Italian opera singer, generally considered to have been one of the finest basses of the post-war period. His voice was characterised by a deep, warm timbre, a full, resonant, wide-ranging lower r ...

, among other leading Italian opera singers. The company was notable for issuing many recordings of obscure or seldom heard operas and the more obscure operas of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the composer's 1901 death in 1951. Cetra recordings are often now reissued by the company

. Cetra opera albums were first distributed in the United States on the Cetra-Soria label (founded by Dario and Dorle Soria, who later founded

Angel Records Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramophon ...

). Beginning in 1966, several Cetra opera recordings were distributed in the U.S. by

Everest Records Everest Records was a record label based in Bayside, Long Island, started by Harry D. Belock and Bert Whyte in May 1958. It was devoted mainly to classical music. History The idea for starting a label was related by electronics inventor Harr ...

.Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry - Page 111 Peter Tschmuck - 2006 "In turn, he founded Cetra-Soria, which released Italian recordings in the U.S. that were pressed at record plants specifically" Cetra also produced popular music recordings from at least the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

years through the 1960s. One of their instrumental artists is accordionist Michele Corino, a soloist with Italy's prominent Angelini Orchestrauntil he moved to San Francisco (California), in 1948. "Mike" ran a prominent accordion studio in "North Beach Music" (a.k.a. Corino Music) and taught, worked and recorded with brothers Fabio and Gianfranco Giotta, part of the San Francisco-based Caffé Trieste (see also "Cavalier Records", "Caffé Trieste" and "Trieste Records"). Gianfranco shared the studio with Mike on the 1963 Cetra album titled "Rome to Paris".

History of the Cetra

C.e.t.r.a. (the name is the acronym of Compagnia per edizioni, teatro, registrazioni ed affini) was born in Turin on April 10, 1933 on the initiative of the Italian Agency for Radio Auditions (EIAR), which decides to transform the Edizioni musicali Radiofono, active since 15 September 1923 (and owned by him) in the record company, changing its name to Cetra Società Anonima; later the company will become a joint stock company. Initially, the Cetra only made its own recordings and the distribution of the discs, for the printing of which it used instead of the Parlophon as easily found on the labels. In a short time, also starting the printing of its own records and with its own machinery, it became one of the leading companies in the Italian discography (at the time only 78 rpm records were printed), thanks above all to the link with the radio company EIAR, that all the major singers broadcast by the radio then recorded for the Cetra. After the war it continues to have a prominent position on the market, thanks to artists such as

Nilla Pizzi Nilla Pizzi, stage name of Adionilla Pizzi (; 16 April 1919 – 12 March 2011), was an Italian singer and actress. Born in Sant'Agata Bolognese, she was particularly famous in Italy during the 1950s and 1960s. She won the first edition of the ...

Achille Togliani Achille Togliani (16 January 1924 in Pomponesco, province of Mantua – 12 August 1995) was an Italian singer and actor. He was a participant in the first Sanremo Music Festival in 1951. Achille's version of the song 'Parlami d'amore Mariù ...

Claudio Villa Claudio Villa (born Claudio Pica; 1 January 1926 – 7 February 1987) was an Italian singer and actor. Biography Tenor Claudio Villa was born Claudio Pica in the Trastevere quarter of Rome in 1926. He recorded over 3000 songs, sold 45 millio ...

(since 1957), and to the work of its general manager, Edgardo Trinelli. La Cetra also distributed some small satellite labels, such as Fon and Mayor. With an act dated December 16, 1957, Fonit and Cetra decided to merge into a new company,

; the Cetra brand continues to exist within the new company.

Bibliography

* Various authors (edited by Gino Castaldo), ''Dictionary of Italian song'', Curcio editions, 1990; under the entry

, by Mario De Luigi, pp. 695-696 * The data concerning the house's record releases were taken from the phonographic supports issued and stored (like all those published in Italy) at the State Discotheque in Rome. * Various issues of the magazines ''Musica e dischi'' (years from 1948 onwards),

TV Sorrisi e Canzoni ''TV Sorrisi e Canzoni'' (''TV Smiles and Songs'') is an Italian weekly listings magazine published in Segrate, Italy. History and profile ''TV Sorrisi e Canzoni'' was established in 1952. Based in Segrate, Milan, the magazine is published by ...

(years from 1954), and many other musical magazines. * Mario De Luigi, ''The record industry in Italy'', Lato Side editions, Rome, 1982 * Mario De Luigi, ''History of the phonographic industry in Italy'', Musica e Dischi editions, Milan, 2008

External links

Cetra-Soria collection, 1946-1954
Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

References

{{Authority control Italian record labels Record labels established in 1933 Classical music record labels Italian companies established in 1933 Italian brands