The recording of

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 ...

's ''

Ernani ''Ernani'' is an operatic ''dramma lirico'' in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the 1830 play ''Hernani (drama), Hernani'' by Victor Hugo. Verdi was commissioned by the Teatro La Fenice in V ...

'' in 1903 by the Italian Gramophone Company, a part of

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

, was the first complete opera recording. It was issued on 40 single-sided discs. The first complete orchestral recording, Arthur Nikisch's recording of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, was made in 1913.University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Graduate School of Library and Information Science, "Occasional papers, Num. 174 to 179", 1986: "The first complete opera, Verdi's Ernani, was recorded in 1903. It took up 40 single-sided discs and was issued on the H.M.V. label.22 The first complete orchestral recording, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, was not made until 1913."

References

Notes Sources *Dearling, Robert and Celia; and Brian A. L. Rust, ''Guinness Book of Music'', Sterling Publishing, 1981, 2nd edition, 1982. 1900s classical albums Opera recordings Giuseppe Verdi 1903 albums HMV albums {{classical-album-stub