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- History: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
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Two historians and two survivors weave the tale of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. This sound story is set to two songs from Carmen, which was famously performed at San Francisco's Mission Opera House the night before the disaster. Enrico Caruso's interpretation of "La Fleur Que Tu M'Avais Jetee" carries the voice threads through the destruction of "the Paris of the Pacific." The survivors expressly convey the extraordinary tragedy that befell the city. Young men in 1906, recorded for an oral history project in the 1960s, their emotions reach across 100 years to make bring this historic tale to life today.
This stand-alone piece also serves as the introduction to the half-hour KALW radio documentary "A Practical Guide to Disaster" which can be found at http://www.prx.org/pieces/10303.
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Piece Description
Two historians and two survivors weave the tale of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. This sound story is set to two songs from Carmen, which was famously performed at San Francisco's Mission Opera House the night before the disaster. Enrico Caruso's interpretation of "La Fleur Que Tu M'Avais Jetee" carries the voice threads through the destruction of "the Paris of the Pacific." The survivors expressly convey the extraordinary tragedy that befell the city. Young men in 1906, recorded for an oral history project in the 1960s, their emotions reach across 100 years to make bring this historic tale to life today. This stand-alone piece also serves as the introduction to the half-hour KALW radio documentary "A Practical Guide to Disaster" which can be found at http://www.prx.org/pieces/10303.
Broadcast History
Originally aired as part of the radio documentary "A Practical Guide to Disaster" on April 2, 2006 on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco
Transcript
MUSIC 01: Carmen ? Suite No. 2 ? Habanera
HOST The night of April 17th, 1906, the city of San Francisco blazed in all of its cultural glory. The Mission Opera House hosted the world?s greatest tenor, Enrico Caruso, performing in Bizet?s Carmen. Across town, gamblers and call girls played deep into the night in a district called the ?Barbary Coast.? Just over half-a-century removed from the Gold Rush that put the city on the map, San Francisco was the rough-hewn jewel of America?s Pacific Coast. :33
JD01A Let me paint for you the imperial city of San Francisco. Part Paris, part Dodge City? :05
HOST Journalist James Dalessandro (dah-leh-SAHN-drough) recalls the Bay town in his historical novel ?1906.? :08
JD01B Literate and boorish. Libertine and feudal. A soiled Mecca? :05
KB01A It was a very dense community. Lots of buildings. Lots of tall buildings. :06
HOST...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
From Bernstein Century: Bizet ? Sony Label catalog number 63081 ? New York Philharmonic ? Composer Georges Bizet ? Conductor Leonard Bernstein ? Audio CD October 28, 1997
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000029XF/qid=1144337446/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-3871709-5342312?s=classical&v=glance&n=5174
Carmen Suite No. 2 ? Habanera. Allegretto Quasi Allgretto
From Enrico Caruso: Great Opera Arias ? RCA ASIN B0002JUWY8 ? Wiener Rundfunkorchester ? Composer Georges Bizet ? Conductor Gottfried Rabl ? Tenor Enrico Caruso ? Audio CD August 10, 2004
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002JUWY8/qid=1144338037/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3871709-5342312?s=classical&v=glance&n=5174
Carmen ? La Fleur Que To M?Avais Jetee
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