Transcription Mystery Disc #179

This is a 12-Inch Presto metal core transcription disc. It has an outer edge start, not that any of the actual outermost edge still remains. It's in sorry shape, having lost all of one side and most of the other to de-lamination. Above is an image of that worse of the two sides. They are labeled, The A-side is "La Traviata Act III" which is labeled "Parigi, O Cara."  The B-side above is Act I "Un di, Felice Eterea."  It bears no dates. The opera dated to the 1850s which is no help.

 La Traviata
 
The damage was quite severe, In addition to the obvious de-lamination,it also had some greasy white palmitic acid build up. Senior audio geeks will swear by a dilute vinegar solution to take that off. I usually just start with soap and water. Water is generally a no-no, but this disc was obviously pretty far gone. Some of the groove walls had collapsed requiring some edits to the above audio. Some are very noticeable, others not.

At the end of the recording you can clearly hear the male singer say "Okay!" It is from that single word that I know this was a live recording, and neither a radio dub nor a copy of a commercial release. I can only assume somewhere out there was a disc for Act II but maybe it was in worse shape than this one.