No quarters or dimes needed; you can spin the historical hits for
free on the recently launched National Jukebox.
Check out Enrico Caruso and Nellie Melba singing Puccini.
Here are some of the details about the Jukebox from the Library of Congress:
“The Library
of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound
recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes
recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress
Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation and other contributing libraries
and archives. Recordings in the Jukebox were issued on record labels now owned
by Sony Music Entertainment, which has granted the Library of Congress a gratis
license to stream acoustical recordings.
At launch, the Jukebox includes more than 10,000
recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925.
Jukebox content will be increased regularly, with additional Victor recordings
and acoustically recorded titles made by other Sony-owned U.S.
labels, including Columbia, OKeh,
and others.”
Want to know more about the upcoming opera? Browse the
interactive version of the Victrola Book of the Opera.
You can explore by date with the Jukebox Day by Day, and see
what was recorded on any given day of the year. Like this recording of aria
from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte that was
recorded on today’s date in 1922.
You can also wander by genre. I found the Mountaineer’s Song (I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again) in Traditional/Country, and the Victor Concert Orchestra’s recording of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in Classical. I think I'll check out the "Whistling" section next.
It’s not really procrastination…it’s educational and
historical and stuff ;) Have fun!