Ritual Dance of the Young Zappa

Andre, , ,

CAL 110 (sleeve front)

At a young age, Zappa bought a copy of The Rite of Spring and loved every note:

The second 33 1/3-RPM record I bought was by Stravinsky. I found a budget-line recording (on Camden) of The Rite of Spring by something called ‘The World-Wide Symphony Orchestra.’ (Sounds pretty official, eh?) The cover was a green-and-black abstract whatchamacallit, and it had a magenta paper label with black lettering. I loved Stravinsky almost as much as Varèse.[1]

Much of my research relies primary sources. Lyrics, liner notes, bootlegs, interviews, and The Real Frank Zappa Book (FZ’s autobiography) make up the bulk of these sources. Along these lines, Avo Raup’s fantastic website Zappa Books–with its search-able database of interviews and zine articles–and Román García Albertos’ IINK (Information Is Not Knowledge)–a huge, cross-referenced database of lyrics and other album information–have been a tremendously helpful resources. But occasionally, I need to get right to the source. Such was the case with finding Zappa’s copy of Stavinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

In my current chapter (which examines cases of musical borrowings from Stravinsky in Zappa’s music), I make the argument that much of Zappa’s understanding of Stravinsky is influenced by the mythology surrounding the older composer. I wondered if there might be any juicy details on the liner notes that would provide some insight regarding the idiosyncrasies with which Zappa viewed Stravinsky. Armed with Zappa’s description I set out to find a copy of the same record…

As it turns out, Camden was a budget label for RCA Victor records, first introduced in 1955 (right about when Zappa would have been buying the record). Some quick Googling revealed that the Camden catalog did include a recording of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring! (I express surprise here due to prior aggravations brought on by tracing comments from The Real Frank Zappa Book…) CAL 110 features World Wide Symphony Orchestra performing The Rite!

341995093_7aa83c50f9The RCA Building in Camden, NJ
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ebot/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Further research revealed some interesting facts about the record. The World Wide Symphony Orchestra, it seems, was a pseudonym for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. This particular record (CAL 110) was actually dubbed from 78 rpm discs of another recording by the SFSO conducted by Pierre Monteux. (Monteux, like the SFSO, isn’t mentioned anywhere on the record. Presumably, the motivation here was to re-release a back catalog of 78 rpm records in a more commercially-viable format using pseudonyms to avoid conflicting with sales of newer recordings of the same artists. It was, as Frank would say, strictly commercial.)

3359562292_d1a7096d70The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kerolic/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Monteux, as any responsible Stravinsky scholar will jump to tell you, premiered The Rite at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in 1915 1913 (noted, of course, for the riot it incited). Zappa doesn’t seem to have been aware that his record featured such a prestigious conductor.

And–lucky me–a quick WorldCat search found a copy of the record at UC Santa Cruz! (Which means I could request it and get my grubby hands on it right quick.) This turned out to be a little more difficult that expected (frustrations with an inefficient interlibrary loan system), but the record arrived yesterday! Green-and-black abstract whatchamacallit and all!

Unfortunately, being the budget label that it was, Camden seems to have cut costs by not including liner notes. Oh well… The adventure wasn’t a total bust. I got to listen to the record and pretend to be a young Zappa listening to “The Augers” for the first time.

I snuck off to a remote corner of the library and took a few pictures of the record as well. You can see where some helpful librarian has scratched out “World Wide” and entered the correct performer data. (I would have ripped the vinyl to mp3s, but it was “in library use only.”) Here are some scans of the sleeve and label. Enjoy!

CAL 110 (sleeve front)CAL 110 (sleeve back)

CAL 110 (side A)CAL 110 (side B)

The first record Zappa bought, by the way, was The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Vol. I (EMS 401). And if Zappa played the Stravinsky as much as he played the Varèse, this disc got a lot of attention. (By one account, Zappa claimed to have listened to The Rite of Spring more than “any man in the world”![2])

References:
[1] Frank Zappa and Peter Occhiogrosso, The Real Frank Zappa Book (New York: Poseidon Press, 1989), 34.
[2] Rip Rense, “A Unique Musical Force or Blasphemous Freak: Which Is Frank Zappa?,” The Valley News (June 27, 1976).
Ritual Dance of the Young Zappa

47,791 thoughts on “Ritual Dance of the Young Zappa”

  2. nike sneaker boot sale

    I’m not sure exactly why but this website is loading extremely slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.

  3. cool nike sneakers

    Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way, how can we communicate?

  6. bambas salomon en barcelona 92

    Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Many thanks, However I am encountering troubles with your RSS. I don’t understand why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anyone else getting identical RSS issues? Anybody who knows the solution can you kindly resp…

  9. nike shox online

    Wow that was strange. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say excellent blog!

  10. ray ban 2132 brown polarized lenses

    Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your web site and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly…

  15. Vans Authentic Californie Laine Sneakers

    hey there and thank you for your information ¨C I’ve certainly picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise several technical issues using this site, as I experienced to reload the website lots of times previous to I could get it to…

  16. nike air force 1 beige

    My partner and I stumbled over here coming from a different page and thought I might as well check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to checking out your web page yet again.

  23. nike shox discount womens

    great post, very informative. I wonder why the opposite experts of this sector do not understand this. You must proceed your writing. I’m sure, you have a huge readers’ base already!

  26. http://www.letshaveaparty.co.uk/Van-Cleef-Arpels-Perlee-Ring-in-18kt-White-Gold-with-Pave-Diamonds-p-1106.html

    I got your present of our mom to Xmas mainly because she is your jewelry freak. That one thing she cannot use far out of are, bracelets. I purchased the lady this allure bracelet additionally where she opened up they yesterday she absolutley loved thin…

  27. http://www.sebby.cc/Van-Cleef-Arpels-Perlee-Bracelet/Bangle-in-18kt-White-Gold-with-Pave-Diamonds-p-996.html

    This will be really pretty. I love it loads. The estimate is cute then container covered in wonderful bow. It isn’t the essential breathtaking bracelet ever, but for the price that exceeds our expectations. Can’twait on provide things to my mom to Mo…

  28. nike warehouse sale online

    We’re a gaggle of volunteers and starting a brand new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with helpful info to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our whole community will probably be grateful to you.

  29. ofertas nike air

    Hi there! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any tips?

  31. collezione scarpe nike

    You’re so cool! I don’t suppose I have read something like that before. So great to discover someone with a few genuine thoughts on this subject. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This site is something that is required on the internet, someon…

  34. toms italia dove comprare raspberry

    I’m really inspired with your writing talents as neatly as with the format on your blog. Is that this a paid subject matter or did you modify it yourself? Anyway stay up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to peer a nice weblog like this one nowadays…

  37. oakley radarlock path oo9181-09

    Hello, Neat post. There is a problem with your website in internet explorer, would test this? IE nonetheless is the market leader and a large component of other folks will omit your great writing due to this problem.

Comments are closed.