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”

  1. oakley soft vault case

    Simply want to say your article is as astonishing. The clarity on your publish is just excellent and i can think you’re knowledgeable on this subject. Fine together with your permission let me to snatch your RSS feed to stay up to date with coming nea…

  5. occhiali ray ban grandi labbra

    Hi there, just became aware of your blog via Google, and located that it is truly informative. I am gonna be careful for brussels. I will appreciate if you happen to proceed this in future. Lots of folks will probably be benefited out of your writing.…

  9. occhiali ray ban ragazzi

    Hi there! I realize this is sort of off-topic but I had to ask. Does building a well-established blog such as yours take a lot of work? I am completely new to running a blog however I do write in my journal daily. I’d like to start a blog so I will be…

  10. es nike air max

    wonderful submit, very informative. I wonder why the opposite experts of this sector do not understand this. You should proceed your writing. I’m confident, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!

  17. annie oakley foundation

    Hey! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one? Thanks a lot!

  19. nike air max pas cher taille 41

    Hmm it seems like your blog ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any t…

  22. buy nike on sale

    I was curious if you ever thought of changing the structure of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of tex…

  24. oakley tumbler

    It’s really a great and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you just shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.

  25. oakley holbrook

    Have you ever considered creating an ebook or guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog based on the same topics you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my visitors would appreciate your work. If you…

  26. toms blu rain boots

    Thanks on your marvelous posting! I really enjoyed reading it, you may be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will eventually come back later on. I want to encourage you to ultimately continue your great posts, have a nice evening!

  27. hvide nike air max thea 90

    Excellent beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your website, how can i subscribe for a blog web site? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear concept

  28. ray ban zonnebril dordrecht xl

    After exploring a handful of the blog posts on your site, I really appreciate your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back in the near future. Take a look at my website too and let me know how you feel.

  34. salomon españa barcelona restaurante

    Unquestionably believe that that you said. Your favourite justification seemed to be at the web the easiest factor to keep in mind of. I say to you, I certainly get irked while people think about concerns that they just do not realize about. You manage…

  37. vans zapatillas mujer 2014 8vo

    Hey! I know this is kind of off-topic but I had to ask. Does running a well-established blog like yours require a large amount of work? I’m completely new to blogging however I do write in my journal daily. I’d like to start a blog so I can easily sh…

  38. how many shoes has nike made

    Great beat ! I would like to apprentice even as you amend your web site, how can i subscribe for a weblog site? The account helped me a applicable deal. I have been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered vibrant clear idea

  41. wholesale nike air max 2011

    Great goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too great. I really like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care…

  42. rivenditori scarpe toms italia scarpe

    Hello! Quick question that’s completely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when viewing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to fix this issue. If you have any sugges…

  43. nike air max 1 leopard 39

    Hey! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading through your blog posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same subjects? Many thanks!

  44. toms italy rome landmarks

    magnificent put up, very informative. I ponder why the opposite experts of this sector don’t understand this. You should proceed your writing. I am confident, you have a great readers’ base already!

  45. nike negras hombre

    Hi! I know this is somewhat off-topic however I had to ask. Does managing a well-established website like yours take a lot of work? I’m completely new to writing a blog however I do write in my journal on a daily basis. I’d like to start a blog so I…

  48. 5Boro Cappello tattico Bucket – Blu – sano

    When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Appreciate it!

Comments are closed.