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 dispatch for sale

    Hi! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new apple iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the fantastic work!

  6. Benvenuti Simbolo T-shirt – rosa / bianco – Best Buy

    When I originally left a comment I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I recieve four emails with the exact same comment. Perhaps there is a means you are able to remove me…

  8. oakley baratas paypal 2016

    First of all I want to say great blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your mind prior to writing. I have had a tough time clearing my mind in getting my ideas…

  10. ray ban aviator brown leather

    hey there and thank you for your info ¨C I’ve certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical points using this website, as I experienced to reload the web site many times previous to I could get it to load c…

  20. sudaderas nike baratas

    Greetings! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be…

  21. nike air max thrust 45

    Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say superb blog!

  22. precio salomon xa 3d ultra 2

    What’s Taking place i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve discovered It absolutely useful and it has aided me out loads. I’m hoping to give a contribution & assist other users like its aided me. Good job.

  23. vans leopardo rojo

    Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for your weblog. You have some really great articles and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some material for your blog…

  24. Fourstar Leavenworth 3/4 T-shirt – bianco – In vendita

    I’ve been browsing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be much more useful…

  25. ray ban 3447 precio

    You’re so interesting! I do not believe I have read through a single thing like this before. So good to find another person with unique thoughts on this subject. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This site is one thing that is needed on th…

  26. jackie o sunglasses ray ban

    I have been surfing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful…

  29. ray ban sunglasses sale usa

    I have been browsing online greater than three hours these days, yet I by no means found any attention-grabbing article like yours. It is beautiful value enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made excellent content as you did, the n…

  33. vans precio madrid sevilla

    Have you ever thought about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and everything. Nevertheless imagine if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is exc…

  35. nike air max 1 gamma orange

    Wonderful beat ! I would like to apprentice even as you amend your web site, how can i subscribe for a blog web site? The account helped me a appropriate deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear concept

  37. ray ban priser quote

    My brother recommended I might like this website. He was totally right. This post actually made my day. You cann’t imagine just how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!

  39. scarpe nike air max 2013 scontate

    Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thank you, However I am going through problems with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anybody else getting similar RSS issues? Anybody who knows the answer can you kind…

  41. ray ban online chat

    I like what you guys tend to be up too. This type of clever work and coverage! Keep up the very good works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to our blogroll.

  42. nike air max ltd womens

    Thanks on your marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you could be a great author. I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and may come back from now on. I want to encourage continue your great writing, have a nice evening!

  49. vans precio original descargar

    Thanks a lot for sharing this with all of us you actually recognise what you’re speaking about! Bookmarked. Kindly also talk over with my web site =). We can have a hyperlink change contract among us

Comments are closed.