Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A 33 1/3 RPM record album entitled Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at No. 1 Studio 3, Abbey Road, London, May and August 1985. The album consists of a single vinyl long-playing record (a), album jacket (b), and and a sheet of paper with the lyrics to each track (c).

The record features a circular black, red and gray label with a notched center hole. The top half of the label features the logo of the record company. This logo consists of the word “DIGITAL” printed in large, uppercase, red letters, where the first and last letters converge above the word to form a triangle. The triangle encloses a sketch of a winged person, and below the person [ANGEL RECORDS] is printed in white letters. On side 1, the following three songs are printed on the bottom half of the label: [ 1. Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio! / 2. Exsultate, jubilate / 3. L’ amerò, sarò costante]. Side 2 has a similar design. The following tracks are printed on side 2: [ 1. Basta. vincesti / 2. Un Moto di gioia / 3. Ch’io mi scrodi di te / 4. Misera! dove son]. Side 2 lists the following songs: [ Mozart: 1. Basta, vincesti / 2. Un moto di gloia / 3. Ch’io mi scordi di te / 4. Misera! Dove son].

The album jacket’s front cover consists of a photograph of Kathleen Battle standing in profile with her head turned, facing the camera. She wears a black dress and is only visible from the hips up. A large painting is on the wall behind her. To her left, [Kathleen Battle / Sings Mozart / Royal Philharmonic / Orchestra / André Previn] is printed in white letters. On the back cover, there is a discography of the songs featured on the album as well as a brief overview of Kathleen Battle’s musical career. The lyric sheet has the lyrics of the songs in Italian (except for one, which is performed in Latin) as well as their English translations.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1985; released 1986
• Recorded by: Kathleen Battle, American, born 1948
• Recorded by: André Previn, German American, 1929 - 2019
• Recorded by: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), British, founded 1946
• Published by: EMI Records Ltd, British, 1972 - 2013
• Type: record covers
• Type: long-playing records
• Medium: vinyl with ink on paper and cardboard
• Dimensions: Diameter (a. disc): 11 7/8 in. (30.2 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (b. album jacket): 12 3/8 × 12 3/8 × 1/8 in. (31.4 × 31.4 × 0.3 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (c. lyric sheet): 11 3/4 × 11 3/4 in. (29.8 × 29.8 cm)
• Place captured: London, England, United Kingdom, Europe
• Place made: Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, United States
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Classical (Music)
• Topic: Opera (Music)
• Topic: Orchestral (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2015.195.60abc
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © EMI Records Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.