Скачать или смотреть FORGOTT THE GREAT TENOR JOSE MOJICA

Mojica's introduction to Edison came about in 1916. He was then visiting New York in hopes of further developing a promising career begun in his native Mexico, but his success had been limited at best. In what he considered financially "a last resort", Mojica contacted the Edison Company. They were, at the time, considering exporting their machines to Latin America and were looking for Spanish singers to help stimulate interest. Mojica made a test record and was "enormously disillusioned" when the record was played back. Mojica was subsequently told that Edison had not liked his voice, and that ended matters for the time being.
Three years later, following his Chicago Opera début, Mojica and the Edison people again connected. This time the tenor was given a contract to record eight Spanish songs at $50 per selection. While a pittance as compared to the thousands paid Bonci and Anselmi, it should be remembered that Mojica was still very much a novice, and that his Chicago Opera work during those first seasons was mainly in comprimario roles.
By the time Mojica began making operatic records for Edison, 1925-26, he had become an important figure at the Chicago Opera, having moved into principal roles. His handsome appearance provided the sobriquet "the Valentino of the opera". He was subsequently to leave Edison in favor of Victor and then made several successful early Spanish sound films. He moved comfortably during the 1930s through the worlds of opera, film, and concerts, but left this milieu in 1943, honoring a deathbed promise to his mother to become a priest. Like Edison, Mojica eventually became completely deaf.
One particular thrill for Mojica was in eventually meeting Edison, who had, subsequent to that original test record, apparently changed his opinion of the tenor. Even though deaf, he told Mojica he could "still hear by means of a special apparatus" and enjoy the tenor's recordings. He particularly liked the Esparza Oteo song, Golondrina Mesajera. Mojica wrote in his autobiography, "Edison said that he listened to this song every night before retiring [this seems a rather incredible statement], and that he could scarcely believe that it was sung by such a young man."
Mojica might have known Bonci in passing, as both were with the Chicago Opera in 1920, but it seems quite certain that they never performed together. Anselmi and Bonci may have met, but Anselmi would never have known Mojica, who appeared in Europe only once. Their common point, having made recordings for Edison, presents the opportunity to hear these three important voices captured by the most successful recording process of that era at the peak of their respective careers.