The career of Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence (1907-1979) was severely curtailed after she contracted polio in 1941. Unable to walk she rarely appeared on stage again, singing mainly on radio and eventually retired early to a teaching career. Her studio recordings were few, perhaps because she made her major international breakthrough at the Met in the same year (1935) as Kirsten Flagstad with whom she shared so many roles. We are fortunate that so many of her roles have been preserved complete in radio broadcasts whilst she was in her prime, especially her Brunnhilde and Sieglinde in Die Walkure, Brunnhilde in Gottderdammerung, Venus in Tannhauser and Ortud in Lohengrin. She is heard alongside such famous Wagnerians as Lauritz Melchior, Lotte Lehmann, Frederich Schorr, and Kirsten Flagstad. Early performances of Senta in the Flying Dutchman and Kundry in Parsifal were recorded in Buenos Aires. Away from Wagner there are two surviving extracts from Carmen, and the finale of Salome, but little evidence remains of her Isolde or Elektra, and only a much later recording of her Amneris.

Live Recordings

December 21, 1935 Lohengrin Met Melchior, Lehmann, Lawrence, Schorr, List /Bodanzky

January 11, 1936 Gotterdammerung Met Lawrence, Melchior, Schorr, Manski, Hofmann, Meisle, Habich /Bodanzky

17 September 1936 Lohengrin Colon, Buenos Aires Hoerner, Lawrence, Maison, Destal, Kipnis, Krenn / Busch

19 September 1936 Hollander, Colon, Buenos Aires Destal, Lawrence, Kipnis/ Busch

22 September 1936 Parsifal Colon, Buenos Aires Singher, Destal, Kipnis, Krenn, Maison, Lawrence/ Busch

29 September 1936 Walkure Montevideo, Uruguay Lawrence, Maison, Destal /Busch

January 16, 1937 Die Walkure Met (incomplete) Lawrence, Lehmann, Melchior, Schorr, Thorborg, List /Bodanzky

December 18, 1937 Die Walkure Met (incomplete) Lawrence, Flagstad, Melchior, Schorr, Thorborg, Hofmann /Bodanzky

April 24, 1938 Magic Key of RCA Divinities du Styx from Alceste; Dido's Lament (Purcell); Gebet; Der Rattenfanger; Gesang Weyla's (Wolf).

February 6, 1939 Magic Key of RCA Cleopatra's Aria, Julius Ceasar (Handel); Zuiegnung (Strauss); Down the Burn

April 9, 1939 Magic Key Gounod: Sapho O, ma lyre immortelle; Frank: Easter Adoration; Bonner: Dearest Thou O Soul

July 7, 1939 Sun Aria Interview My Ain Folk

July 18, 1939 Sun Aria Interview My Ain Folk

October 13, 1939 Carmen Act 2 San Francisco Lawrence, Jobin, Pinza/ Merola

October 24, 1939 Die Walkure, Act 2, San Francisco Flagstad, Melchior, Lawrence [Sieglinde], Destal / MacArthur

December 11, 1939 National Orchestral Association Concert (in NYPL) Macbeth (Verdi) Vieni! t'affreta! ; Whispers of heavenly death / Bonner; Immolation Scene

Dec 24, 1939, Christmas Radio Programme Silent Night

February 17, 1940 Die Walkure Met Flagstad, Lawrence [Sieglinde], Melchior, Huehn, Branzell, List /Leinsdorf

March 30, 1940 Die Walkure Met Lawrence, Lehmann, Melchior, Schorr, List, Thorborg /Leinsdorf

April 25, 1940 Carmen, St Louis, 13 min extract from start of Act 3 Lawrence, Kiepura / Halasz

23 August 1940 Walkure, Colon, Buenos Aires Lawrence, Stevens, Maison, Janssen, Jessner and List

December 13, 1940 Bundles for Britain Concert, Carnegie Hall Willow, Willow; Shallow Brown; The old woman at the Christening; Hubby and Wifey; Rule Britannia; (Grainger)

September 6, 1942 Pause that refreshes on the air Devotion / Alice Mattulath; Annie Laurie / Scott; Waltzing Matilda / Cowan.

January 1, 1943 Statue of Liberty program Gounod’s Ave Maria

January 31, 1943 Pause that refreshes on the air My hero / Oscar Straus. From operetta The chocolate soldier.; Invictus / B Huhn

February 16, 1943 End of Act 3 of Die Walkure with Friedrich Schorr. Philadelphia Orchestra Carnegie Hall Broadcast c. Ormandy [no listening copy located]

April 24, 1943 Anzac Day Waltzing Matilda and Gounod’s Ave Maria

May 16, 1943 I'm an American song Gounod’s Ave Maria and Freedom Reigns

June 3, 1943 Invitation to Music Radio Broadcast – abridged extract from Die Walkure Act 3 (might be edited version of PO broadcast above)

June 10, 1943 WABC recital Dido's Lament (Purcell), Flute Enchantee (Ravel), Der Abend Graut (R.Strauss) Leid an meinen sohn (R.Strauss) [discs in Rhodes Collection at the New England Conservatory]

June 13, 1943 Pause that refreshes on the air British children's prayer / Jacques Wolfe. Waltzing Matilda / Marie Cowan.

August 1, 1943 NYPSO concert c. Reiner Isolde's Narrative; Salome Closing Scene [discs in Rhodes Collection at the New England Conservatory]

February 5, 1944 Tannhauser Met Melchior, Varnay, Lawrence, Huehn, Kipnis /Breisach

February 19, 1944 American Home Campaign : All things come home again

May 1, 1944 Bell Telephone Hour Radio broadcast,. Erlkonig / Franz Schubert; My ain folk / Lemon ; Doun the burn / Hook Herodiade. Il est doux, il est bon / Jules Massenet

August 1944 Broadcast recital: Melbourne The Lord's Prayer; Trad: Down the Burn ; R. Strauss: Zueignung; Trad Weatherly: Danny Boy; Brahms: Der Schmied; Trad.: Annie Laurie MacPherson-Paterson: Waltzing Matilda

January 8, 1945 Bell Telephone Hour Radio broadcast Waltzing Matilda / Marie Cowan; Trad.: Annie Laurie; This Day is Mine / Harriet Ware; Tristan und Isolde. Narrative and curse / Richard Wagner

January 27, 1945 Detroit Symphony Concert Immolation Scene [discs in Rhodes Collection at the New England Conservatory]

March 12, 1945 Bell Telephone Hour Radio broadcast,. Danny Boy; Il va venir – La Juive (Halevy); The Lost Chord (Sullivan)

February 18, 1945 The Met Presents Purcell: Dido and Aeneas - Dido's Lament; Loch Lomond; Massenet: Herodiade - Il est doux, il est bon; Grieg - I love thee; Halevy: La Juive - Il va venir.

March 20 1945 The Met Presents Tatiana's Letter Scene (Eugen Onegin - Tchaikovsky) [no listening copy located]

August 27, 1945 Bell Telephone Hour Radio broadcast. None but the lonely heart Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky ; Loch Lomond (Trad) I love a Lassie; Wee deeoch and Doris; Roamin' in the gloamin' / Sir Harry Lauder; The holy city / Steven Adams.

November 14, 1945 Royal Albert Hall Salome final scene BBC Symphony/Boult

February 11, 1946 Bell Telephone Hour Radio broadcast,. Floods of Spring- Rachmaninov; I love three / Grieg; Comin' through the rye / Addison Foster –; Robin adair -- Blue bells of Scotland – Gotterdammerung. Immolation / Richard Wagner.

16 October 1946 Concert pour la pénicilline - Paris: Palais de Chaillot - - Orchestre National - d'Albert Wolff (c) Purcell: Didon et Enée Plainte de Didon; Jacopo Peri: Orfeo / Air d' Euridice; Gounod: Sapho O, ma lyre immortelle ; Schubert: Le Roi des Aulnes; Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin Air de Tatiana; Immolation - Gotterdammerung

11 December 1947 Elektra - very brief extract of monologue from Pathe newsreel, Symphony Hall, Chicago

24 February 1961 Aida (as Amneris) University of Southern Illinois University of Southern Illinois

early 1960s E Che? Io son Medea (Medee - Cherubini); Salut, splendour du jour (Sigurd - Reyer)

April 1966 Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Du bist der lenz; Annie Laurie; My ain folk; Waltzing Matilda

STUDIO

Vocalion 1928 (Privately recorded in Melbourne)

Beethoven: In Questa Tomba Oscura PR17

Verdi: Don Carlos - O don fatale PR18

Trad: Ring, Bells, Ring PR19

Trad: My Ain Folk PR20

French HMV (Paris) 1933-1934

Wagner: Lohengrin: Elsa! Qui vient? with Yvonne Brothier (June 29, 1933) DB4890-1

Wagner: Lohengrin: Allons, debout compagne de ma honte with Marital Singher (June 29, 1933) DB4900

Wagner: Walkure: La chevauchee des Walkyries (Ride of the Valkyries) (Oct 11, 1933) DB4905

Wagner: Walkure: Ho-Jo-To-Ho with Jean Clavertie (Oct 11, 1933) DB4925

Wagner: Walkure: Ai-je a ce point merit qu'on me blame (War es so) (Oct 11, 1933) Piero Coppola (c) DB4925

Wagner: Götterdämmerung: Immolation Scene (Oct 23, 1933) DB4914-5 Strauss: Salome Final Scene (June 12, 1934) DB4933-4

Reyer: Sigurd Salut, splendeur du jour (Sept 7, 1934) DB4937

Reyer: Sigurd O palais radieux (Sept 7, 1934) DB4937

Wagner: Gotterdammerung Act 1 prologue duet with Jose de Trevi (Sept 7, 1934) 2LA3 / 2LA4 unissued

Columbia (New York) 1936

March of the men of Harlech (June 10, 1936) CO19422 issued on 17065-D (78rpm)

RCA Victor recordings 1939-40

April 13, 1939 Doun the burn (Hook) BS-035586-1 unpublished

May 10, 1939 Stimme der sehnsucht (Pftzner) BS-036929-1, 2 unpublished

Die Einsame (Pfitzner) BS-036930-1,2,3, unpublished Danny Boy (Weatherly) BS-03693-1,2 unpublished

May 15, 1939 Sapho: O ma lyre immortelle (Gounod) CS-03649-1,2,3, unpublished

La Procession (Franck) CS-036950-1, 2, 3 unpublished

May 29, 1940 Doun the Burn (Hook) BS-050886-1, 2, 3; Victor 2147; Aust HMV EC70

Calm as the Night (Bohm) BS-050887-1 unpublished

My ain folk (Lemon) BS-050888-1,2 unpublished

Gesang Weyla's (Wolf) BS-050889-1,2 unpublished on 78 but issued on Camden (lp) CAL-216

Danny Boy (Weatherly) C-050890-1, 2; 17457; DB-5870 May 31, 1940

Stimme der sehnsucht (Pftzner)B-036929-3, 4; 2142

Die Einsame (Pfitzner) BS 036930-4 unpublished on 78 but issued on Camden (lp) CAL-216

Das Dichters Abendgang (Strauss) CS-051200-1, 2, 3; 17230; ED-286

Michaelskirchplatz (Pfitzner) B-051201-1,2 2142 June 1, 1940

Lied an meinem sohn (Strauss) CS-05120-1, 2, 3, 4; 17230; ED-286

Annie Laurie (Scott) CS-51209-1, ; 17457; DB5870 July 18, 1940

My ain folk (Lemon) BS-050888-3, 4; 2147; EC-70

February 12, 1943 two unissued Columbia recordings XCO33176-7 On the Road of Gundagai (Jack O'Hagan)

Australian Columbia 22 September 1944 (recorded in Sydney)

MacPherson-Paterson: Waltzing Matilda Col LO 67 CT2184

God Bless Australia Col LO67 CT 2186

Arne-Thompson: Rule Britannia Col LO68 CT2185

Atarau-Kaihau: Haere Ra (Maori Farewell)Col LO68 CT2187

Columbia recordings 1945

April 16, 1945 The Lord's Prayer (Malotte) XCO 34574

Annie Laurie (Scott) XCO 34575

Danny Boy (Weatherly) XCO 34576

My hero (Straus) XCO 34577 I Love Thee (unissued) May 2, 1945

Waltzing Matilda (Cowen-Paterson) XCO 34635

Maori Farewell XCO 34636 Auld Lang Syne XCO 34636

I Love Thee XCO 34637

October 17, 1945 Loch Lomond CO35317 unpublished

Down the burn CO35318 unpublished Comin' thru the rye CO35319 unpublished

My ain folk CO35320 unpublished October 19, 1945

Flow gently sweet Afton CO35321 unpublished

A highland lad my love was born CO35322 unpublished

Blue bells of Scotland CO35323 unpublished

Robin Adair CO35324 unpublished

Decca recordings 1946 June 26, 1946 (Kingsway Hall, London)

Silent Night (Gruber) - Decca K1558 Hark the Herald Angels sing (Mendelssohn) - Decca K1558

July 2, 1946 Floods of Spring (Rachmaninov) M602 I Love Thee (Grieg) M602

Think on Me (Scott) - unissued

July 5, 1946 So willst du des armen (Brahms) M598

Der Schmeid (Brahms) M598

Nicht mehr zu dir zu gehen (Brahms) M598

Killarney (Balfe) unissued

November 23, 1946 Erlkonig (Schubert) AR10910-2 unpublished

Der Lindenbaum (Schubert) AR10911-2 unpublished

Hollywood 1954 1. The Greatest of These. 2. Un Bel Di, Hollywood, June 20. 1954 3. My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice. (Fr.) Hollywood, June 23, 1954 4. Annie Laurie. Hollywood. June 23. 1954 5. Waltzing Matilda, Hollywood, June 23. 1954 6. My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice. (Eng.). Hollywood, June 23. 1954 8. Salome, Finale, Hollywood, June 23, 1954

EMI 1966 Waltzing Matilda EMI 11463 (side A) in stereo (recorded in Sydney with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra c.Patrick Flynn)