The gramophone era’s first female opera star made her first recordings in 1904, and the original metal masters (electroplated from the wax cylinders engraved by the machine into which she sang) have been rediscovered, stashed away deep in the Deutsche Grammophon archives. “Many were buckled and distorted, but modern techniques allow them to be restored to near-pristine condition. There’s no digital enhancing. Melba sings exactly as she would have done in her drawing room 104 years ago.”