100 years ago: Al Jolson “Avalon” charted

Avalon Al Jolson with Charles Prince’s Orchestra

Writer(s): Vincent Rose, Buddy DeSylva, Al Jolson (see lyrics here) First Charted: November 27, 1920 Peak: 2 US, 11 GA, 12 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The title “Avalon” evokes thoughts of “the legendary island…where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was forged” SM but is actually about a resort town on Catalina Island off the coast of California. JS It was a popular destination for Hollywood’s film community. JS Lyrically, the song tells the listener how the protagonist discovers his love beside the bay in Avalon, then sails away, leaving his love behind. Then he dreams about her and the desire to return to Avalon. Jolson is given songwriting credit, but likely had nothing to do with writing the song. However, by including him on songwriting royalties, it made it encouraged him to perform the song and make it popular. TY2 Buddy DeSylva’s name was not originally on the credits but was added later. It is possible that he had a role in writing the lyrics as he did with many songs supposedly composed by Jolson. JS Musically, Vincent Rose most likely deserves the credit JS although the melody of “Avalon” comes from the aria “E Lucevan le Stelle” from the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini. TY2 Puccini’s publishers sued and were awarded $25,000 in damages as well all future royalties. TY2 Jolson integrated the song into the musical Sinbad, which had opened on Broadway in 1918. He re-recorded the song after the 1946 film biopic The Jolson Story. The song was also used in 1932’s You Said a Mouthful, 1942’s Cairo, 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946’s Margie, 1956’s The Benny Goodman Story, 1957’s The Helen Morgan Story, 1999’s Sweet and Low Down, and 2001’s The Cat’s Meow. The song has been recorded and/or performed by Chet Atkins, Cab Calloway, Nat “King” Cole, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Harry James, Red Nichols, and Art Hickman, who took the song to #11 in 1921. Resources: SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) JS JazzStandards.com TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 116. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/28/2023.

Today in Music (1900): Puccini’s Tosca premiered

Tosca Giacomo Puccini (composer)

World Premiere: 1/14/1900 in Rome U.S. Premiere: 2/4/1901 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: opera

Parts/Movements: Act I: No. 1a, "Ah! Finalmente!" No. 1b, "E sempre lava!" No. 1c, "Sante ampolle!" No. 2, "Recondita armonia" No. 3a, "Mario! Mario! Mario!" No. 3b, "Perche chiuso?" No. 3c, "Ora stammi a sentir" No. 3d, "Non la sospiri" No. 3e, "Or lasciami al lavoro" No. 3f, "Ah, quegli occhi!" No. 4, "E buona la mia Tosca" No. 5, "Sommo giubilo" No. 6a, "Un tal baccano in chiesa!" No. 6b, "Fu grave sbaglio" No. 7a, "Or tutto e chiaro" No. 7b, "Tosca divina" No. 7c, "O che v'offende" No. 8, "Tre sbirri" (Te Deum) Act II: No. 9a, "Tosca e un buon falco" No. 9b, "Ella verra" No. 10a, "Sale, ascende... A te quest'inno" (Cantata) No. 10b, "Mario, tu qui?" No. 11a, "La povera mia cena" No. 11b, "Gia, mi dicon venal" No. 12, "Vissi d'arte" No. 13a, "Sei troppo bella" No. 13b, "Tosca, finalmente mia!" Act III: No. 14, Prelude No. 15a, "Io de' sospiri" No 15b, "Mario Cavaradossi?" No. 16, "E lucevan le stelle" No. 17a, "Franchigia a Floria Tosca" No. 17b, "O dolci mani" No. 17c, "Senti, l'ora e vicina" No. 18a, "Amaro sol per te" No. 18b, "Trionfa!... Di nova speme" No. 19a, "Son pronto" No. 19b, "Com'e lunga l'attesa!" Total Running Time: 112:50

Rating: 4.780 out of 5.00 (average of 7 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: When Puccini started writing Tosca, he’d already composed four operas, including the popular La Bohème. In “a marked change from the late Romantic sentimentality” AM of that work, Tosca was an exploration of “the dark side of human emotion.” AM It “premiered in 1900 at Rome’s Teatro Costanzi to a temperate critical reception.” AM Puccini first came across Victorien Sardou’s play La Tosca in 1889, two years after its premiere. He didn’t start writing his opera based on the play until 1895, largely because of waning interest in the play, which may have been stirred by Sardou’s admission that he disliked Puccini’s music. AM Eventually Giulio Ricordi, Puccini’s publisher, convince the composer to complete the opera. AM “Puccini creates coherence between story and music with themes that recur in association with characters and concepts. The opera begins as the orchestra states the low brass-laden three-chord motive outlining the sinister interval of a tritone (B flat major, A flat major, E major) that we come later in Act One to associate with the villainous confessor and executioner Scarpia. An expansive, major-mode theme, orchestrated for strings, is introduced in Act One as Tosca’s and Cavaradossi’s love music, and returns in Act Two, when Tosca enters Scarpia’s chamber and as Cavaradossi is led from the torture chamber to Tosca, and in Act Three, as pantomime music as Cavaradossi writes his farewell to Tosca.” AM Although the continuous swaths of sound in Puccini’s score avoid the sharp delineations between recitative and aria of earlier nineteenth century Italian operas, arias still function to uncover the emotions of the central characters in Tosca. Tosca utters her Act Two supplication Vissi d’arte in a soaring melodic idiom, reinforced by a rich harmonic language and orchestral palette.” AM “The cello melody that accompanied Tosca’s first entrance and meeting with Cavaradossi in Act One, here accompanies Tosca’s prayer, illustrating the extent to which love is Tosca’s true religion. In Cavaradossi’s Act Three aria, E lucevan le stelle, the orchestra sings with him at key utterances in desperately empty octaves.” AM “Puccini also upheld here the tradition of monumental end-of-act finales. The Act One finale (Tre sbirri...una carrozza) is a cleverly crafted juxtaposition of diagetic and non-diagetic music in which the Latin chorus of working-class believers singing the Te Deum and the intermittent utterances of the godless Scarpia mesh musically on different planes of realistic perception. The Act Two finale, which grows out of Tosca’s and Cavaradossi’s duet, is a tragic rush as Sciaronne, Spoletta, and a chorus of soldiers chase Tosca to her death. The E minor tonality that accompanied Scarpia’s death at Tosca’s hands in Act Two, here accompanies her own demise, and binds Tosca and Scarpia beyond their earthly entanglement.” AM Notes: The 1953 recording of Tosca, featuring Maria Callas, is in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Review Sources: AM AllMusic.com review by Jennifer Hambrick Related DMDB Links: First posted 10/16/2008; last updated 2/24/2026.