Chronology of the Decca Monaural Releases

Between 1949 and 1955, D'Oyly Carte recorded eleven operas for Decca. Most of these were issued more-or-less simultaneously on 78rpm discs and the then-new LP records. All but the last two featured Martyn Green in the principal comic roles.

The original LP issues on the Decca label all had catalog numbers of the form "LK 40xx." Subsequently, eight of the recordings were re-issued on Decca's budget label (at the time), Ace of Clubs. These had catalog numbers of the form "ACL 1xxx." Lastly, in the late 1970s, Decca released eight of the recordings (but not the same eight as had appeared on Ace of Clubs) in a new series with catalog numbers of the form "DPA 30xx." Seven of the eight operas in this release were reprocessed into a kind of "fake" stereo.

The table below, based on a compilation by Chris Webster, puts all of these Decca issues in perspective. The first column lists the operas in the order originally written. The year in which each opera was recorded for the mono series is in parentheses. Clicking on the name of the opera takes you to the writeup for each recording. Note that Utopia and Grand Duke are omitted from the list, since they weren't recorded for this series.

The second, third, and fourth columns list the LK, ACL, and DPA catalog numbers for each recording. The ordinal number that introduces the catalog number indicates each recording's sequence within a particular series. For example, Mikado was issued fourth in the LK series, but first in the ACL and DPA series. The last column includes miscellaneous comments that Chris provided.

The web pages for the individual recordings list issues on other labels, such as London, Richmond, and Price-Less (all American issues); these are excluded here, as are the 78rpm issues. Once again, thanks to Chris Webster.