Decca Presents Selections from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess consists of two volumes of records, the first from 1940, and the next from 1942.

The 1940 album was the first to record selections from George Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...

's opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...

as sung by members of the original Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 cast from 1935. The only singers involved were Todd Duncan

Todd Duncan

Robert Todd Duncan was an American baritone opera singer and actor.-Biography:Todd Duncan was born in Danville, Kentucky in 1903. He obtained his musical training at Butler University in Indianapolis with a B.A. in music followed by an M.A...

 as Porgy and Anne Brown

Anne Brown

Anne Wiggins Brown was an African American soprano who created the role of "Bess" in the original production of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess in 1935. She was also a radio and concert singer...

 as Bess. Duncan sang "It Ain't Necessarily So", which is sung in the opera by Sportin' Life. Anne Brown sang "Summertime" (first sung in the opera by Clara) and "My Man's Gone Now" (sung in the opera by Serena). Decca Records

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 originally released this first volume on 4 twelve-inch 78 rpm vinyl records assigned the numbers 29067, 29068, 29069 and 29070.

After Porgy and Bess was revived on Broadway in 1942, Decca brought the cast from the revival together to record more songs not already recorded two years earlier, issuing a new "Volume Two." This recording originally came on 3 ten-inch vinyl records which Decca Records assigned the numbers 23250, 23251 and 23252.

A few years later, Decca re-released the albums as on LP set entitled Selections from Porgy and Bess in February 1950, (DL 7006), deceptively billing it as "the original cast album" though only selected members of two separate casts participated.

Cast

• Todd Duncan
  Todd Duncan
  Robert Todd Duncan was an American baritone opera singer and actor.-Biography:Todd Duncan was born in Danville, Kentucky in 1903. He obtained his musical training at Butler University in Indianapolis with a B.A. in music followed by an M.A...
  
   (Porgy) (Sportin Life in "It Ain't Necessarily So")
• Anne Brown
  Anne Brown
  Anne Wiggins Brown was an African American soprano who created the role of "Bess" in the original production of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess in 1935. She was also a radio and concert singer...
  
   (Bess) (Clara in "Summertime") (Serena in "My Man's Gone Now")
• Avon Long
  Avon Long
  Avon Long was an American Broadway actor and singer.-Life:Long was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He performed in a number of Broadway shows, including Black Rhythm , Porgy and Bess , and Beggar's Holiday...
  
   (Sportin' Life)
• Edward Matthews
  Edward Matthews
  Edward Matthews was a pioneering African American opera singer. In 1934, he created the role of "Ignatius of Loyola" in Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts, which he reprised in the 1952 revival of the opera - his last appearance on Broadway...
  
   (Jake)
• Helen Dowdy
  Helen Dowdy
  Helen Dowdy was a Broadway actress and singer who played the role of Queenie in the 1946 revival of Kern & Hammerstein's Show Boat . She created the roles of Lily and the Strawberry Woman in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess — roles she played for nearly twenty years in several productions...
  
   (Strawberry Woman)
• William Woolfolk (Crab Man)
• Georgette Harvey
  Georgette Harvey
  Georgette Harvey was an American singer and actress, perhaps most famous for creating the role of Maria in the original 1935 Broadway production of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess.-External links:*...
  
   (Maria)
• Gladys Goode
• Eva Jessye Choir
• Decca Symphony Orchestra
• Alexander Smallens
  Alexander Smallens
  Alexander Smallens was a Russian-born American conductor and music director.Smallens was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and emigrated to the United States as a child, becoming an American citizen in 1919...
  
  , conductor

Volume 1 (1940)

Track	Song Title
1.	Overture and Summertime
2.	My man's gone now
3.	I got plenty o' nuttin'
4.	Buzzard song
5.	Bess, you is my woman
6.	It ain't necessarily so
7.	The requiem
8.	Porgy's lament and Finale

Volume 2 (1942)

Track	Song Title
1.	A woman is a sometime thing
2.	It take a long pull to get there
3.	What you want wid Bess?
4.	Street cries
5.	I loves you, Porgy
6.	There's a boat dat's leavin' soon for New York.

Combination LP (February 1950)

Track	Song Title
1.	Overture and Summertime
2.	A woman is a sometime thing
3.	My man's gone now
4.	It takes a long pull to get there
5.	I got plenty o' nuttin'
6.	Buzzard song
7.	Bess, you is my woman
8.	It ain't necessarily so
9.	What you want wid Bess?
10.	Strawberry woman's call
11.	Crab man's call
12.	I loves you Porgy
13.	The requiem
14.	There's a boat dat's leavin' soon for New York
15.	Porgy's lament and Finale.