Although he recorded for a relatively short period, only eight years, Joseph Schmidt stands out as one of the great recording artists and one of the most popular singers of the inter-war period. With a high-lying voice ideally suited to the microphone and a natural musical ability of the highest calibre, Schmidt triumphed over unhappy personal and political circumstances to leave a precious legacy of recordings. These demonstrate both a remarkable vocal technique (Schmidt’s biographer, Jan Neckers, praises ‘the soft, plangent quality of his voice, his exceptional legato and splendid high notes’) and a wide-ranging repertoire of opera, operetta and ballads.