Or Ahlersmeyer's Valentin? Hopf's Diavolo or Turridu? Konetzni's Desdemona?
Berger's Antonia?

Well, now you *can*.  The sound is amazing, especially for voices -
orchestra passages get a bit blurry, similar to the sound of Met
broadcasts, on AM stations in FM-deprived San Francisco, 2002 AD -
and who says there is progress?

 From Mike Richter, Defender of Musical Heritage, comes a wondrous new
treasure house of opera broadcast in German-speaking countries during World
War II.  The "Opera auf Deutsch" volume of the Audio Encyclopedia contains
broadcasts, from 1936-1952 of

   Auber: Fra Diavolo
   Massenet: Manon
   Verdi: Aida

   Bizet: Carmen
   Mozart: Don Giovanni
   Verdi: Ernani

   Donizetti: Don Pasquale
   Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
   Verdi: Falstaff

   Dvorak: Rusalka
   Offenbach: Tales of Hoffmann
   Verdi: Otello

   Gounod: Faust
   Puccini: La Boheme
   Verdi: Requiem

   Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
   Puccini: Tosca
   Verdi: Rigoletto

   Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana
   Smetana: Bartered Bride
   Verdi: Il Trovatore

   Gluck: Orfeo
   Tchaikowsky: Pique Dame
   Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani

Just one cast as an example: "Don G" -
Dresden, 1943
Don Giovanni: Mathieu Ahlersmeyer
Leporello: Kurt Bohme
Il Commendatore: Heinrich Pflanzl
Donna Anna: Marianne Schech
Don Ottavio: Hans Hopf
Donna Elvira: Margarete Teschemacher
Masetto: Gottlob Frick
Zerlina: Elfriede Weidlich
Chor der Staatsoper Dresden
Sachsische Staatskapelle
Karl Elmendorf, cond.

 From the introduction:

   In the United States the phenomenon of the famous Met Broadcasts is
   well known and these recordings are always sought-after - the earliest
   available date from 1932, the latest from 2001. In the German-speaking
   countries, a similar but technically different approach was chosen.
   The broadcasting companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland began
   in the twenties with special performances in the radio studios as
   live productions, most notably in Berlin under the direction of
   Cornelis Broonsgest, a formerly famous Dutch baritone. Thus they
   could fulfill the operatic wishes of their listeners, to complement
   the small repertory available then on shellac discs. This technical
   form of studio production was much simpler from the viewpoint of the
   sound engineers than recording really live in opera houses, which
   also begin in these days.  Needless to say, some of the finest singers
   of these times like Joseph Schmidt and Heinrich Schlusnus were among
   the performers under such fine conductors as Leo Blech. It is a pity
   that only a few, brief excerpts have survived from the earliest times
   before 1935.

I am betting that Mike will find even the recordings that have
"disappeared"!

Janos Gereben/SF
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