Editing Mario Ancona (section)

==Retirement, death and recorded legacy==
Ancona was still in good vocal shape when he elected to retire from the stage in 1916. World War One was then reaching its height in Europe, and Ancona was singing with the Chicago opera company at the time. In retirement, he devoted himself to teaching. He died of lung cancer in Florence, Italy, on 23 February 1931. An extensive collection of documents, photographs and other items relating to Ancona's career is preserved at [[Stanford University]]'s Archive of Recorded Sound in California.

Fortunately, however, Ancona's thoroughbred voice lives on in a series of [[gramophone record]]ings which he made during the first decade of the 20th century for [[Pathé]] in 1905–06 and, more rewardingly, for the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] in 1907–08. Twenty of his Victor recordings are now available on CD transfers (see below). They consist of several songs as well as operatic arias and duets by Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti, [[Meyerbeer]], [[Gounod]], Bizet, Leoncavallo and Giordano.