Category Archives: 1899

Mystery Object of the week #10 Answer

Congratulations to Rolf Christian Holth Olsen who correctly identify this weeks mystery object – The Lioretograph Model 2 phonogragh – created by the Parisian watchmaker Henri Lioret in 1898. This particular model – The Lioretograph Model 2 – came in a fitted case dating from 1899/1900. Lioret used his watchmaker’s knowledge to create a machine with a curious mixture of high-class clock workContinue reading “Mystery Object of the week #10 Answer”

Rare Recordings – From The EMI Vaults #2

Moo! Baa! Oink! Quack! or Happy New Year! We are proud to present another rare recording uncovered by our friends from the EMI Archive Trust. 118 years ago Trevor Lloyd Williams, legal eagle and first Chairman of The Gramophone Company, stepped into the newly established Maiden Lane studio to record his famous party piece of farmyard animal sounds! The resultContinue reading “Rare Recordings – From The EMI Vaults #2”

Syria Lamonte

The Hound would like to thank Mr Tony Locantro for sending these rare images of one of the first recording artists  for the Gramophone Company, Miss Syria Lamonte. By Tony Locantro The Australian soprano Syria Lamonte was probably the first woman to be commercially recorded outside of the USA and history does her a greatContinue reading “Syria Lamonte”

HIS MASTER’S GRAMOPHONE

   PART 1 We made mention of this fine new hardback book a few months back, but feel it deserves more attention, and so, with the kind permission of its creators Christopher Proudfoot and Brian Oakley, we’re starting a series of extracts to give/remind you of the first golden era of  recorded music and theContinue reading “HIS MASTER’S GRAMOPHONE”

The Paris Match: Gaisberg and Clarke make discs and cylinders side by side in 1899

Gaisberg’s first continental recording trip with William Sinkler Darby had begun in Leipzig in May 1899, where Thomas Birnbaum the Managing Director of the German Gramophone Company, joined them to travel to Budapest, Vienna and ultimately the dazzling musical city of Milan. The trip had been a mixed bag; lots of fun, some successses butContinue reading “The Paris Match: Gaisberg and Clarke make discs and cylinders side by side in 1899”

Gaisberg’s first recording trip goes Pasta Milano. 1899.

Gaisberg and Sinkler Darby arrived in Milan from Vienna in July 1899. The musical city made a great impression on Gaisberg as he later recalled. “My first visit to Milan..in 1899 was rich in experiences…I often saw Verdi (below) who would regularly take an afternoon drive in an open landau drawn by two horses. PeopleContinue reading “Gaisberg’s first recording trip goes Pasta Milano. 1899.”

Recording pianists, gypsies and tenors…in Leipzig, Budapest and Vienna

Fred Gaisberg and side-kick William Sinkler Darby were sent from London to the Continent to make more recordings for the Gramophone Company in 1899. The new Gramophone technology was in great demand and the company was struggling to keep up with it. The company had established a new disc manufacturing plant in Hanover that wasContinue reading “Recording pianists, gypsies and tenors…in Leipzig, Budapest and Vienna”

The Gramophone “more than takes the place of a piano, banjo, mandolin or cornet”

The Gramophone Company struggled to keep up with demand during their first Christmas rush in 1898. By Christmas 1899 many of the supply chain problems had been fixed and gramophones and discs were pouring into the market. Even the company’s advertising looks established. Here is an advert from that busy season:

The first music industry format war hots up: cylinders v discs

(This blog entry is a bit of a catch up in the story of the Gramophone Company…..) In 1899, Alfred Clark left Emile Berliner’s employment and went back to working for Thomas Edison’s rival business which sold cylinders rather than discs. Clark, you may remember had set up the world’s first record (disc) shop inContinue reading “The first music industry format war hots up: cylinders v discs”