Да, это несомненно на данный момент самая старая запись на этом сайте. Кстати, вот ешё интересный линк - его мне прислал Jurek Gogacz - там даже есть несколько оцифровок с русских фоноваликов!
I am completely astonished about that Russian Berliner label. After the Gramophone Co. numbering system, the catalogue nr. 20089 should defer to a "Band" recording.
The cyrillic "E.Berliner's Grammophon" stamp is also new to me. Could someone please translate and explain the second line: "Зап. 13 Апр. 1899 С.-Пб" I expect that 13. Aug. 1899 is the recording date, isn't it?
In case that record is for sale please contact me.
There are no doubts about correctness of the translation. And this date is consistent with information from Alan Kelly catalog.
The records were made by Sinkler Darby. Following is quote from Alan Kelly's introduction to his catalog:
"Darby reached St Petersburg from Berlin on March 30th and negotiated sales terms and a contract between Joseph Berliner and certain dealers
...
On 10th April (New Style), Darby made his first experimental recording which was not successful, as were several more the next day. Things thereafter improved although he had trouble with his materials and difficulties in getting singers willing to make records. However, by the time the session ended on May 10th (April 25th OS) he had succeeded in producing some 243 successful discs in four weeks."
There are no doubts about correctness of the translation. And this date is consistent with information from Alan Kelly catalog.
The records were made by Sinkler Darby. Following is quote from Alan Kelly's introduction to his catalog:
"Darby reached St Petersburg from Berlin on March 30th and negotiated sales terms and a contract between Joseph Berliner and certain dealers
...
On 10th April (New Style), Darby made his first experimental recording which was not successful, as were several more the next day. Things thereafter improved although he had trouble with his materials and difficulties in getting singers willing to make records. However, by the time the session ended on May 10th (April 25th OS) he had succeeded in producing some 243 successful discs in four weeks."
”
Thank you very much Yuri. I always thought the famous European recording tour started in Leipzig, Germany, taking place between 17 May and 27 May, 1899.
My doubts were further caused by another source: "After an abortive journey to Russia, where no recordings were made, Fred Gaisberg and Sinkler Darby … found themselves in … Buda-Pest at the beginning of June. ... The Recording Experts left Buda-Pest on June 15th ... (Leonard Petts, Berliner’s Compact Disc, Emile Berliner’s Gramophone – The Earliest Discs 1888-1901, in: The Hillandale News, London, December 1988, No. 165, p. 117)
You surely know that Mr. Petts was head of EMI archive for a long time and had access to all sources.
Could you possibly copy me all of Kelly's introduction, as far as the first Russian recordings of April/May 1899 are concerned.
Excusing my ignorance, what does "old style" and "new style" mean in the date format?
You are very welcome! There is one important thing that I forgot to mention in my previous message. According to Alan Kelly, Darby’s 1899 recording session in St.-Petersburg was initiated by direct Emile Berliner’s order and performed in kind of secrecy from the London main office. I think, it may explain why originally there were no “Angel“ logos on that records, so later they had to stamp them on. Apparently, they reconciled this “offence” soon after, but it may also explain why Mr. Petts is reluctant to admit it.
Alan Kelly is participant on our website, you may try to contact him directly and ask for more information. Please let me know if any problems – I know that he recently moved to a new location, I hope that his e-mail is still valid.
The following Wikipedia article explains meaning of "old style" and "new style" better than I could do. In Russia, the introduction of "new style" has happened on February 14, 1918.
Apparently, they reconciled this “offence” soon after, but it may also explain why Mr. Petts is reluctant to admit it.
Alan Kelly is participant on our website, you may try to contact him directly and ask for more information. Please let me know if any problems – I know that he recently moved to a new location, I hope that his e-mail is still valid.
The following Wikipedia article explains meaning of "old style" and "new style" better than I could do. In Russia, the introduction of "new style" has happened on February 14, 1918.
Best regards,
Yuri.
”
Great additional info! I will contact Mr.Kelly asking him for further information.
The Wikipedia article covers my request exhaustively! Thanks for the hint.
Thanks, Stephan and Yuri, for discussing an example of a very great Russian rarity. I should like to add a few comments, based on my own experience.
Sinkler Darby was indeed sent to St Petersburg quite separately from the new Gramophone Company in Europe, and he made quite a large number of records (and he had quite a good time, it seems! -- he was only 20 years old...) Apart from these now most rare discs, he made also a few personal discs to send to his family; his daughter Kathleen showed me two of these original zinc discs, several years ago.
The catalogue numbers of the St Petersburg discs are a simple series, 20000, etc; this follows on from earlier series such as 10000, 11000 (etc) for special Eastern, Russian (etc) recordings made in *London* in early 1899 (you have an example of one of the Russian discs reproduced elsewhere on this website). This is effectively why the official European tour recordings were given 'language' digits 3, 4, 5, 6 -- the 1's and the 2's had already been used!
Copies of this 20000 series of Darby's discs are held at the EMI archives (which is of course how Alan Kelly was able to list them) although they were 'unofficial' recordings. They were pressed at the Hanover factory; presumably copies were kept at the time and in due course sent to London.
They were naturally unable to display the 'angel' trademark, and I don't know whether they ever became 'official' enough to have the angel added retrospectively; that would need to be checked at EMI. (Of those that I have seen, none has had an angel added to it. However, 'added angels' are quite common on the very early *London* discs.)
There is (at least) one other design of heading on these discs ("E.Berliner's..." etc. in Russian). It has a spelling mistake: "Grammofn" with the final "o" missing!
I am not sure why Leonard Petts referred to the first European tour (Gaisberg and Darby together) going to Russia just after Leipzig, and I can't remember what (if anything) I thought of this idea back in 1988. It might just be a misinterpretation of Darby's (earlier) separate visit to St Petersburg. (Leonard's comments were part of a review in 'Hillandale News' of 'my' CD of Berliner discs, where he elaborated freely on the historical notes I provided for the CD.)
Lastly, Alan Kelly's email is indeed the same as before he moved house.