[78-L] Columbia Add-A-Part records.

[Chris Zwarg]

>Royal Pemberton wrote:
>> What is the story behind the Add-A-Part series of records Columbia
>> offered?  For years I've seen them listed among the different series
>> or records, and the prices per disc, on a handful of sleeves or albums
>> from the 1940s.
>> 
>> Both sides have a brief outer track with a violinist playing an A
>> natural, which ends in a locked groove.  The music tracks include two
>> baton taps before the ensemble begins playing, as a cue to the
>> pianist.
>> 
>> Matrix number for side 1, 021991; no lead in spiral.  Leadout spiral
>> ends in a concentric groove like some 12" Telefunken 78s I have (and
>> whose matrix numbers appear to be in the same series).

This IS a Telefunken matrix, dating from April 1937 (21978: April 8th, 21993 April 12th), rec. in Berlin. I wonder how US Columbia got access to that one (and a master pressing it is, so there must have been an official connection - strange!)

Thanks for the details, as this number draws a blank in my Telefunken listings. They put out a long series of single discs and albums, sold together with the sheet music of the missing part (like M-M-O did much later). I have here the Beethoven string quartet op.18/4 (rec. 11/1936) and Haydn string quartet 74/3 (rec. 03/1937), both without first violin, played by an ensemble called "Wiener Quartett-Vereinigung" (who are they?) in November 1936. These records have specially styled Telefunken labels (silver paper with dark-blue printing), and the series is called "Spiel mit!  Die Schallplattenserie für gute Hausmusik" (translated "Play along! The series of records for good music-making in the home"). The labels mention a music publisher Emil Herrmann, who might have been responsible for the printed music included in the album. The Telefunken catalogue numbers are in a special series starting at Sm.5800, with the highest number I have seen being Sm.6466. No idea if this was subdivided into blocks, or if indeed about 670 discs were available in the series - not as unlikely as it may seem, as from fragmentary catalogue listings I know that e.g. some of the quartets were available in four versions, each lacking a different instrument, so one piece of music would have taken up 12 or 16 catalogue numbers. Certainly there is a lot of small gaps in the regular matrix series during these years (as only the paperwork for items published in the main Telefunken series seems to survive).

As for the "Rothschild Ensemble" I'd say that's a pseudonym on the US issue, as anybody going by that name probably wouldn't have been allowed to enter a recording studio in 1937 Berlin....

Chris Zwarg