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

[David Lennick]

Fritz Rothschild seems to have been a real person, by the way..musicologist, 
published author on items musical, and a violinist in the Kolisch Quartet. So 
much for my wondering if it was indeed a pseudonym and if Columbia had possibly 
acquired and dubbed the Telefunken series (maybe through Eli Oberstein).

dl wrote:
> The few Add-A-Part sets I've seen have all been US Columbia recordings, so I'm 
> just as puzzled as you about the Telefunken item. The Rothschild name is real 
> as far as Columbia is concerned, since the descriptive page in the catalogue 
> says the series is "directed by the eminent musician, Fritz Rothschild, 
> internationally known as a violinist, teacher and chamber music authority" 
> (nevah hoid o' him myself) and "Rothschild Ensemble" appears on the labels I've 
> seen.
> 
> dl
> 
> Chris Zwarg wrote:
>>> 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 
s
> ubdivided 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 
>>