HISTORIES OF DEFUNCT RECORD COMPANIES

Written by Cheniston K Roland

VOCALION

The Aeolian Company issued their first vertically cut gramophone records on the Vocalion label in November 1916. The Company had started manufacturing gramophones the year before. When the patents for laterally cut discs expired, which had been held by the Victor and Columbia companies in the USA, the Aeolian Company switched to lateral cut.

All records from 1920 onwards were lateral cut and in 1923 the company began issuing double sided discs. One of the interesting features of Vocalion discs was that many of the single sided vocals, would have explanitory notes or the words to the song or aria pasted on the blank side. In many ways this could be considered as an early form of advertising in the gramophone industry.

One of the earliest complete concertos appeared on the Vocalion label. It was the Violin Concerto No 3 in G major K216 (Mozart) Jelly d'Aranyi was the violinist, the Aeolian orchestra was conducted by Stanley Chappel.

For some unknown reason no cadenzas were recorded.

At around this time d'Aranyi was playing cadenzas to this Mozart Concerto written for her by Sir Donald Tovey. These cadenzas were not heard on record until Giaconda de Vito played them in her recording of this Mozart Concerto many years later in 1951.

Among the great violinists of that era to record for Vocalion label was Adolf Busch. Only one ten inch recording is known. A copy of this recording is in "The Roland Collection". Details of Vocalion B.600057 Gavotte (Gossec-Burmeister) Adagio from "Romantic Pieces" (Dvorak). The price, $1.75, which is printed on the label, may indicate that the recording was only available in Canada or the USA.

Copyright (C) 1997 - Cheniston K Roland (Violin Historian)