zumpoems

100 years ago this month here are some notable musical events!

First Electrical Recording of Beethoven’s 9th: On March 16–17, 1926, conductor Felix Weingartner recorded Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 “Choral” at Columbia Studios in London. This was a massive technical and historical milestone, functioning as the first complete electrical recording of the Ninth Symphony.

Electrical Recordings continue to take the world by storm including Argentina: On March 1, 1926, the Victor company cut its first electrical recording master in Buenos Aires. Tango singer Rosita Quiroga recorded “La musa mistonga.” Interestingly, Victor kept the new technological capability quiet at first to continue selling their acoustic back catalog.

If you are resident of the United States, there is a good chance a recording of “Bye, Bye, Blackbird” was owned by one of your ancestors in the 1920s. Here is the first recording made of it:

Duke Ellington’s Washingtonians recorded Parlor Social Stomp here:

And across the pond, England was spinning their own sides of American Jazz: