The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I mostly collect machines, but was thinking about taking a dive into music. I like classical recordings. Did Edison every cover classical music on blue amberols?

Yes, from the beginning with various series, the 2 minute wax Concert, 4 minute Concert in Wax & then Concert Blue Amberol and Royal Purple Amberol, purple records in burgundy box. They are all quite collectible.

Does collectible mean hard to find and expensive?

Perhaps you're really seeking fodder for your machines.

But you can still sample a quite a number of classical BA's on this site.

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/searc ... a&start=51

I don't think classical Blue Amberol cylinders ought to be that expensive to aquire. Particularly the ones that sre dubbings. Don't know about Royal Purples and other more esoteric types.

Thanks for the website. If I start getting into the music, its likely to be the actual cylinder to use on a machine. I have to redirect the hobby from machines into music because of space.

The nice thing about focusing on one thing, (in your case cylinder) is that you can afford to get more of the most interesting pieces.

Few of us have the resources or space to have everything that interests us.

If by "classical" you mean orchestral works by the masters, there was essentially none issued on cylinders & precious little on American acoustic discs. If you can settle for abbreviated overtures, "selections from...", pot-boilers and such, all played by either a band or a tiny orchestra with 1 or 2 violins, then you're all set ! I've found that most of them are the last, unwanted records in a seller's inventory.

Long ago, I bought a 2-minute Edison Standard & the original owner's 3 'portable' cases with 400+ cylinders. He (I assume a male) obviously loved the classics, as the entire collection is all band & orchestra selections with no pop items. Enjoyable as they might be, 2 minutes is just not enough time for a satisfying performance.

Edisone wrote:If by "classical" you mean orchestral works by the masters, there was essentially none issued on cylinders & precious little on American acoustic discs.

True. the term 'classical' from the acoustic era, definitely needs to come with some qualification. Even when an entire work was attempted, the sometimes sped up tempi, and the limitations of the acouatic process when it came to recording large groups of musicians, often render those records of little more than curiosity value. Still, with artists of the stature of Pablo Casals, Josef Hoffman and many, many others, that played for the acoustic horn, I can't acoustic devalue classical records in total. Even the occasional orchestral recording sometimes has enough for a satisfying musical experience, but not very often.

Edisone wrote:cylinders. Enjoyable as they might be, 2 minutes is just not enough time for a satisfying performance.

Or 4 minutes for that matter. Were there ever any multi cylinder sets offered, that could encompass, say, an overture or movement in more substantial form?

Edisone wrote:If by "classical" you mean orchestral works by the masters, there was essentially none issued on cylinders & precious little on American acoustic discs. If you can settle for abbreviated overtures, "selections from...", pot-boilers and such, all played by either a band or a tiny orchestra with 1 or 2 violins, then you're all set ! I've found that most of them are the last, unwanted records in a seller's inventory.

Good point on defining "classical" and I agree with Edisone. However if you would like recordings of the best they could do at the time, overtures and short pieces of classical works, that's what you could get which would be compatible with a horn phonograph.

It's not so interesting to me to listen to an later classical works from the 1940s (the cheap stuff in antique shops)on a circa 1910 horn phono.

However listening to a short works by Thomas Chalmers, Elenora De Cisneros, Heinrich Knote or Caruso is interesting for me.

Wolfe wrote: Were there ever any multi cylinder sets offered, that could encompass, say, an overture or movement in more substantial form?

Not as far as I'm aware, but they may have been offered by some of the more obscure companies?
There are some titles offered by Edison with several parts that run in consecutive numbers, like Pinafore Airs No.1-4 (BA1890-1893), but these were sold separately like any other title, and were never offered as a "boxed set" for example (at least not that I've seen).