The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I am looking for this 78rpm record on 12". The piece title is Ride of the Valkyries. I have a Columbia Graphonola and I have the Prelude, act I and act II, they sound great on this machine so I would love to have Act III. I've looked on trade lists and other sources online but I thought I'd check here. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

pmilton wrote:I am looking for this 78rpm record on 12". The piece title is Ride of the Valkyries. I have a Columbia Graphonola and I have the Prelude, act I and act II, they sound great on this machine so I would love to have Act III. I've looked on trade lists and other sources online but I thought I'd check here. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

On Columbia or another label?

Several versions to look for. Here are just a few :

Which of these pictured records is electric?

The Columbia is electric. The HMV is acoustic, but Coates later re-recorded the piece electrically.
As for the Victors, I assume that the Stokowsi is electric but I don't know about the Vessalla.

You will find many versions, both acoustic and electric. Even repeated ones, for example Stokowski and the Philadelphia orchestra did early electrical versions of classical pieces around 1925/1927 and repeated many recordings again from 1935 onwards, with different matrix numbers, when the recording technology at RCA improved. I these later recordings to sound better played on modern equipment than in gramophones. The earlier ones are better suited for orthophonic machines.

According to the on-line Victor Discography, the Stokie/Phila. Orch. recording was made in 1921, thus acoustic: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/ ... ictor_6245

Same source says Vessella band rec. 1914: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/ ... ctor_35369

BTW, it's "The Philadelphia Orchestra," not "Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra." Unless there were two different orchestras, which I doubt. Victor got it wrong on the label.

What kind of Grafonola do you have? The early models will sound better with acoustic records, and the Viva Tonal models work great with electrics.

That would help a lot.

There was not an early electric version of Stoky/Phila Ride of the Walkyries. There were two trials to record a Walküre selection, in 1933, October and November, on 12" sides and program transcriptions, which were unsuccessful. And finally in April 1934, Victor recorded the Walküre selections in eight 12" sides, which was issued, and was the last recording of this music.

The ones I have are on the Victor label and recorded by the Victor Orchestra I do not know what the year of recording is, these were part of a collection that belonged to my grandfather that I have only recently came to own. The Graphanola I have is a Columbia floor model. I would be ok with it performed by other orchestra's but if anyone knows where I could get it by the Victor Orchestra, that would be appreciated.