March 18, 1925 First Electric Victor Red Seal
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 2:05 pm
There have been recent posts in this forum on the electrification of the recording process which took place 100 years ago. There however appears next to nothing written highlighting the first Victor Red Seal electric issues.
After doing a little research on the DAHR website, the earliest electrically recorded Victor Red Seal recording and issue I could find appears to be 10" record no. 1080 "Pregúntale a las estrellas" sung by Margarete Matzenauer. It is backed by "La Golondrina" recorded a day later. I can see no other earlier Red Seal artist recording before this date nor does there appear to be any electric Red Seal issue before this. The next 10" Red Seal recording issued is no. 1083 "Chanson villageoise" played by Pablo Casals recorded April 3, 1925. This was followed by no. 1084 "Sentinella" sung by Beniamino Gigli recorded April 7, 1925, no. 1085 "Sleep little baby of mine" sung by Hulda Lashanska recorded March 27, 1925 and other electrics recorded in April/May. No. 1093 was an acoustic "Caprice antique" by Fritz Kreisler recoreded February 22, 1925.
So it appears for both 10" and 12" Red Seal records, Margarete Matzenauer's were the earliest Red Seal electric recordings issued. The 10" appears to be the earliest recorded and released. (The Matzenauer 12" was "Ah, Mon Fils!" no.6531. The first 12" Red Seal issued appears to be no. 6502 Chopin: "Impromptu in F sharp major" played by Alfred Cortot recorded March 21, 1925.)
Below is the link links to the Matzenauer 10" disc.
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/ ... _estrellas
After doing a little research on the DAHR website, the earliest electrically recorded Victor Red Seal recording and issue I could find appears to be 10" record no. 1080 "Pregúntale a las estrellas" sung by Margarete Matzenauer. It is backed by "La Golondrina" recorded a day later. I can see no other earlier Red Seal artist recording before this date nor does there appear to be any electric Red Seal issue before this. The next 10" Red Seal recording issued is no. 1083 "Chanson villageoise" played by Pablo Casals recorded April 3, 1925. This was followed by no. 1084 "Sentinella" sung by Beniamino Gigli recorded April 7, 1925, no. 1085 "Sleep little baby of mine" sung by Hulda Lashanska recorded March 27, 1925 and other electrics recorded in April/May. No. 1093 was an acoustic "Caprice antique" by Fritz Kreisler recoreded February 22, 1925.
So it appears for both 10" and 12" Red Seal records, Margarete Matzenauer's were the earliest Red Seal electric recordings issued. The 10" appears to be the earliest recorded and released. (The Matzenauer 12" was "Ah, Mon Fils!" no.6531. The first 12" Red Seal issued appears to be no. 6502 Chopin: "Impromptu in F sharp major" played by Alfred Cortot recorded March 21, 1925.)
Below is the link links to the Matzenauer 10" disc.
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/ ... _estrellas