When the Comet Hits Us
So sang the Žižkov Sokol Band as they played into a recording machine about a hundred years ago under the baton of band leader Arnošt Herman. The title of their song has been used for this exhibition that deals with more than the history of sound recording. The selection of exhibits from two major European private collections (Gabriel Gössel of Prague and Wilfried Sator of Winnenden in Germany) and works of art from many state and private collections offers a picture of the beginnings of modern popular music and everyday life in the Czech “jazz age” of the 1920s and 1930s
The entire exhibition project developed into a kind of window onto the daily life of those days as reflected in advertisements, gramophone needle tins, gramophone labels and actual gramophones and phonographs of all shapes and sizes. Numerically speaking, the largest section of the actual gramophone exhibits consists of visually attractive gramophone needle tins with all sorts of period motifs, followed by advertisement posters for gramophone needles, and postcards issued by gramophone-needle firms…
The two private collections provided a whole selection of gramophone recordings –about 50 in number – ranging in size from 5 cm to 60 cm in diameter and made from various materials, plus record labels and covers, including 500 interesting coloured labels of Czech origin. An essential part of the exhibition are the first gramophone-record albums (including art nouveau designs, decorated and painted types, “jewellery-case” varieties), as well as retailers’ advertisements, gramophone record catalogues and advertising posters. Last but not least is the actual reproduction equipment of all shapes and sizes, including gramophones in disguise: – a pot plant, a piano, a Buddha statuette, a pillar and scroll clock, etc.
The exhibition seeks to provide a glimpse of the society of the first half of the 20th century, particularly café, dance hall and bar settings, through works of modern art (J.Zrzavý, M.Kopf, A.Hoffmeister, R.Kremlička, P.Kotík, H.Boettinger, S.Máchal, J.Čapek, K.Černý, O.Gutfreund. O.Švec, B.Stefan and others). The small selection of works is a mixture of different styles, although more or less realistic representation prevails.
An exhibition catalogue has been published in Czech and English versions, the main text of which is by the exhibition’s initiator Gabriel Gössel (who has presented a weekly programme on Czech Radio for the past six years and is a regular contributor to leading journals and the author of a book on phonograms), plus an introduction by Josef Kroutvor and brief texts on specific topics by a number of authors: Vladimír Kaiser, the Director of the Ústí nad Labem Municipal Archive, Jaroslav Kořán, Marie Bergmanová and Wilfried Sator. In addition there are postcards, posters, calendars and other printed matter with reproductions of the exhibits.
An integral part of the exhibition are video projections, live and reproduced music and various accompanying programmes that transport the visitor back in time to the period of the exhibits, the boom time of popular music – new, democratic, mass consumer culture – sound films with music, night bars, dance halls, stars of entertainment, but also modern architecture and literature. These programmes have been produced by Trans Media.
Entrance to all the accompanying programmes is free on presentation of a valid ticket to the exhibition. Season tickets will be sold for series on specific topics.
Рыцарской отваги влюбленному в оперу Евгению Цодокову не занимать. Автор энциклопедического словаря "Опера" (Москва. Издательское объединение "Композитор", 1999 г.) создал ее мозаичный портрет. 2500 мелких и крупных "деталей"-статей, написанных им (и только им!), характеризуют специфические особенности, черты, приметы, историю рождения, становления, развитие жанра.
Названия лучших оперных произведений, имена композиторов, либреттистов, дирижеров, певцов, режиссеров, принесших славу опере в разные времена и в разных странах, сюжеты, рассказы о персонажах... Здесь есть все или почти все. Книга Е.Цодокова - первая попытка создать в России оперный словарь (охватывает два столетия - по 1997 год).
По профессиональной "оснащенности" (Е.Цодоков - пианист, имеет высшее музыкальное образование плюс большой опыт выступлений в периодической печати со статьями по истории музыкальной культуры) автор словаря, безусловно, может претендовать на "единовластие" в подготовке книги. Но, "погрязнув" в обилии сведений, не всегда смог сохранить объективный подход к отбору фактов и имен. К тому же перегрузка материалами повлекла за собой и некоторые неточности. Мелочи, конечно, но - досадные.
why this record was originally rejected as defective by "Syrena-Record" company. There are two typographical errors in the tune name:
Printed: "Миссъ Гипсъ", but should be: "Мисъ Гибсъ". The correct tune name can be found here. It is clear, that "Syrena" did not want to let out the records with such typing errors, but it was a pity to destroy them - in fact the recordings themselves were quite good. I will not be surprised, if "Syrena" itself was the initiator of the sales under "New Imperial Record" label, but it is unlikely that reliable information will be ever found out...
Сканы с высоким разрешением (спасибо Jurek!), на которых надпись отчётливо видна, находятся здесь и здесь
Что такое "Лнт" - непонятно - может быть это сокращение от "Лейтенант". Ланцкий и Кульчицкий - это видимо фамилии людей, имевших непосредственное отношение к производству. C.П.б. - это общепринятое сокращение Санкт-Петербурга, где собственно и находилась фабрика.
I've came to conclusion, that the name of the city of Kalisz is just a part of the tune name and has nothing to do with the origin of the record. But the name of the German city Oberhausen from the province of Rheinland (abbreviated Rhld.), repeated two times tells us that the recording factory of Mr. A. Wosik'а (who probably was both: the owner of the factory and the conductor of the orchestra) located in this city. Besides phonograph records, the factory manufactured musical instruments and sold them wholesale and in retail (the writing on bottom part of the label rim tells us about it). Quite possible, that Mr. A. Wosik was the Estonian nationality, that is why he named his company Estonia Record. However, the company produced not only Estonian, but also Polish, and quite possibly German phonograph records. To confirm this hypothesis it would be good to contact collectors from Germany.
26 lutego br. w Archiwum Głównym Akt Dawnych w Warszawie miała miejsce promocja monografii Tomasza Lerskiego Syrena Record – pierwsza polska wytwórnia fonograficzna 1904-1939 wydanej przez Editions “Karin”. Książka ta jest niezwykła nie tylko ze względu na swą objętość – 916 stron – ale też i zawartość. Już same liczby robią wrażenie: jak dowiadujemy się ze strony tytułowej, jest tu opisanych około 14 tys. tytułów, biogramy prawie 900 kompozytorów, śpiewaków, dyrygentów, piosenkarzy, aktorów, autorów tekstów, itd., 1000 ilustracji.
Monografia została podzielona na trzy części. W pierwszej przedstawiono historię powstania i działalności Syreny Record oraz opisano poszczególne sfery działalności, w tym operę, nagrania symfoniczne, kameralne, instrumentalne, osobny rozdział poświęcono nagraniu Halki z roku 1929. W części drugiej zawarta została dyskografia – chronologicznie ułożone opisy poszczególnych nagrań zawierające spis wykonawców, utworów, numery katalogowe i – w niektórych przypadkach – cytaty z tekstów reklamowych. W części trzeciej znajduje się niezwykle bogaty indeks osobowo-rzeczowy. Można tu znaleźć biografie wielu artystów tych czasów uwiecznionych na płytach Syreny Record wraz ze spisem katalogowych numerów ich nagrań: Wandy Wermińskiej, Janiny Korolewicz-Waydowej, Heleny Zboińskiej-Ruszkowskiej, Barbary Kostrzewskiej, Matyldy Polińskiej-Lewickiej, Stanisława Gruszczyńskiego, Ignacego Dygasa, Eugeniusza Mossakowskiego, Jerzego Czaplickiego, Wacława Brzezińskiego a także artystów rosyjskich z Opery Cesarskiej w Moskwie czy Teatru Maryjskiego. Są tu także odnotowane rejestracje Konkursów Chopinowskich, nagrania wielkich pianistów: Aleksandra Michałowskiego, Alexandra Uninsky’ego, Imre Ungara, Aleksandra Kagana, Zbigniewa Drzewieckiego, Józefa Turczyńskiego, Jerzego Lefelda, Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowskiego, skrzypków: Eugenii Umińskiej, Wacława Niemczyka, Józefa Kamińskiego, Wacława Kochańskiego, pierwsze nagrania Dawida Ojstracha. Wszystkie trzy części są bogato ilustrowane fotografiami miejsc i osób związanych z Syreną Record, można obejrzeć, jak z czasem zmieniały się okładki i etykiety płyt, a także jak w 1934 roku wyglądał cykl produkcyjny płyty.
Książka ta jest już dostępna w księgarniach, w sprawie zakupu można się zgłaszać również do jej autora: tel. (0-22) 812-05-18, e-mail tomasz.lerski@wp.pl.
SYRENA RECORD - POLAND'S FIRST RECORDING COMPANY 1904 - 1939
published by Karin New York-Warsaw 2004
ISBN: 83-917189-0-5
2nd Edition, revised and updated: Warsaw 2006
This magnificent work by Tomasz Lerski dedicated to “Syrena Record”, the first Polish – and fourth worldwide – phonography label, comes to light one hundred years after the foundation of the company in 1904, the year which marks the beginning of Polish phonography history.
“Syrena Record” ’s years of prosperity fell on the first 40 years of the XXth century and were interrupted by the burst out of the World War II. During that period, an uncountable number of recordings were made under “Syrena Record” label in cooperation with the highest rate Polish and foreign artists of that time. The recordings were exported to many countries all over the world, including Russia/ Soviet Union, Argentina (some Argentinian tango musicians, e.g. Eduardo Bianco’s orchestra, made recordings for “Syrena Record”), Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Palestine, Romania, South Africa, USA and many others.
When it comes to tango and – more generally – to the popular music genres in Poland, Lerski’s book describes their history in very detail. You will find here entries concerning more than 2200 tango pieces which gained popularity in Poland or were created by Polish composers between 1913 and 1939. Short biographical notes of many Polish popular and classical music authors and artists, as well as a very detailed catalogue with month exact dates of creation and recording of a given piece are also included.
To appreciate best the author’s contribution in this book, let us cite a few numbers: the book covers almost 1000 pages, 14000 titles’ discography of recordings made between 1908 and 1939, biographical dictionary with 900 entries (436 of them published for the first time), numerous illustrations (about 1000 pictures). The original work is in Polish, but you can enjoy an English translation of the first chapter as well, where the label’s history is presented in brief.
The book has been awarded various prizes and special awards, among them the President’s of Warsaw prize ex aequo with famous “Rising ‘44” by Norman Davies in 2004.
У российских пиратов, выпускающих музыкальные диски безо всяких на то прав, появился серьезный повод гордиться. Рецензируемая книга дает им серьезную и древнюю родословную. Ведь пластинки с записями современной музыки в России начали подделывать аж в 1901 году.
На самом деле толстенный том, в который вошли исследование П. Грюнберга "История начала грамзаписи в России" и "Каталог вокальных записей российского отделения компании"Граммофон"" в реконструкции В. Янина, адресован в первую очередь ученой публике, занимающейся грампластинками с научной точки зрения, да коллекционерам. Для досужего чтения книгу использовать довольно затруднительно. Однако как источник интересных знаний - можно. А чтение "Каталога..." наводит еще и на размышления о природе массовой культуры: начавшись с народных хоров и классической музыки, уже через десять лет русские грампластинки "докатились" до музыкальных номеров г-на Бернардова "Вот так свинство"и комических куплетов под названием "Тере-пере-фере-куку".
