Could someone please transcribe the missing word in the label information. Thank you!

Исполнение.

Good afternoon, Sobinovv!
Will it be possible to download sound?
Thank you!

I don’t have a recording facility. Moreover, the condition of the record requires the transfer by an expert. Even then, due to the zinc etching, the hissing noise will remain clearly audible.

Regarding the content: There is a female voice which alternates with the chorus.

What is known about Sophia Medvedeva? From which source does this name originate?

Between 1899 and 1900, "S. A. Medwedeff", a traditional "Cossack" troupe of singers and dancers, toured European capitals.

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What is known about Sophia Medvedeva? From which source does this name originate? Between 1899 and 1900, "S. A. Medwedeff", a traditional "Cossack" troupe of singers and dancers, toured European capitals.

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The name originated from this book: https://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=130, page 215:

“Самая ранняя серия русских дисков была записана в Лондоне в марте 1899 г. Пионером записи стал небольшой гастролировавший в Англии (или приехавший туда специально для записи на пластинки?) ансамбль - Софьи Медведевой. В его состав, судя по опубликованной в 1901 г. фотографии (Полный каталог пьес первого в России специального склада усовершенствованных граммофонов торгового дома оптика и механика А. Бурхард. Спб., 1901, ценз. разр. 29. XII. 1900 г., с 170), входило 9 человек - пять женщин и четверо мужчин. Несомненным участником были тенор Вольфовский, баритоны Рубин и Фридкин, исполнившие свои пьесы и порознь, и трио, и дуэтом (Медведева - Рубин), и полных хором; имеются также две фортепьянные записи Рубина.”

Thank you, Yuri, but I came to another conclusion than this source.

The traditional dancing and singing troup S. A. Medwedeff is historically documented. To my mind, the designation "Chorus Medvedeva" is just a creation of the Gramophone Co.

S. A. Medwedeff were hired by the London Alhambra music hall during the month of March 1899, when their recordings were taken. Only S. A. Medwedeff (= Sophia Medvedeva/Madame Medvedeva?!), the name giver, recorded solos - both piano and vocal.

I firmly believe that neither Rubin (Norbert Mortimer Rodkinson), Alexander Wolfovsky (name giver of Wolfovsky’s troup of Russian singers and dancers) nor Boris Fridkin (in 1900 director of another Russian troup) were members of S. A. Medwedeff.

A Russian chorus, unspecified in the recording ledger, made a handful of discs on April 4, 1899. I guess that Rubin, Wolfovsky, Fridkin and perhaps others ("Truppa Wolfovsky", "Trio Wolfovsky"), who recorded at about this time, were behind it.

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I firmly believe that neither Rubin (Norbert Mortimer Rodkinson), Alexander Wolfovsky (name giver of Wolfovsky’s troup of Russian singers and dancers) nor Boris Fridkin (in 1900 director of another Russian troup) were members of S. A. Medwedeff. A Russian chorus, unspecified in the recording ledger, made a handful of discs on April 4, 1899. I guess that Rubin, Wolfovsky, Fridkin and perhaps others ("Truppa Wolfovsky", "Trio Wolfovsky"), who recorded at about this time, were behind it.

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Thank you, Stephan. If so then how would you explain that numbers 11017, 11020 and 11033 were recorded by "MEDVEDEV, RUBIN" according Alan Kelly "OrientG01-10000" catalog ("МЕДВЕДЕВА, РУБИН" according to V.L. Yanin)? I believe that if Rubin was not member of S. A. Medvedev troupe it’s very unlike that they would record together. Unfortunately, I am not in contact with V.L. Yanin and therefore I cannot ask him how he decomposed "TRIO VOLFOVSKY" (numbers 11050, 11052, 11055 and etc.), but I can guess that since RUBIN recorded with FRIDKIN (11070) and with VOLFOVSKY (11071) and many recordings done interchangeably, V.L. Yanin assumed that they all were the members of the same troupe.

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I believe that if Rubin was not member of S. A. Medvedev troupe it’s very unlike that they would record together. Unfortunately, I am not in contact with V.L. Yanin and therefore I cannot ask him how he decomposed "TRIO VOLFOVSKY" (numbers 11050, 11052, 11055 and etc.), but I can guess that since RUBIN recorded with FRIDKIN (11070) and with VOLFOVSKY (11071) and many recordings done interchangeably, V.L. Yanin assumed that they all were the members of the same troupe.

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Hallo Yuri, Norbert Mortimer Rodkinson was a manager from the U.S. and no music hall artist. I hope the following conclusions make sense to you.

I do not know the exact nature of Rodkinson’s business relations with the Gramophone Co. at this early date, but obviously he was responsible to develop the first Russian record catalogue. It couldn’t hurt that he himself had a good voice and contributed some recordings as "Rubin". It’s a short form of "Max Rubinsky", his alias.

Rodkinson apparently performed his task so well that, in 1900, he became branch manager of the Gramophone Co., taking over the office in St. Petersburg. Even as a leading official he made numerous vocal recordings for the Gramophone Co. in 1902 and 1903 under the pseudonym "M A Maks" or "Mr. Max".

When you study the sequence of Russian recordings from 1899, a pattern becomes visible. As you can see there was no interchange between S. A. Medwedeff on one side and A. Wolfovsky and Fridkin on the other. Rodkinson, who quite likely was the only one who spoke Russian in the Gramophone Co., was the clamp that held it all together.

S. A. Medwedeff visited the recording studio on March 13, 1899 for the first time. Further visits followed on March 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22 and the last one on March 24. Rodkinson scattered several own recordings, among them duets with Medvedeva, in between. When the engagement of S. A. Medwedeff with the London Alhambra ended, the fruitful recording activities of this troup also came to an end - but not Rodkinson’s.

The troup Alexander Wolfovsky next stepped in, first visiting the studio on March 28. The music hall artist Boris Fridkin arrived one day later. More recordings with these artists followed on March 30, April 4 and 5. Again, Rodkinson contributed a few pieces inbetween.

As I wrote above, the unspecified Russian chorus, recording on April 4, very likely consisted of Wolfovsky et al. That the catalog entry made no difference between the choruses, I’m sure, did not bother anyone at the time.

With the recordings of April 5, 1899, the first Russian catalogue was completed.

Thank you, Stephan! Your explanation makes a lot of sense