Charles Adams Prince
Charles Adams Prince (1869 – October 10, 1937) was an American conductor, bandleader, pianist and organist known for conducting the Columbia Orchestra and, later, Prince's Band and Orchestra. He made his first recordings, as a pianist, in 1891 for the New York Phonograph Company. Later in the 1890s he worked as a musical director for Columbia Records. He also conducted the Columbia Orchestra and Columbia Band starting in 1904 as the successor of the cornetist Tom Clark. In 1905, Prince assembled the ensembles Prince's Band, Prince's Orchestra, and the Banda Espanola. They principally recorded for Columbia's disc releases and performed much of the same music as the Columbia Band, which was given over for cylinder recording to the veteran flutist and conductor George Schweinfest. Prince's own composition, "The Barbary Rag", was recorded by the band in 1913. Prince's Band was the first to record many compositions that became jazz standards. Their version of W. C. Handy's "Saint Louis Blues" in 1915 is the first known recording of the song. It took the band two sessions to record a successful take, which was considered unusual considering the talent of the band and its leader. Another song by Handy, "The Memphis Blues", was recorded by Prince's Band in 1914, a week after its first recording by the Victor Military Band. Other standards introduced by the band are Porter Steele's "High Society" (1911) and Lew Pollack and Ray Gilbert's "That's a Plenty" (1914). His band also played the popular instrumental "Too Much Mustard" released by Columbia and Sears's Oxford Records. Prince recorded as a solo celeste player under the name Charles Adams. As such, his recording of "Silver Threads Among the Gold" was popular. At Columbia, Prince also showed initiative in expanding the company's "classical" orchestral catalogue and in experimenting with the size of ensembles that acoustic recording equipment could capture. In October 1910 he conducted an abbreviated version of Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, popularly known as the Unfinished Symphony, on two sides of a 12-inch disc (released as Columbia A 5267), which was the first orchestral recording of any part of a symphony. He assembled a 90-piece orchestra to record the overture to Richard Wagner's opera Rienzi in February 1917 (released as Columbia A 6006), which was the largest ensemble commercially recorded to that date. Prince's last recording for Columbia was in 1922. He then changed labels to Puritan Records and later to Victor Records, where he worked as associate musical director. Prince was related to the U.S. presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. |
Birth and Death Data: Born 1869, Died October 10, 1937
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1903 - 1927
Roles Represented in DAHR: conductor, director, piano, arranger, composer, celeste, lyricist, xylophone, organ
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 251-275 of 556 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | B-31808 | 10-in. | 1/27/1925 | Please be good to my old girl | Shannon Quartet | Male vocal quartet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31824 | 10-in. | 2/5/1925 | I don't care what you used to be | Marcia Freer ; Lewis James | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31827 | 10-in. | 2/2/1925 | Nich tu kein masel | Morris Goldstein | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31828 | 10-in. | 2/2/1925 | A vib hot mir Gott gegeiben | Morris Goldstein | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31835 | 10-in. | 2/6/1925 | Walc mańcia mnie szuka bojej serce puka | Orkiestra Witkowskiego | Orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31841 | 10-in. | 2/10/1925 | Because they all love you | Franklyn Baur | Male vocal solo, with violin and orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31844 | 10-in. | 2/12/1925 | L'assassinio di Matteotti | Eugenio Cibelli | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31845 | 10-in. | 2/12/1925 | La monaca bianca | Eugenio Cibelli | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31846 | 10-in. | 2/13/1925 | Širdies meilēs liga | Jonas Butēnas | Male vocal solo, with harp and orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31847 | 10-in. | 2/13/1925 | Stasys | Jonas Butēnas | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31848 | 10-in. | 2/13/1925 | Temsta dienele | Jonas Butēnas | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31860 | 10-in. | 2/19/1925 | Manon | Adolf Engel | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | instrumentalist, piano | |
Victor | C-31861 | 12-in. | 2/19/1925 | Auf der Lahmgruab'n da steht an altes Haus | Adolf Engel | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31868 | 10-in. | 2/20/1925 | Stovi maišas | Jonas Butēnas | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31869 | 10-in. | 2/20/1925 | Dul dul dudelē | Jonas Butēnas | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | C-31870 | 12-in. | 2/20/1925 | Is Provanco | Jonas Butēnas | Bass vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31880 | 10-in. | 3/2/1925 | Grazios mergo nus tales | Jonas Butēnas | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | C-31881 | 12-in. | 3/2/1925 | Užmiršai tēvų kapus | Jonas Butēnas | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31885 | 10-in. | 3/4/1925 | Polka mazurka pamiątka krakowa | Orkiestra Witkowskiego | Orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31887 | 10-in. | 3/9/1925 | I don't care what you used to be (I know what you are to-day) | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with violin and orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31888 | 10-in. | 3/9/1925 | Oh, how I miss you to-night | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31889 | 10-in. | 3/9/1925 | Pasca il tramway | Duo Gildo | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31890 | 10-in. | 3/9/1925 | Piccolo amore | Duo Gildo | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31891 | 10-in. | 3/10/1925 | So' semp' i' | Vincenzo Di Maio | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-31892 | 10-in. | 3/10/1925 | Scummunicato! | Vincenzo Di Maio | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Prince, Charles Adams," accessed November 25, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328.
Prince, Charles Adams. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 25, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328.
"Prince, Charles Adams." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 25 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Prince, Charles Adams - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no99030668
Wikidata: Charles A. Prince - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5074894
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/58713567
MusicBrainz: Charles A. Prince - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/f1174845-718f-499e-bef7-73bc7273efac
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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