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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 276-300 of 556 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor CVE-31893 12-in. 6/1/1925 O gentle presence Flora McGill Keefer Female vocal solo, with piano instrumentalist, piano  
Victor BVE-31894 10-in. 6/1/1925 In heavenly love abiding Flora McGill Keefer Female vocal solo, with piano instrumentalist, piano  
Victor B-31899 10-in. 3/12/1925 Peer Gynt suite : Morning Victor Orchestra Instrumental ensemble instrumentalist, piano  
Victor B-32150 10-in. 3/11/1925 Godeles Jonas Butēnas Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor C-32151 12-in. 3/11/1925 Karvelēli Jonas Butēnas Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor C-32155 12-in. 3/13/1925 The kaddisch (Of my country) Dmitri Dobkin Male vocal solo, with violin, harp, and orchestra conductor  
Victor B-32156 10-in. 3/13/1925 Der Yidesher wanderer Dmitri Dobkin Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-32157 10-in. 3/16/1925 Addio monella Giovanni Gerrieri Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-32158 10-in. 3/16/1925 Ciondolo d'oro Giovanni Gerrieri Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-32187 10-in. 3/27/1925 A tate is der bester freind Morris Goldstein Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-32188 10-in. 3/27/1925 Wen Columbus gefint nit dus land Morris Goldstein Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor BVE-32193 10-in. 3/31/1925 Samut und zeid Joseph Feldman Male vocal solo, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32194 10-in. 3/31/1925 That's all Joseph Feldman Male vocal solo, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32578 10-in. 5/8/1925 Heaven is my home Henry Burr Male vocal solo, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32579 10-in. 5/8/1925 When my golden hair has turned to silver gray Peerless Quartet Male vocal solo, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32817 10-in. 5/21/1925 The midnight waltz Elliott Shaw Male vocal solo, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32818 10-in. 5/21/1925 Only a weaver of dreams Edna Brown ; Lewis James Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32819 10-in. 5/22/1925 The old home down on the farm Peerless Quartet Male vocal quartet, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32837 10-in. 5/29/1925 Summer in my heart Hulda Lashanska Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32838 10-in. 5/29/1925 Little blue bird of my heart Hulda Lashanska Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32854 10-in. 6/2/1925 Blest Christmas morn Flora McGill Keefer Female vocal solo, with piano instrumentalist, piano  
Victor CVE-32877 12-in. 6/2/1925 Saw ye my saviour Flora McGill Keefer Female vocal solo, with piano instrumentalist, piano  
Victor BVE-32881 10-in. 6/8/1925 Sometime Elsie Baker Female vocal solo, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32882 10-in. 6/9/1925 Rose dreams Elsie Baker ; Olive Kline Female vocal duet, with orchestra director  
Victor BVE-32889 10-in. 6/10/1925 Just a bundle of sunshine Elsie Baker ; Elliott Shaw Female-male vocal duet, with piano and orchestra director, instrumentalist, piano  
(Results 276-300 of 556 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Prince, Charles Adams," accessed November 1, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328.

Prince, Charles Adams. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 1, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328.

"Prince, Charles Adams." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 1 November 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328

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