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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 126-150 of 556 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | B-30563 | 10-in. | 8/11/1924 | Annie Lisle | Shannon Quartet | Male vocal quartet, with celeste and orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30565 | 10-in. | 8/12/1924 | Why live a lie? | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30566 | 10-in. | 8/12/1924 | At the end of the sunset trail | Marcia Freer ; Lewis James | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30572 | 10-in. | 8/13/1924 | Mrs. Murphy's chowder | Billy Murray | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30573 | 10-in. | 8/13/1924 | Dumb Dora | Billy Murray | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30574 | 10-in. | 8/13/1924 | Down where the vest begins | Billy Murray | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30575 | 10-in. | 8/14/1924 | Main Street wasn't big enough for Mary | Henry Burr | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30586 | 10-in. | 8/18/1924 | You'll never get to heaven with those eyes | Billy Murray ; Aileen Stanley | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30593 | 10-in. | 8/19/1924 | When I was the dandy and you were the belle | Billy Murray ; Aileen Stanley | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30594 | 10-in. | 8/19/1924 | In a little rendezvous all alone with you | Billy Murray ; Aileen Stanley | Female-male vocal duet, with violin and orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30700 | 10-in. | 8/19/1924 | Somebody loves me | Aileen Stanley | Female vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30714 | 10-in. | 8/21/1924 | Siciliana | Giovanni Gerrieri | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30715 | 10-in. | 8/21/1924 | Stidda d'amori | Giovanni Gerrieri | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30718 | 10-in. | 8/22/1924 | Feigele | Gus Goldstein | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30719 | 10-in. | 8/22/1924 | Itzik mit sein fiddle | Gus Goldstein | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | C-30720 | 12-in. | 8/22/1924 | Così piange Pierrot | Eugenio Cibelli | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | C-30721 | 12-in. | 8/22/1924 | Via Vai | Eugenio Cibelli | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30725 | 10-in. | 8/27/1924 | Maria 'a regina 'e Napule | Eugenio Cibelli | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30730 | 10-in. | 8/28/1924 | Follow the swallow | Belle Baker | Female vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30731 | 10-in. | 8/28/1924 | Hard hearted Hannah (The vamp of Savannah) | Belle Baker | Female vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30732 | 10-in. | 8/28/1924 | Sweet little you | Belle Baker | Female vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30733 | 10-in. | 8/29/1924 | Don't waste your tears over me | Henry Burr | Male vocal solo, with harp and orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30734 | 10-in. | 8/29/1924 | West of the Great Divide | Henry Burr | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30738 | 10-in. | 9/2/1924 | My Madeleine | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30739 | 10-in. | 9/2/1924 | My Madeleine | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with harp and orchestra | conductor |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Prince, Charles Adams," accessed September 4, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328.
Prince, Charles Adams. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved September 4, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328.
"Prince, Charles Adams." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 4 September 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
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