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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 151-175 of 556 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | B-30740 | 10-in. | 9/2/1924 | Pitter pat | Helen Clark | Female vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30741 | 10-in. | 9/2/1924 | Pitter pat | Helen Clark | Female vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30748 | 10-in. | 9/4/1924 | Beyond the smiling and the weeping | Peerless Quartet | Male vocal quartet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30749 | 10-in. | 9/4/1924 | Where is my boy to-night | Peerless Quartet | Male vocal quartet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30753 | 10-in. | 9/5/1924 | La pastora fedele | Imerio Ferrari | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30754 | 10-in. | 9/5/1924 | Il cacciatore del bosco | Imerio Ferrari | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30788 | 10-in. | 9/9/1924 | Where the dreamy Wabash flows | Peerless Quartet | Male vocal quartet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30789 | 10-in. | 9/9/1924 | Follow the swallow | Peerless Quartet | Male vocal quartet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30790 | 10-in. | 9/9/1924 | Morning (Won't you ever come 'round) | Peerless Quartet | Male vocal quartet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30791 | 10-in. | 9/9/1924 | The sun's gonna shine again | Peerless Quartet | Male vocal quartet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30792 | 10-in. | 9/10/1924 | The waltz of love | Henry Burr | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30793 | 10-in. | 9/10/1924 | Sweet rose o' Sharon | Henry Burr | Male vocal solo, with violin, cello, and orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30922 | 10-in. | 9/22/1924 | Tea for two | Helen Clark ; Lewis James | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30923 | 10-in. | 9/22/1924 | I want to be happy | Helen Clark ; Lewis James | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30926 | 10-in. | 9/23/1924 | Caroline (Pal o' mine) | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30927 | 10-in. | 9/23/1924 | The pal that I loved stole the gal that I loved | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30928 | 10-in. | 9/23/1924 | I'm someone who's no one to you | Elliott Shaw | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30939 | 10-in. | 9/26/1924 | The Buckeye battle cry | Frank Crumit | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30940 | 10-in. | 9/26/1924 | Hi-hi-Ohio | Frank Crumit | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30961 | 10-in. | 10/2/1924 | The ten commandments of love | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30962 | 10-in. | 10/2/1924 | The heart of a girl | Franklyn Baur ; Elliott Shaw | Male vocal duet, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30963 | 10-in. | 10/2/1924 | Hail Columbia | Lewis James ; Shannon Quartet | Male vocal quartet and soloist, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30973 | 10-in. | 10/6/1924 | Der neue Zeppelin | Ernest Balle | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30974 | 10-in. | 10/6/1924 | Auf der Alm da steht ne Kuh | Ernest Balle | Male vocal solo, with clarinet and orchestra | conductor | |
Victor | B-30975 | 10-in. | 10/6/1924 | All alone | Lewis James | Male vocal solo, with 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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