Strictly Oompah: Conrad with the Victor Orchestra

Monday, July 25, 2016

Conrad with the Victor Orchestra

In a little Victor publication, about the size of an iPhone and titled New Victor Records February 1906, we learn about the recently formed Victor Orchestra, of which Herman Conrad was a founding member. As far as I can tell, Conrad did not play Sousaphone with this long-standing Victor "house band," but opted for standard upright tubas (more on that shortly). But he stayed with Victor, after leaving the Sousa Band in 1903, until his death in 1920.

Here are the relevant pages, courtesy of Michael Khanchalian, who has a fabulous collection of items from the early years of the recording industry:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Sousa on the Sousaphone

"The Sousaphone received its name through a suggestion made by me to J. W. Pepper, the instrument manufacturer of Philadelphia, fully 30 odd years ago. At that time, the United States Marine Band of Washington, D. C., of which I was conductor, used a double B-flat bass tuba of circular form know as a 'Helicon.' It was all right enough for street-parade work, but its tone was apt to shoot ahead too prominently and explosively to suit me for concert performances, so I spoke to Mr. Pepper relative to constructing a bass instrument in which the bell would turn upwards and be adjustable for concert purposes. He built one, and grateful to me for the suggestion, called it a Sousaphone. It was immediately taken up by other instrument makers, and is today manufactured in its greatest degree of perfection by the C. G. Conn Company, of Elkhart, Ind." (John Philip Sousa, Christian Science Monitor, August 30, 1922, p. 8)