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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 201-225 of 556 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor B-31300 10-in. 11/3/1924 Nena José Moriche Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31301 10-in. 11/5/1924 Iowa corn song Peerless Quartet Male vocal quartet, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31302 10-in. 11/5/1924 Old dog Tray Peerless Quartet Male vocal quartet, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31303 10-in. 11/5/1924 Just before the battle, Mother Peerless Quartet Male vocal quartet, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31304 10-in. 11/6/1924 Mý zlatý rodíče Frantisek Gostovský Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31305 10-in. 11/6/1924 Jako anděl ty jsí krásná Frantisek Gostovský Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31306 10-in. 11/7/1924 Only a beam of sunshine Franklyn Baur ; Lewis James Male vocal duet, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31309 10-in. 11/7/1924 Riviera Rose Lewis James Male vocal solo, with harp and orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31310 10-in. 11/10/1924 Comm' è bella 'a stagione Eugenio Cibelli Male vocal solo, with xylophone and orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31311 10-in. 11/10/1924 Canzone a mare Eugenio Cibelli Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31312 10-in. 11/11/1924 Kum zu mir in chederil Shloimele Rothstein Male vocal solo, with violin and orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31318 10-in. 11/12/1924 E tre bellizze Giuseppe De Laurentiis Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31319 10-in. 11/12/1924 Subway Giuseppe De Laurentiis Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31320 10-in. 11/13/1924 Flee as a bird Elliott Shaw Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31321 10-in. 11/13/1924 The palms Lewis James Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31322 10-in. 11/13/1924 The heart bow'd down Elliott Shaw Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31343 10-in. 11/19/1924 Afterwards Franklyn Baur Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor C-31344 12-in. 11/20/1924 There is a green hill far away Elliott Shaw Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor C-31345 12-in. 11/20/1924 The lost chord Elliott Shaw Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31346 10-in. 11/21/1924 Nobody knows de trouble I've seen Marian Anderson Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra instrumentalist, piano  
Victor B-31348 10-in. 11/21/1924 Red Wing Shannon Quartet Male vocal quartet, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31349 10-in. 11/21/1924 Rainbow Shannon Quartet Male vocal quartet, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31350 10-in. 11/24/1924 Sarons blomma Joseph Lycell Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31351 10-in. 11/24/1924 Sök ej Kristus bland de döda Joseph Lycell Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
Victor B-31352 10-in. 11/25/1924 Rosinkes und mandlen Shloimele Rothstein Male vocal solo, with orchestra conductor  
(Results 201-225 of 556 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Prince, Charles Adams," accessed October 9, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328.

Prince, Charles Adams. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved October 9, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328.

"Prince, Charles Adams." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 9 October 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/111328

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