Italian Columbia Data Being Added
DAHR editors have begun to publish data on the 10” recordings of the Italian branch of European Columbia made between late 1922 and mid-1956. British discographer Tom Peel compiled a listing of these recordings based primarily on the examination of the microfilm of the recording sheets held by the British Library in London. The discography was never published but has circulated informally since it was completed in the late 1990s.
Peel was able to transcribe data on 9,000 of the 10” Italian Columbia masters. In an effort to make Peel’s research more widely accessible, we have had the data rekeyed into DAHR’s data format by our partner in India, which will allow us to ingest and publish the data in DAHR. The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, which funds many archival projects related to Italian culture, provided a grant to fund the keying of the data. The Delmas Foundation is also supporting the digitization of our Italian Columbia discs, primarily discs in the CQ, DQ, and D series. We are grateful for their support.
Background
In 1923, the European branch of Columbia Records was split off into a new company run out of London. Milan was historically the center of the Italian recording industry, and with the creation of a new numbering system used by all European branches, Columbia expanded their recording activities in Italy and recorded prolifically in the country between 1923 and 1955. Italy was assigned the “B” matrix prefix. Approximately 16,500 “B” matrix numbers were assigned by the Milan branch for Italian recordings for issue in Italy and elsewhere.
Acoustic masters from Milan appear as B###, etc., and when electrical recording began, a W (for Western Electric) was added before the B. When Columbia switched to the Blumlein/Columbia recording system in 1933, the W was changed to C. Milan acoustic masters go from B1 to approximately B500, Western Electric masters from approximately WB500 to WB5599, and Blumlein recordings from CB5600 through CB14673. (The approximately 1,800 12” masters had an X suffix, so BX, WBX, and CBX.) The sequential numbers in the matrix block edited thus far are here:
https://tinyurl.com/DAHRColumbiaItaly
Opera singers were a mainstay in the Milan studios, but the repertoire being recorded was diverse, covering everything from popular music appearing in the new talking pictures to regional musicians from all corners of Italy. The output of the label represents an important documentation of Italian culture prior to and immediately after WWII.
Editing the Data
Unfortunately, due to errors in the data, it can’t be published without further research and verification. Without checking the original documents, it is difficult to know if the source of the errors is in the documents, their legibility, or Peel’s mis-transcription. Suffice it to say, Peel’s data often differs slightly from what appears in catalogs or on published discs. There are numerous typos; issue titles and performers are missing, and publishing the data without verification would be misleading. We have a high degree of confidence in the recording dates, which are the unique feature of this data that makes it worth the effort for additional verification and research. We know of no other place where these recording dates are available.
Columbia labels and catalogs from Italy also commonly have inconsistencies and errors, more so than other Columbia branches. UCSB fortunately has an excellent collection of Italian catalogs, and increasingly, label images can be found online, many from Italian digital libraries and some from Discogs. If the title and performer data on a matrix can be verified from a catalog or disc label copy, we are confident in the accuracy of the data overall. Once verified from additional primary sources, we can publish the data. (We took a similar verification approach with the publication of the data from French Columbia, which is still ongoing.)
There is a significant gap in data during WWII when data from the Milan branch is apparently lost. Information on recordings made during the war years is thus somewhat more suspect as far as actual recording dates, but catalogs and labels do provide core discographic data. When data is missing from Peel, estimated dates from Peter Copeland’s research are provided instead.
It’s difficult to say right now, but we estimate that we’ll be able to verify and publish data on about half the matrices over the next year. Because Columbia printed matrix numbers on labels and they were also inscribed in the wax, a disc label can provide confirmation for all but the most skeletal data that Peel compiled. Catalogs can only be used when we know the matrix and issue number but are similarly detailed. Once we have exhausted our available primary sources, we will in the future welcome contributions of label images.
While Italian Columbia is technically out of our scope for DAHR, the two Columbias remained sister companies long after the split, trading masters into the 1950s and beyond. Many Italian issues from the -F series in the US are sourced from Italian masters and were widely heard by immigrant communities in the United States as well as in Latin American countries with large Italian populations like Argentina.
Italian Columbia is also fascinating historically. Columbia receives little attention compared to its bigger sister, the Gramophone Co., even after the two were both part of EMI after 1932. Based on examination of the catalogs, it appears that many of these discs remained in print for a very short period of time. A performer like Italo Corsi, who made almost 70 recordings by 1933, had only four records in the 1939 catalog. There is much to study here.
The recordings themselves are also worthy of greater attention. In addition to the expected operatic recordings (which were Peel’s initial interest), the Italians were jazz-crazed like many Europeans, and numerous indigenous jazz bands recorded for Columbia. The Italian crooners were also hugely popular. Some, like Carlo Buti, made over 1,000 recordings for Italian Columbia. Many recordings were in the numerous regional Italian languages, most notably Neapolitan, including annual releases of songs from the Piedigrotta Festival. There are interesting pockets of folk and traditional recordings from Sardinia, Calabria, and elsewhere. Recordings from Italian cinema and operetta were also extremely common. Italian Columbia is an interesting comparison and contrast to the American recording industry of the 1930s and 1940s—similar yet distinctly Italian.
As always, we welcome feedback, contributions, and corrections on this undertaking.
-David Seubert, Project Director