A New Voice Researching Herbert & Peers
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News From VHSource, LLC Vol 10 October 2019 A New Voice Researching Herbert & Peers Meet R. S. Baker Fred Hager tangles with Victor Herbert R.S. Baker, September 24, 2019 e ran across a fascinating new voice among the In 1895, a twenty year old Fred W. Hager organized his researchers delving into the world of Victor military orchestra of 26 musicians. At that time, Hager WHerbert and his peers or more simply in this was the youngest professional bandleader in New York, case, the late 1880s into the 1920s. The R.S. stands for and with the sort of musicians he had in the orchestra, Ramona Sidney and here is her bio in her own words all the major bandsmen and music folks took notice. with tiny edits by VHSource: Hager had sourced his musicians from a variety of places, and with his recent graduation from the New R. S. Baker has appeared at several Ragtime festivals York conservatory, he was able to choose the best. One as a pianist and lecturer. Her particular interest lies in important source that proved valuable for Hager was the brown wax cylinder era of the recording industry. the Twenty-Second Regiment Band, who was later to She is a cartoonist, scholar, and collector of the be known as Victor Herbert’s military orchestra. Hager earliest sound recordings. She has studied recordings used many of Herbert’s musicians from the very from 1888 to 1920 for nearly a decade. Her most beginning. focused interest lies in the studio pianists and musicians, such as Fred Hylands, Frank P. Banta, Justin Ringleben, etc. Enjoy her blog HERE! It took until 1898 for Hager’s military orchestra to show up in recording studios. He brought them to Edison’s lab, which at the Intriguing, agree? We think what we responded to is Ms time was recording some Baker’s unique take on history through relationships. of his violin solos. Her writings echo the way VHSource has always looked Hager’s increasing more at the relationships and happenings surrounding success with his orchestra Victor Herbert. The major Herbert biographers have and violin solos became spent the majority of their time worrying about “who the talk of the recording played what” in his musical comedies, operas and industry in 1898, and his operettas and what the critics had to say. name started showing up in the exclusive trade In any event, we were fascinated by this article as we magazine The know you will be and contacted R.S. Baker for Phonoscope. The permission to publish her article here. September 1898 issue featured a nearly full page Thus, with Ms. Baker’s blessing, we offer you her most Frederick W. Hager 1898 portrait of Hager to recent blog. Enjoy the interaction as one Frederick W. Phonoscope Vol. 2, No. 9 accompany an article (Sept 1898) Hager meets Victor A. Herbert. singing praises for the award winning quality of his violin solo recordings. 2 News From VHSource, LLC V o l 10 October 2019 Hager soon caught wind of the newly formed Universal In 1902, Hager began to take some studio jobs at the Talking Machine company (the professional name for New York location of the Lambert Indestructible the Zon-O-Phone label), and he took all his pride and Record Company. He recorded for Lambert while at the hand plucked musicians along with him. From nearly the same time loaning a portion of his musicians to the birth of Zon-O-Phone, Hager felt frisky enough to use Edison Phonograph company. His distinct, perhaps the name Victor Herbert’s Band on their label. With all drunken sounding, violin playing screeches through on that ambition, Hager in 1900 or so decided to take his Lambert records by the American Parlor Orchestra. It Herbert and Gilmore’s band musicians to the Columbia was also in this year that a large group portrait was Phonograph company. By 1901, Hager had a near taken of Hager and his orchestra in the main lab of the monopoly of the musicians each major studio used and Columbia phonograph company. The publication of could hire. But he was only to keep-a-moving from this image included an extremely detailed description there. of each musician in the orchestra, describing the employment of each musician. It is from this He felt it perfectly safe to continue using Herbert’s name publication that much of the information for this article on a good number of his orchestra and band records at was derived. Zon-O-Phone. He used Herbert’s name on a good portion of unusual titles, one being “Possum Hall Rag,” which is a rare St. Louis rag published in 1899. In addition to Herbert’s and his own name, he used the names Hager’s band, The Zon-O-Phone Orchestra, Zon-O-Phone Concert band, Gilmore’s band, the Columbia orchestra, and The Columbia Band on the Columbia and Zon-O-Phone labels he orchestrated. Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, Victor Herbert was beginning to take notice, and he was furious. We know Hager’s Orchestra 1902 Victor Herbert would go on to be Hager’s final step to reach his climax in musician one of the core monopoly was to take on the stubborn folks at Victor. founders of ASCAP, With Edison, Zon-O-Phone, Columbia, Lambert, and and it seems that Leeds under his partial control, it seemed he had the Victor Herbert (1898) these ideas began to upper hand while working out a deal with the Victor surface in his mind. management. Whatever he did, he was able to pull out Hager’s sneaking around was unacceptable. He did not a very nice contract with Victor. His contract at Victor take any immediate action, but he continued to hear was to record in Philadelphia every week for three about all of this illegal activity from the sidelines. months in 1903. Victor even started a new numbering block for Hager’s full orchestra, staring at 2000 and To make matters worse, Hager openly advertised his ending around 2200. services to all of these companies in local papers and in his weekly Bronx park programs. A piece of one Under the Victor management, Hager’s orchestra was advertisement survives in Hager’s own scrapbook. He known as The Victor Grand Concert band. Under this wanted to make sure all his regular fans and fellow name they recorded a fair amount of the ultra-rare 14 music folks knew that the record labs were so fond of inch DeLuxe Special Victor records. These mystifying him and his orchestra. It is likely that this very conduct records were 14 inches wide, and played around 60 was specifically not permitted in his contracts with rpm, making for as much as eight minutes of playing Columbia and the Globe record company (who made time. It seems no surprise that at nearly exactly the Climax records). same time Columbia issued a bunch of 14 inch records 3 News From VHSource, LLC V o l 10 October 2019 under the Columbia orchestra name, which as we know After reading Ms. Baker’s work, some thoughts was really Hager at this time. These records were very surfaced in our mind: 1) All this took place when there innovative for the time, but ultimately did not sell well, was no union Local 802 in place in New York City. as they were inconvenient to play and to store for the Local 802 was not created until 1921. 2) Ergo, all record buying public. musicians in New York City during the period were freelancers and thus, free to work for anyone who Hager was ever so glad to have reached the top. Each offered them jobs. 3) We would not want Victor company’s musicians were under his control, it seemed Herbert with both his temper and his popularity mad at his fighting ambition and tact had paid off. With all this us. 4) Finally, isn’t it interesting how folks involved in sharp bluster and bluff, Hager got what was coming to doing things under the table sooner or later manage to him, and it hit him hard. Just a short while after Hager’s allow their egos to assist in doing them in. term at Victor and Lambert, Victor Herbert put his foot down. Herbert sued the Zon-O-Phone company for illegal use of his name on their label. This lawsuit was Upcoming Herbert Performances aggressive, and obviously Herbert was favored by the Tuesday, Nov 19, 2019 and Wednesday, Nov 20, court, as he had nothing to do with the use of his name 2019, 8pm, the Victor Herbert Renaissance Project on the label. This was a slap in the face for Hager. All LIVE! will open its Sixth Season with Herbert’s 1914 that ambition for musician monopoly had come to a musical comedy, The jolted stop. Debutante. This all French season, “Love, After the lawsuit, Hager openly worked for Parisian Style,” features Zon-O-Phone and Edison (and he did continue to supply a potpourri of musical Columbia’s new music director Charles Prince with a comedy, opera and majority of his musicians). He had for now learned his operetta. See the other lesson, he did not return to such toxic over-ambition calendar listings for the until the early and middle 1910s. rest of the season. All performances are at Christ & St. Stephens From the start of the Zon-O-Phone, they were engaging th in illegal activities, their very foundation was built on Church, 120 W.