Music recorded in October 1893
October 1893 was a month of economic uncertainty and the excitement of the "Age of the Expositions." In the United States, amid the Panic of 1893, the political process surrounding the partial repeal of the 1890 Act, which stipulated the purchase of silver, reached a climax, and on October 30, 1893, the United States Senate passed a bill to repeal it. In Chicago, the World's Columbian Exposition (May 1–October 30, 1893), a global event, was assassinated on October 28, 1893, casting a heavy shadow over the final days of the festivities.
Confirmed recordings this month: 0
Summary of information on recordings made in October 1893
October 1893 was the month that the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition came to a close, and it was also a time when phonograph equipment simultaneously served three purposes both inside and outside the venue: as a spectacle, an exhibition, and a record. Looking at the surviving examples of academic recordings, together with the background of commercial recordings of the same era, we can get a grasp of the contours of recording culture in the early 1890s.
Benjamin Ives Gilman
At the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, Benjamin Ives Gilman (1852–1933) recorded performances from around the country on cylinder records, leaving behind a comprehensive collection of materials to be passed down to future generations. This was an attempt to capture the "music encountered at the exposition" in situ, and is considered an early example of what would later become ethnomusicological field recordings.
- https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Benjamin-Ives-Gilman-Collection_Feaster.pdf
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Ives_Gilman
Chicago World's Fair and the Phonograph Exhibit
The Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, which concluded on October 30, 1893, is remembered as a large-scale exhibition space that integrated electricity, machinery, and entertainment. Contemporary documents and research on the exposition cite the phonograph as one of the "symbols of modern technology," confirming its connection to the experiential consumption at the venue. October marked the closing month, and marked a turning point in which the way recording and playback technology was displayed in the exposition space led to the next wave of commercial entertainment (arcades and exhibitions).
- https://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1386.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition
Commercial cylinders from the recording incunabula period
Unlike later mass-produced media, commercial cylinders from the early 1890s are classified as "early (incunabula) recordings," which were recorded, sold, and performed in close proximity to one another. While the materials do not allow for cataloguing evidence directly linked to the specific date of October 1893, this classification provides a useful background for the monthly pages, helping us understand what repertoire was in demand during that period (1891–1898) and in what settings (arcades, etc.) it was listened to.
The Assassination of Carter Harrison III and the Acoustic Environment "Just Before the Closing"
On October 28, 1893, Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison III (1825–1893) was assassinated, completely changing the atmosphere in the city just before the closing of the International Exposition. While not related to the recording itself, the fact that the news of the loss of the International Exposition, a venue for "sound entertainment" and a place that attracted huge audiences, came as it reached its final stages, is an important background circumstance when considering the sound culture of the period (live performances at the venue, recorded and playback spectacles, souvenir music).
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Carter_Harrison_III
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Harrison_III
