Music recorded in January 1898
On January 1, 1898, the merger of the New York area and surrounding municipalities took effect, forming the City of Greater New York. On January 13, Émile Zola (1840–1902) published an open letter in the newspaper L'Aurore titled "I impeach...!", which greatly shook public opinion over the Dreyfus affair. On January 25, amid tensions surrounding the Cuban War of Independence, the battleship USS Maine entered Havana Harbor, destabilizing relations between the United States of America and Spain. On January 29, a major earthquake struck the Ottoman Empire near Balıkesir, causing widespread damage. That same month, the National Stock Growers Convention was held in Denver, marking the founding of the National Live Stock Growers Association of the United States, and the Australian Association for the Advancement of Science meeting was held in Sydney, marking a milestone in academic exchange.
Confirmed recordings this month: 0
Summary of information on recordings made in January 1898
For January 1898, the Discography of American Historical Recordings lists several Berliner 7-inch recordings with dates. However, there are also many recordings from the same period with undated dates, so it is difficult to determine trends within the month based on the database listings alone (unconfirmed items are treated as unconfirmed).
Disc recording of excerpts from a speech given in New York (January 7, 1898)
In the Discography of American Historical Recordings, excerpts from a speech by Chauncey Mitchell Depew (1834–1928) recorded on January 7, 1898, are listed as two Berliner 7-inch discs (number 693, "From his speech on Forefather's Day," and number 694, "The Statue of Liberty oration: Extract"). The genre/form can be classified as a recitation.
- https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/date/browse/1898-01-07
- https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/RustHistorical.pdf
- https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/105175/Depew_Chauncey_M
Disc recording of the song "The Reverie" (January 4, 1898)
The January 4, 1898 page of the Discography of American Historical Recordings lists "The reverie" as a 7-inch Berliner disc under number 699. The performer names and instrumentation cannot be confirmed from the search results excerpts on that page alone. The genre/form is treated as instrumental music (details unconfirmed).
Example of date notation as seen on the "January 31, 1898" page
The January 31, 1898 page of the Discography of American Historical Recordings shows a Berliner 7-inch disc entry (e.g., number 898, "The Palms"), with the date December 4, 1897 written alongside the individual entry. The reason for the discrepancy between the page date and the individual entry date cannot be determined from the excerpt on the page alone.
