Joseph Servant

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Joseph Knecht (1916)

Joseph Knecht (* 1864 in Bukovina , † May 30, 1931 in Manhattan ) was an Austrian-American violinist and conductor.

Life / work

Knecht was in 1864 in what was then the Empire of Austria-Hungary belonging Bukovina born and learned early to play violin. At the Technical University of Vienna he began studying engineering, which he gave up for the sake of music in order to study the violin at the Vienna Conservatory . After graduating, he became a member of the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera , which Hans Richter conducted. Probably through the mediation of Wilhelm Gericke , he was offered a position in the Boston Symphony Orchestra . He then went to America in September 1887, where he was naturalized in May 1905 . After working as an orchestral violinist in Boston, he moved to New York to become assistant to the concertmaster at the Metropolitan Opera , then to concertmaster himself and then to assistant to the current conductor.

When in 1908 the president of the Waldorf Astoria hotel chain, George C. Bold, asked him to put together a symphony orchestra to play in the hotel during the Met's summer recess , he agreed. The innovation proved so successful that from 1912 it became his main occupation. It remained so until 1926, when he retired from it in favor of radio broadcasting. From February 1925, he conducted the popular BFGoodrich Silverton Cord Band in the radio programs sponsored by the tire company BF Goodrich . With the Irish-American singer Joseph M. White , who appeared incognito as "The Silver Masked Tenor" , the band also went on tour through the vaudeville stages.

According to the industry journal Variety of March 18, 1925, the "Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra" and the "Silvertown Cord Band" were identical. The musicians went on the air 15 times a week: at the WEAF station they were called the “Silvertown Band” as a studio band, with dinner music programs they were broadcast every evening as the “Waldorf Astoria Orchestra” from the Rose Room in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel; Afternoon tea and tea concerts from the Commodore Hotel were broadcast by the WJZ broadcaster. From December 1917 Knecht made gramophone recordings with his musicians for the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden NJ., From November 1918 also for Columbia and from October 1919 for Okeh . Other companies such as Edison , Gennett and Pathé Frères followed. Between 1925 and 1928 he played again for Victor with his "BF Goodrich Silvertown Cord Band".

Knecht died of heart failure in Manhattan in 1931 . He was 67 years old. The New York Times dedicated an obituary to him.

Sound documents (audio samples)

  • Victor 18526 (mx. B-22330) Beautiful Ohio, Waltz (Mary Earl) Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra, Joseph Knecht director. Rec. Camden NJ., 11/29/1918
  • Columbia A 2783 (mx. 78552) Tell Me, Fox Trot (Kortlander) Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra, Joseph Knecht director. Rec. 1919
  • Pathé B-22136 Ruspana. Medley Fox Trot (Mary Earl) Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra under the personal Direction of Joseph Knecht. Rec. 1919
  • His Masters Voice (CN) 216.236-B (mx. 900) “Russian Rag” (George L. Cobb), based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor. Joseph Knecht's Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra. Rec. 1921
  • OkeH 4219-A (mx, p. 7614 A) In My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown, Waltz from musical comedy "Jrene" (Harry Tierney) Joseph Knecht's Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra. Rec. February 1921.
  • Gennett 4693-A (mx. G 07452) Broken Moon, Fox Trot (Roberts - Callahan) Joseph Knecht's Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra. Rec. Feb. 1921.
  • Edison Diamond Disc 51579-L (mx. 10431) I wonder where we've met before? Fox Trot (Knecht) Joseph Knecht's Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra. Recorded New York, June 15, 1925.
  • Victor 19793 (mx. BVE-33500) Brown Eyes Why Are You Blue? Fox Trot (Geo W. Meyer - Alfred Bryant) BF Goodrich Silvertown Cord Band, Joseph M Knecht; Vocalist: Joseph M White aka 'The Silver-Masked Tenor', rec. September 22, 1925.
  • Victor 20204 A (mx.BVE-36312) Mary Lou, Fox Trot (Waegner-Robinson-Lyman) BF Goodrich Silvertown Chord Orchestra. Vocal refrain by The Silver-Masked Tenor, rec. September 14, 1926.

literature

  • The popular dinner concert. In: Radio Broadcast. Vol. 7, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1925.
  • Ross Laird, Brian AL Rust, Brian Rust : Discography of OkeH Records, 1918-1934 (= Discographies. Volume 92). Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004, ISBN 0-313-31142-0 , pp. 53, 78, 179.
  • Deena Rosenberg: Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. New edition. University of Michigan Press, 1991, ISBN 0-472-08469-0 .
  • Brian Rust: The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942: Arthur Lange to Bob Zurke (= The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942. Volume 2). Arlington House, 1975, ISBN 0-87000-248-1 , pp. 1295, 1374, 1542 and 1871.
  • Irving Settel: A pictorial History of Radio. New edition. Grosset & Dunlap, 1967, ISBN 0-448-01913-2 .
  • Karl Willy Wagner: The cultural task of broadcasting, its organization and technology. In: KW Wagner among other things: The scientific foundations of radio reception. Springer-Verlag, 1927. (2013, ISBN 978-3-642-91008-1 , pp. 1–17)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arturo Toscanini at that time , cf. Rosenberg p. 13: "Joseph Knecht, a former Toscanini assistant at the Metropolitan Opera"
  2. ↑ a photo of the orchestra in front of the microphone from 1925 by Mike Brubaker  : Early Radio Orchestras, posted August 31, 2013 (retrieved 2018-03-05)
  3. ↑ on this cf. ucsb.edu
  4. ↑ cf. Settel p. 50.
  5. ↑ images at nyc-architecture.com
  6. ↑ cf. Radio Broadcast, Volume 7, 1925, p. 755: “The best dinner music on the radio is that furnished through weaf by Joseph Knecht's Waldorf Astoria Rose Room orchestra and the Commodore Hotel concerts from wjz.” For the two stations cf. Karl Willy Wagner, Berlin: The cultural task of broadcasting, its organization and technology. In: Wagner, Aigner et al. 2013, p. 12: "National Broadcasting Company" in New York ... as the main transmitter, the company operates the technically excellently equipped transmitter WEAF (491 meters) in New York [...] In addition, there are connections with the most important main broadcasters of other companies, such as B. with WJZ (453.3 meters) in Bound Brook (Radio Corporation of America) ... "
  7. ^ Obituary in the New York Times, June 1, 1931, p. 14: "Joseph Knecht Dies. Led radio orchestra. Former Concertmaster of Metropolitan Opera Succumbs to Heart Disease " (retrieved 2018-03-05).
  8. ↑ listen on archive.org
  9. ↑ listen on Youtube
  10. ↑ to be heard on Youtube , label released. at discogs.com
  11. ↑ listen on Youtube
  12. ↑ label shown. at discogs.com
  13. ↑ listen on Youtube
  14. ↑ listen on Youtube
  15. ↑ cf. ucsb.edu , to be heard on Youtube
  16. ↑ listen on Youtube
personal data
SURNAME Servant, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knecht, Joseph M.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American violinist, conductor
DATE OF BIRTH 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Bucovina
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1931
Place of death Manhattan