279:
information from
Shilkret's autobiography, his payroll for his radio orchestras from 1928 through 1933 and the New York Philharmonic Archives, the orchestra members, and their principal instrument when known, include the following, with question marks indicating the signatures were not clear: Joseph Knecht (director), V. Adamo, F. Cardone?, N. Cassellee?, Leonard D'Amico (violin), Edward Davis, Carl W. Dodge (cello), Joseph Febbraio (horn), R. Fritock, Nicholas Garagusi (violin; Boys' Symphony Orchestra of New York soloist and concertmaster in 1902), Roy R. Haines (trombone), Charles J. Hambitzer (George Gershwin's principal piano teacher), Louison? Heidelberg, Edward Kilenyi (violin), A. Kirchner (bassoon), Peter Le Fina, Frank Longo (piano), Benjamin Posner (violin), D. Reggel, D. Saeirtel,
157:. A search of the college's files shows Shilkret attended classes in the Fall 1904 semester and is listed as an alumnus, Class of ex'1910. This information establishes Knecht as director prior to 1910. Shilkret described the hotel as "almost a conservatory, rather than a hotel engagement. ... There were thirty-five men engaged steadily for the dining rooms. In the Rose Room, Caruso records were played, with our group following the music of the record." Shilkret said that there were nightly concerts from 9 pm to 10 pm, with the Orchestra enlarged to fifty on Sundays, and chamber music from 11 pm to 1 am, with Joseph Knecht as director.
31:
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articles mention the
Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra with various conductors, including Harold Leonard (1926–1927), Meyer Davis (1929–1932), Nat Brandywine (1932), Jack Denny (1932), and Oscar Adler (1933). Meyer Davis's Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra is sometimes described as directed by Bill Artzt, Joe Moss,
810:
The
Personnel of the New York Philharmonic and Those Organizations Merging With That Organization, 1842–1992: 1. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra, 1842–1928; 2. The New York Symphony Orchestra, 1877–1928 (includes Leopold Damrosch's 1877 orchestra); 3. New/National Symphony Orchestra, 1919–1921;
413:
By 1928, the
Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra was heard Saturdays in the New York area on WABC and WEAF, in Washington, D.C., on WRC, and it was also heard in Detroit (WWJ), Boston (WEEI) and WCAE (Hartford). The music was usually on at 6pm to provide what was labeled "dinner music," and NBC broadcast it
204:
led an 'all-American' program recently by the
Waldorf Orchestra, whose twenty-five men have played together for twenty years," but does not indicate whether or not the orchestra played for the Waldorf-Astoria for its entire twenty-year existence. Two New York Times articles note the beginning and
192:
collaborated in the early years of his career with the orchestra under the direction of Misha Borr at various performance venues within the Waldor-Astoria hotel including: The
Starlight Room, The Grand Ballroom and the Waldorf Towers, as well as later in his career in 1948 at The Wedgewood Room.
278:
A picture of the
Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra, dated March 4, 1918, and marked "to Mr. Oscar Tschirky on his 25th anniversary" is signed by each member of the orchestra. Tschirky was the maître d' of the Waldorf-Astoria and was very well known. From the signatures on the picture, together with
353:, which was listed as charted number one in 1919. The Orchestra made recordings for several different record companies, with the last recording directed by Knecht being made for Edison in November 1925. On Ca. 1921 Columbia records it is credited as "The Waldorf-Astoria Singing Orchestra".
209:
articles from 1926 refer to "Knecht's
Silvertone Dance Orchestra" and "Knecht's orchestra," without any reference to the Waldorf-Astoria, from which it seems that Knecht's association with the Waldorf-Astoria ended in 1925. A New York Times obituary says that Knecht died on May 30, 1931.
409:
article includes a picture (see
Commons below) which is labeled as including the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra in a publicity picture for the November 4, 1924, Eveready Hour broadcast. Neither the musicians nor the instrumentation match the 1918 photograph of the orchestra cited above.
141:
built in 1931. In addition to the normal function of a hotel to house its guests and provide them with amenities, the
Waldorf-Astoria had an extensive program of social activities, to include concerts by top artists and an orchestra to provide music for its dinner guests.
295:'s Orchestra began creating a stir at the Waldorf-Astoria. Cugat never had a contract with the Waldorf-Astoria, but his band reigned supreme there for 16 years. He began with a salary of $ 500 per week which escalated to $ 7,000 per week plus a percentage of the door.
605:, archival edition of Shilkret autobiography, 2001, pp. 36–45 and 364–365 (copies deposited in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The City College of New York Archival Library, The New York Philharmonic Archives, The Victor Archives (SONY)).
74:
349:, recorded on December 10, 1917 and issued as Victor 18432. Whitburn lists this recordings being charted as a number 9 hit the following year, and lists three other Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra recordings as being "charted," including
145:
An 1898 New York Times article mentions that the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra played at the Astoria, and a 1901 New York Times Article mentions "Prof. Clappe, leader of the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra, and the other fifteen performers."
283:(trumpet), Nathaniel Shilkret (clarinet), Harry K. Spedick, Stefano L. Stefan?, F. Tantangelo, Van Praag, George Vaughn (clarinet), O. Walther. Shilkret also cites Dan Marshall as a flute player in the orchestra under Knecht.
414:
throughout the United States in the 1930s. Minus a brass section, the 1932 orchestra that Jack Denny helmed at the Waldorf-Astoria employed three pianos, clarinets, saxophones, strings and possibly a French horn or oboe.
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359:
Cugat also directed over 150 recordings with the Orchestra between 1937 and 1942, the earlier recordings for Victor and the later ones for Columbia. Whitburn lists twenty-one of the Cugat recordings as "charted."
389:
The Sunday evening concert of the Waldorf-Astoria orchestra numbers, under the leadership of Joseph Knecht, will continue to be broadcast through the month of February, according to a statement made by WJZ,
153:, a member of the orchestra in its early days, provides information about the Orchestra and anecdotal stories about several of its members. Shilkret says he was a member of the Orchestra while attending the
341:
Knecht and Cugat each directed over 150 recordings with the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra. Denny also made a significant number of recordings, but only about fifteen appeared with the Waldorf-Astoria name.
96:
locations. In addition to providing dinner music at the famous hotel, the orchestra made over 300 recordings and many radio broadcasts. It was established in the 1890s, and was directed by
160:
Music historian Howard Pollack says, "This hotel orchestra, comprising a highly trained group of mostly Italian and Jewish musicians, regularly gave serious concerts, including one that
121:
in 1933. Both Denny and Cugat had their own orchestras when they began playing at the Waldorf-Astoria, so the term "Waldorf-Astoria orchestras" might be an appropriate description.
176:" Pollack says Hambitzer came to New York no later than 1908 and began playing in the string section (Hambitzer played many instruments) of the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra. In 1916,
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636:
Musical America – Composers Applaud Knecht's Directing, Vol. 25, November 18, 1916, p. 29 – Nicola Laucella with the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra on books.google.com
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ending of the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra's thirteenth season of Sunday concerts, which would imply that the Sunday concert feature of the Orchestra began in 1912.
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Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra in 1924. Will Rogers (standing right), Art Gillham, Wendell Hall, Carson Robison, the Eveready Quartet, Graham McNamee.
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was originally built as two separate adjacent hotels, the Waldorf in 1893 and the Astoria in 1897. Both were on the land that is now occupied by the
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network), and the New York Times said that the Rose Room Dinner Music was a favorite program for listeners of WEAF for many years.
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626:(Pollack quotes Shilkret as saying that Hambitzer was "one of the greatest pianists I ever heard. I would say he was a genius.")
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4. The New York Philharmonic- Symphony Orchestra, 1928–1992, unpublished; copy deposited at the New York Philharmonic Archives.
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Gerstner Publications, 1948 Vo. 14 p. 6 John Serry accordioinst with the Mischa Borr Orcehstra at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel
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905:- Agustin Lara as performed by Pedro Berrios with Xavier Cugat's Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra (1936) on Archive.org
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780:"Joseph Knecht Dies. Led Radio Orchestra. Former Concertmaster of Metropolitan Opera Succumbs to Heart Disease"
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Sies describes details of a spring 1924 broadcast of classical music on Dinner Music from the Rose Room on
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for an appreciative audience in the Grand Ballroom. Later in the early 1930s, the orchestral accordionist
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The Orchestra was one of the earliest orchestras heard on radio. Broadcasts began on
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913:- Single recordings of the Waldorf Astoria Orchestra as archived on Archive.org
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was an orchestra that played primarily at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, both the
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and continued throughout the 1920s as the network chain was established.
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Joseph Knecht, formerly for fourteen years conductor of an orchestra ...
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840:, Record Research, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, 1986, pp. 116 and 435.
498:, Arlington House, New York, 1975, pp. 374–378, 399–402, and 974–981.
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877:, McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina, 2000, pp. 165 and 614.
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and Mischa Borr, instead of Davis himself. Denny departed when
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Denny and the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra appeared in the movie
578:
Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Shell, Niel and Barbara Shilkret,
550:"Well Known Artists Contribute to Life's Fresh Air Fund",
618:, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2006, p. 26.
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Shilkret, Nathaniel, Barbara Shilkret, and Niel Shell,
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The American Dance Band Discography 1917–1942, Volume 1
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Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra album with a Cugat caricature
582:, Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005, pp. 26–32.
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Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business
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710:"Other Features Scheduled for the Radio This Week",
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conducting the Waldorf Astoria Orchestra performing
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conducting the Waldorf Astoria Orchestra performing
603:Feast or Famine: Sixty Years in the Music Business
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921:- 172 single recordings archived on archive.org
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616:George Gershwin: His Life and Work
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184:in a performance of his work
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754:. Scarecrow Press. pp.
540:IMDb: Moonlight and Pretzels
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714:, January 3, 1926, p. XX12.
688:, November 24, 1924, p. X7.
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748:Reynold Weidenaar (1995).
174:Piano Concerto in D Minor.
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911:Waldorf Storia Orchestra
684:"Various Music Events",
671:"Concerts of the Week",
155:City College of New York
838:Pop Memories, 1890–1954
675:, May 11, 1919, p. 51.
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200:article states that, "
149:In his autobiography,
118:Moonlight and Pretzels
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983:William Waldorf Astor
646:"Biography Section",
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379:On February 4, 1923,
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131:Waldorf-Astoria hotel
108:and others, and then
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699:Various Music Events
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863:, February 4. 1923.
861:The Washington Post
529:Dismuke: Jack Denny
382:The Washington Post
333:here on archive.org
76:here on archive.org
1145:NBC radio programs
822:The New York Times
673:The New York Times
374:Newark, New Jersey
316:You may listen to
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59:You may listen to
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385:reported:
324:'s bolero
299:Recordings
261:Jack Denny
214:Conductors
106:Jack Denny
67:'s rhumba
166:Hambitzer
1089:Track 61
418:See also
330:in 1939
327:Perfidia
286:Several
162:Gershwin
73:in 1945
928:at the
431:Portals
390:Newark.
196:A 1919
125:History
881:
844:
762:
622:
586:
502:
445:Hotels
269:, 1933
263:, 1932
257:, 1932
457:Music
879:ISBN
842:ISBN
760:ISBN
620:ISBN
584:ISBN
500:ISBN
405:The
396:WEAF
129:The
92:and
84:The
756:132
400:NBC
372:in
370:WJZ
172:'s
94:new
90:old
1106::
852:^
829:^
795:.
782:.
758:.
731:^
697:,
594:^
571:^
510:^
483:^
959:e
952:t
945:v
932:.
768:.
433::
20:)
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