The Virtual Gramophone is a site where thousands of recordings from the early 20th century from Canada can be found as podcasts or for immediate download.
Welcome to the Library and Archives of Canada’s Virtual Gramophone, a multimedia website devoted to the early days of Canadian recorded sound, providing an overview of the 78-rpm era in Canada.
Edison Opera phonograph with blue amberol cylinder (taken from the virtual gramophone)
I have also found some recordings with a mandolin on this site. If you search for “mandolin” you can find more examples, but the following audio files are available for download:
| Lefman; Rosemarin | El choclo : tango argentin | Details | Listen | [MP3 1,492 KB] |
| Lefman; Rosemarin | Les flots du Danube = Waves of the Danube | Details | Listen | [MP3 1,510 KB] |
| Lefman; Rosemarin | La spagnola : valse = [The spanish dancer] | Details | Listen | [MP3 1,468 KB] |
| Trio Napolitain | La belle Italie = Beautiful Italy : polka | Details | Listen | [MP3 2,543 KB] |
| Trio Napolitain | Belle Napolitaine = Beautiful Napolitan : valse | Details | Listen | [MP3 2,651 KB] |
You can use the Index Sorted by Performer to locate and download those files:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/028011-9000-e.html
You can also subscribe to several podcasts which collect certain audios to get audio file downloaded automatically to itunes:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/028011-4000-e.html
The following version of the Maple Leaf Rag can also be found in the Virtual Gramophone:
Vera Guilaroff improvises Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag 1926
The Virtual Gramophone site has a lot of interesting information about the history of recorded music in Canada. You can find background articles, biographies of many artists, some videos of the gramophones playing the old records and much mor – a great site if you are interested in historical recordings made on 78 records or even Edison cylinders.
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/index-e.html
Sheet music
Another site dedicated to the history of music in Canada is the siet Sheet Music From Canada’s Past:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/sheetmusic/index-e.html
There you can find some nice galleries of title pages of old sheet music, several background articles and much more.
Additional information
Link collection for other great sites with historical recordings of shellac records: http://pinboard.in/u:mandoisland/t:gramophone/