The first remote public registration of a gramophone record in continental Europe was successfully organized in Croatia's capital Zagreb, 1927. It was the third such registration in the world, after the USA, New York in 1925 and GB, London in 1926. The concert of Croatian Christmas carols with Franjo Dugan as the organist in the Zagreb Cathedral (stuffed with 2000 worshippers who were singing), had been registered for the Edison - Bell - Penkala Co. in Zagreb. We mention in passing that Penkala was a famous Croatian inventor, known among others for his "chemical pen", named as penkala in his honor. |
Summary. The first remote public registration of a gramophone record in continental Europe was successfully organized in Croatia's capital Zagreb, 1927. It was the third such registration in the world, after the USA, New York in 1925 and GB, London in 1926. The concert of Croatian Christmas carols with Franjo Dugan as the organist in the Zagreb Cathedral (stuffed with 2000 worshippers who were singing), had been registered for the Edison - Bell - Penkala Co. in Zagreb. We mention in passing that Penkala was a famous Croatian inventor, known among others for his "chemical pen", named as penkala in his honor. |
Franjo Dugan (1874-1948), studied mathematics and physics at the University of Zagreb, and was outstanding organ player and composer, the Zagreb Cathedral organist since 1910.
It is maybe worth mentioning that the German pianist Alfred Brendel, at that time 10 years old, met Franjo Dugan in Zagreb, who gave him lessons that he found extremely useful. He also appeared at a children's theatre in Zagreb. In Dugan's textbook Music Acoustics (in Croatian), published poshumously, Franjo Dugan st., Glazbena akustika, Kiklos - Krug knjige, Zagreb, 2014., ISBN 978-953-56937-6-5, 302 str. (information at kiklos.hr@hotmail.com ) one can find the following surprising and little known fact (see pp. 279-295, in the appendix to the book written by Veljko Lipovšćak, Franjo Dugan st. - prvo javno snimanje za gramofonske ploče u Europi):The first remote public registration of a gramophone record in continental Europe was organized in Croatia's capital Zagreb in 1927. It was the third such registration in the world, after the USA, New York in Metropolitan opera in 1925 and GB, London in Convent Garden 1926. The concert of Croatian Christmas carols with Franjo Dugan as the organist in the Zagreb Cathedral (stuffed with 2000 worshippers who were singing), had been electronically transferred to the studio which later became known as Dvorana Istra (Istria Hall in Zagreb), and registered there for the Edison - Bell - Penkala Co. in Zagreb. We mention in passing that Slavoljub Penkala was a famous Croatian inventor, known among others for his "chemical pen", named as penkala in his honor.Source www.croatianhistory.net |