Kryl’s Bohemian Band: Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride)—March

March selections from Smetana’s Bartered Bride, performed in 1911 by Kryl’s Bohemian Band, whose excellent recordings are well worth seeking out.

Joseph Pasternack, Victor Symphony Orchestra: Funeral March of a Marionette, by Charles Gounod

A good interpretation of the famous Gounod piece that Alfred Hitchcock used for his theme, recorded in 1922 on a twelve-inch Victor record.

Victor Military Band: Alexander’s Ragtime Band

Military bands were the pop-music engines of the first decade and a half of the 1900s. Here the Victor house band gives us a spirited performance of Irving Berlin’s monster hit, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” Our usual restoration brings out a very lively sound for 1911.