STORIES FROM THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION RECORDS
Many of us are aware that some of the most famous movie stars of the 20th century had stage names. Handsome, debonaire Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach, and “bombshell blonde” Marilyn Monroe was Norma Jeane Mortenson before achieving her iconic status. Before their time, authors published their writings under pen names for a variety of reasons, such as George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and Lewis Carol (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson).
Did you know that major symphonic orchestras also took on a variety of pseudonyms?
But first, a little history
Among the first groups of documents now open and available for visitors to our reading room is a group of administrative files regarding The Philadelphia Orchestra’s recording activities. The Orchestra made its first recording with Victor Records in 1917, and immediately began creating an impressive discography, often positioning itself at the forefront of recording history. Victor’s first electric orchestral recording was of The Philadelphia Orchestra performing “Danse Macabre” (Camille Saint-Saëns) in 1925. In 1931, RCA Victor (renamed after acquisition by RCA) produced the first complete symphonic recording on a 78-rpm record: The Philadelphia Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. And perhaps most famously, The Philadelphia Orchestra provided the soundtrack music to Disney’s “Fantasia” in 1940. For this ambitious animated movie, the Orchestra was recorded with multiple microphones, resulting in a multi-track recording that provided theater audiences with the first documented use of surround sound.
The “Warwick Symphony Orchestra”
While I was generally familiar with the scope of the Orchestra’s recording activity throughout the 20th century when I began processing this section of the collection, I was quite surprised when I came across this 1957 letter from the musical director at RCA Camden Records to the accountant for The Philadelphia Orchestra:
In it, the musical director writes:
As you know, we are contractually constrained from using the actual name of the orchestra on a number of titles and the pseudonym used in connection with Philadelphia Orchestra repertoire in these cases is “Warwick Symphony Orchestra.”
Why would the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra be listed under a pseudonym?
According to the Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, a large ensemble’s pseudonym, more colorfully described as its “nom du disque,” either resulted from the fact that it was signed to a contract with one recording label but wished to record with another, or a recording corporation wished to reissue older recordings without degrading the value of their more recent, full-priced records. Using a nom du disque allowed recording companies and orchestras to issue such recordings without violating their contracts. This practice also resulted in certain individuals such as conductors and soloists going uncredited in some recordings. The use of pseudonyms was a common practice among many major symphonic orchestras in the mid-twentieth century. And so was born the Philadelphia Orchestra’s alternate identity: the Warwick Symphony Orchestra. In conversation with staff at the Philadelphia Orchestra, I learned that this particular pseudonym was only used for reissues.
Further complicating the recording landscape is that a *real* Warwick Symphony Orchestra also exists. It is a regional touring ensemble based in Rhode Island. While that group was formed in the 1960s, it wasn’t rebranded with its current name until 1987, well past the time that very same name was used for The Philadelphia Orchestra.
A quick search for records for sale by the “Warwick Symphony Orchestra” on sites such as Ebay, Amazon and Discogs turns up dozens of results for Philadelphia Orchestra recordings; sometimes ensemble’s actual name is included in the item’s description, but quite often it is not.
To this point I know of only one other pseudonym for The Philadelphia Orchestra, which took the name “Robin Hood Dell Orchestra,” or alternately “Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia,” after its summer performance venue in East Fairmount Park, now named the Dell Music Center.
Alas – it is not the archivist’s job to deep-dive into research projects, but in my opinion this would be a very interesting topic for a researcher to take up.
The Philadelphia Orchestra Association records, which represent the Orchestra’s institutional history from 1900-2023, are partially available for research. The remainder of the collection is still in process. If you wish to consult material from the published portioned of the finding aid, please request material via the finding aid site. If you have questions, please reach out to kislak@upenn.
Source consulted:
Hoffman, Frank. Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound. Routledge, 2005.
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