In 1895, a twenty year old Fred W. Hager organized his military orchestra of 26 musicians. At that time, Hager was the youngest professional bandleader in New York, and with the sort of musicians he had in the orchestra, all the major bandsmen and music folks took notice. Hager had sourced his musicians from a variety of places, and with his recent graduation from the New York conservatory, he was able to choose the best. One important source that proved valuable for Hager was the Twenty-Second regiment band, who was later to be known as Victor Herbert’s military orchestra. Hager used many of Herbert’s musicians from the very beginning.
It took until 1898 for Hager’s military orchestra to show up in recording studios. He brought them to Edison’s lab, which at the time was recording some of his violin solos. Hager’s increasing success with his orchestra and violin solos became the talk of the recording industry in 1898, and his name started showing up in the exclusive trade magazine The Phonoscope. The September 1898 issue featured a nearly full page portrait of Hager to accompany an article singing praises for the award winning quality of his violin solo recordings.
Hager soon caught wind of the newly formed Universal Talking Machine company (the professional
