In this column I have written about many figures who were instrumental in the acoustic recording era, but often go unnoticed. One figure who fits this description is George Schweinfest. He goes back to the very beginning of recording, and became one of the pioneers respected enough to remain in the business as an executive. He did quite a bit more than just play the piccolo.
Schweinfest, although working for practically every record company before 1910, remained in Newark, New Jersey, his whole life. He was born there in 1862, and it was also there where he died in 1949. He came from a musical family, with his father Casper working as a musician in the Newark area. His parents immigrated from the kingdom of Bavaria at the same time as thousands of others in the 1840s and ’50s. Newark in the 19th century was a hotspot for music, particularly that of the Germanic kind, many other musicians that George later worked with had the same background. By 1880, the boy was already working as a musician, much like many children musicians at the time.
By the mid 1880s, Schweinfest starts to show up in local papers playing gigs. He proved that he was quite adept at several instruments; piano, violin, flute, piccolo, and possibly others, so this likely made him valuable in the musical community. Something interesting to note, is that as early as 1886, there are newspapers that mention Schweinfest working with musicians like David Dana (cornetist) and Edward Issler, men who he would later work with in the studio.
It seems that by 1888, Issler had established his small orchestra that would make thousands of records in the next decade. They happened to be in the right place at the time, as practically next door in Orange, New Jersey, was where Edison was just beginning to make commercial recordings. At the time, Edison needed some more talent to make his records, so Issler and his small group were employed to help.
It is difficult to determine exactly when their first records were made, but it was likely at the end of 1888 or the beginning of 1889. By 1889 they were making records there regularly. Schweinfest was Issler’s right hand man, taking on instruments when others were not available, and also playing piano for some of the other artists. He had plenty of time to learn how recording was done, as these records were being made so early that they were experimenting along the way, this expertise would become invaluable later. He and Issler even made many duets together on various instruments, most often it was Schweinfest on piccolo and Issler on piano. While Issler led the orchestra, one could argue that Schweinfest really held up the very fabric of the group throughout the many thousands of records the orchestra made.
Soon he and Issler were working for other companies, the most prolific being that of the U.S. Phonograph Company, based in Newark. Schweinfest had also started writing music around 1890, and he continued to do so into the 20th century. Despite being a bit older at the time, he remained quite up to date with musical trends as they came. He and Dana were actually documented as playing a gig with composer Thomas Hindley, the writer of the mega-hit “Patrol Comique.” It is possible that this connection is why the piece later became so popular with recording folk. He recorded this piece literally hundreds of times throughout his career.
Throughout the decade, he mostly worked with Issler, but occasionally he would make a piccolo or flute solo here and there. By 1897 however, Issler was beginning to leave recording (he didn’t make his last records until after 1900), but as copying cylinders from masters became less difficult that year, he made fewer and fewer records. He gradually left recording for a few likely reasons, one being that he was so used to making records by the round (performing a song dozens of times to meet the demand of the title), and that he was also becoming much more active in the newly formed musician’s union.
It was also at this time that Schweinfest moved more into the background of recording, as an accompanist. In 1897, Columbia hired Fred Hylands, and while his style really proved that music was changing rapidly, Schweinfest continued to be an accompanist when Hylands wasn’t available. It is likely that Schweinfest was one of the first people at Columbia to really take a liking to Hylands and his playing. Schweinfest was the first to record his “Darkey Volunteer” in 1898. He also recorded many syncopated numbers with Hylands early on in his time there as pianist.
While he was a decade older than Hylands, Schweinfest was relatively “hip” when it came to syncopation, as he had been playing it regularly since the beginning of recording. His style can be heard on many recordings, but thankfully a piano solo of his does survive. In 1905, Schweinfest made a single solo for Columbia on a 20th Century Cylinder. In that same year, Columbia experimented with long playing cylinders, by releasing six-inch long cylinders that played on their own machine. They were a moderate success, but ultimately Columbia discontinued them in 1908.
Some of these 20th Century records had some quite noteworthy music on them, including “Panama Rag” played by the Ossman-Dudley trio, and Bert Williams singing “Let it Alone.” Because it’s a long playing record, we get nearly three and a half minutes of Schweinfest’s style, and there is a lot to learn from it. Upon listening, it is absolutely clear that he was one of the pianists for Columbia between 1897 and 1904. He had a really balanced and rollicking style, that had clearly taken slight inspiration from someone like Hylands. He does however play the piece exactly as written, which is an almost ragtime piece called “Yankiana.” While he doesn’t improvise on this piece, he certainly was capable of doing so.
By the middle 1900s and into the 1910s, Schweinfest seemed to disappear from recording, but according to one of his obituaries, he actually remained at Columbia until 1925 at the latest. It is likely that he was promoted to an executive position around this time, considering his extended knowledge and experience with recording. It is quite interesting to imagine him discussing recording talent and material with someone as abrasive as Charles Prince or Fred Hager, as he certainly would have.
Throughout all this time, he had married and had three children, and had become a very well known citizen in Newark (much like Issler had). He was a devout Catholic, and maintained a position as organist for his church until his death. At the time of his death in 1949, he was one of the last (if not the last) of the pre-1895 recording artists living. He outlived them all in age as well, passing at age 87. While he was a background figure, he had a lot to do with many recordings we hear today. Not everyone may be a fan of the piccolo, but he certainly made it sound pretty good.
