This "Duca Noten-Verzeichnis" has been preserved together with other original documents (including the Cäcilia Noten-Verzeichnisse) and parts from the instrument and reel production of Philipps AG - and is now in the possession of Thomas Richter. Thanks to his impressively supportive attitude, we were able to digitize this book and have started to evaluate the data.

Apparently it is Book I of formerly two books, since it only contains records up to No 1200 and No 5036. The first entry is from 10.07.1908, the last entry is from 13.12.1912. Nevertheless, this is certainly the more valuable of the two books, since it documents the beginnings of the recordings - and the most important phase up to the end of 1912. Since there are still a large number of blank pages in the book, it is likely that other reasons may have led to a break in the recording.

The book has visibly been an important workbook for Philipps. All pages are clearly worn out, partly pages are loose and incomplete.

We have digitized and post-processed each page individually. At the request of the owner (Thomas Richter, Neu-Isenburg) we are making the book available here as a pdf download, with the aim of supporting research - and initiating the open exchange of further documents in the possession of other collectors. In this sense, it would be welcome if you would make your own documents available for free download here with us or on your internet pages.

1908 Philipps DUCA directory for download [105.086 KB] .

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General note: We are grateful for voluntary donations in recognition and support of our great financial and time expenditure for the provision of such documents in our 'Fundus' section - within the framework of §60 c UrhG (German Copyright Act), expressly without the intention of making a profit. If you want to support this voluntarily, you can do so here.

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DUCA - A CLASSIFICATION...

Philipps was the third, after Welte and Hupfeld and next to Popper (Stella), to enter the rapidly rising and falling market for reproduction pianos, and thus somewhat late. This had the disadvantage that the small market for reproduction instruments was already occupied - both in terms of potential customers and recording pianists. The advantage, however, was that Philipps was able to avoid the shortcomings of Welte and DEA systems through better technical solutions. There is a very close technical relationship between the Welte-Mignon and the Philipps DUCA - so far it has not been possible to clarify how this close connection could be established. Existing patents actually prevented such technical proximity. This is the subject of further research.

In 1912, Philipps formulated this motto: "What immortal artists offered us in their playing, DUCA recalls to us today in its full beauty", and a little further in the text it says "... that this instrument is the best that has been brought up to now in the field of reproduction instruments...". . This statement is - for all its marketing relevance - at least as far as the technical implementation (instruments and roles) is concerned, in our view quite justified in the sense of 'among the best'.

PIANISTS PLAY ON DUCA

Until today it is still often claimed that the repertoire for DUCA is too small and uninteresting. In view of the impressive range of roles, we cannot agree with this. The DUCA system was obviously interesting enough, so that very well-known pianists made recordings here who also recorded for Welte or Hupfeld - as well as many promising pianists who did not record for Welte or Hupfeld. Examples of this are: Arthur Friedheim, Arthur Schnabel, Xaver Scharwenka, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Terressa Carreno, Ferruccio Busoni together with Michael von Zadora, Germaine Schnitzer, Helene Moillet-Gobat, and many more.

It is true that the number of roles is noticeably smaller in comparison to Welte and Hupfeld - nevertheless, with a repertoire of well over 1500 music rolls there seems to be no lack of choice. A unique selling point of DUCA is without doubt the large and beautiful repertoire of dance and light music.

DUCA DANCING ROLLS

Another curious detail of Philipp's role recordings is shown on this page from the DUCA sheet music directory. From 10.07.1911 the recordings for dance music were kept separately. Since Philipps had meanwhile arrived at No 783 for the classical repertoire, one had to decide with which number pad to start with for the dance music. Here, No 3000 was chosen first - probably in the assumption that this would leave enough reserve. This was then raised to 5000 numbers already on 31.10.1911 - and corrected for the first 3000 numbers. In retrospect the 3000 would have been sufficient - but this could not have been foreseen at that time.

DUCA RECORDING GRAND PIANO AND BOOK

H.-W. Schmitz was able to locate the Lipp recording wing (serial number 26087). Unfortunately, the recording technology had been removed decades ago. However, the many signatures of the pianists who made recordings for DUCA have been preserved. We compared the data in the DUCA sheet music index with the data found in the pianists' signatures on the grand piano frame. Most of the data correspond exactly to the date of recording in the DUCA book. Some data are a few days before or after the date of recording according to the DUCA book. We assume that the pianists were mostly in Frankfurt for several days and that some of them also accompanied the pre- / post-production of the role recordings or accepted finished mother rolls.

DUCA ROLL LENGTHS

It is noticeable that the roll lengths (in metres) given in the DUCA book are in each case almost exactly double the actual DUCA play rolls. As an example the DUCA reel No 10 "Murmelndes Lüftchen". Roll length in the catalogue: 21.5m. Actual roll length of the punched area of the play roll: 10.75m. As already suspected in professional circles, it can be assumed that the receiving rolls had double lengths and were therefore able to record more finely. The length was halved in the transfer from the mother roll to the playback roll.

DUCA ROLL PRICES

As an insert, there is a note on changed prices as of April 1, 1914. The demand for reels declined noticeably with the increasing spread of the gramophone and radio - and in view of the approaching First World War - and like other suppliers, Philipps tried to achieve more sales with lower prices. Accordingly, all entries in the book were noticeably corrected downwards around April 1, 1914 with the two price variants (Duca and Pianella electric).

PHILIPP'S PRICING

In the back of the book there are two pages with very interesting details about Philipps' pricing - not only for DUCA but also for other systems. Titles from this repertoire were of course also used for other Philipps systems. In the book you will also find notes like "not suitable for P.A." for some roll numbers.

DUCA ROLL PRODUCTION

In fact, almost all the recordings that were chronologically documented in the book were also published later in this way. There are a few corrections and title changes that appeared differently later in the catalogue.

Noticeable are deletions (shown in brackets in the list below) and corrections of pianist names, which suggest that pseudonyms were used to increase the number of pianists listed in the catalogue. Thus a J. Hommel recorded pieces - and was then corrected in S. Wilberg. There are similar conspicuous features in W. Rehberg / S. Wilberg and Hans Förster / S. Wilberg. However, it is also known from the other producers that pseudonyms were used. Further research will be necessary here.

It seems to have been possible to record between 18 and 24 pieces in one day. At least this quantity is found with many pianists. As can be seen by comparing the signature data on the recording piano and the data in the DUCA book, the pianists were obviously often on location for several days.

There are numerous special features in this book. Here are some examples:

On 15.05.1909 Oswald Philipps himself played a role. Another role with August Philipps four-handed. August Philipps has also recorded some roles.
On 19.05.1911 Ella Rafelson, the famous assistant of Robert Teichmüller recorded some roles.
On 17.06.1911 the only eleven year old Walter Rehberg has recorded a role.
On 17.06.1911 the later piano partner of Paul Hindemith, Irene Hendorf recorded a role.
On 20.06.1911 Helene Moillet-Gobat recorded roles, who was the first woman in Germany to pass a master's examination.
On 11.07.1911 Xaver Scharwenka recorded 22 plays - more than for any other system.
On 10.10.1911 August Schmid-Lindner recorded 25 pieces in one day (if the entry is correct), the highest number in one day.
On 17.05.1912 Ferruccio Busoni and Michael von Zadora recorded four-handed pieces.

DUCA RECORDING DATA

Here is a list of all entries from the DUCA sheet music directory, ascending by date:

Date Pianist (born-died) [total / recorded roll numbers]

10.07.1908 Hans Förster [1 / no 8]

22.07.1908 Hans Förster [3 / no 1-3]

08.08.1908 Hans Förster [1 / no 4]

11.08.1908 Hans Förster [1 / no 11]

24.08.1908 Ellen Pairan [4 / no 5-6; 14-16]

27.08.1908 Ellen Pairan [1 / no 7]

27.08.1908 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [5 / no 9-10; 12-13; 20]

30.09.1908 Prof. Alban Förster (1849-1916) [4 / no 22; 24; 28; 29]

04.10.1908 Eugene d'Albert (1864-1932) [7 / no 21; 23; 25; 30-34]

08.10.1908 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [3 /; no 18-19; 27]

14.10.1908 Eugene d'Albert (1864-1932) [1 / no 17]

29.11.1908 Anton Förster [7 / no 35-41]

30.11.1908 Anatol von Rössel (1877-1967) [14 / no 42-43; 61-64; 66; 68-74]

01.12.1908 Anatol von Rössel (1877-1967) [19 / no 44-60; 65; 67; 96].

02.12.1908 Norah Drewett (1882-1960) [10 / no 75-84]

09.12.1908 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [2 / no 34; 34a]

13.12.1908 Fritjof Backer-Gröndahl (1885-1959) [7 / no 85-91]

24.01.1909 (J. Hommel) S. Wilberg [1 / no 92]

24.01.1909 J. Hommel [1 / no 96]

26.01.1909 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [1 / no 95]

27.01.1909 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [1 / no 93]

27.01.1909 Mr. and Mrs. Willy and Elsa Rehberg (1863-1937) [1 / no 94] [1 / no 94

06.04.1909 Willi M. Jinkertz [14 / no 98-111]

08.05.1909 Prof. Carl Friedberg ( 1872-1955) [12 / no 112-123]

15.05.1909 Oswald Philipps [1 / no 124]

15.05.1909 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [3 / no 125; 127-128]

15.05.1909 August Philipps [2 / no 126; 130]

15.05.1909 August and Oswald Philipps [1 / no 129]

20.05.1909 Professor Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) [3 / no 138-140]

21.05.1909 Professor Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) [7 / no 131-132; 134-136; 137; 141]

22.05.1909 Professor Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) [7 / no 133; 142-147]

20.07.1909 Frederic Lamond (1868-1948) [6 / no 148-150; 156-157].

21.07.1909 Frederic Lamond (1868-1948) [16 / no 151-155; 158-168]

nn Maria Oppenheimer [2 / no 169-170]

04.10.1909 Johann Wysmann [13 / no 171-183]

04.10.1909 Francois de la Croix [11 / no 184-194]

07.10.1909 Adolf Tandler (1875-1953) [5 / no 195-199]

09.10.1909 (J. Hommel) S. Wilberg [5 / no 200-204]

25.10.1909 Hans Förster [4 / no 205-208]

03.12.1909 Hans Förster [8 / no 209-216]

07.12.1909 Hans Förster [7 / no 217-222; 227]

07.12.1909 August Philipps [4 / no 223-226]

13.12.1909 D. Knob (A. Knoof) [7 / no 240-246]

14.12.1909 (Willy Rehberg) S. Wilberg [12 / no 228-239]

12/22/1909 (Willy Rehberg) S. Wilberg [3 / no 247; 255-256]

22.12.1909 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [6 / no 248-253]

22.12.1909 Felix Baer [1 / no 254]

07.01.1910 Raoul Pugno (1852-1914) [24 / no 257-280]

12.01.1910 Hans Förster [4 / no 281-284]

10.02.1910 Hans Förster [3 / no 285-287]

16.02.1910 Prof. Frida Kwast-Hodapp (1880-1949) [20 / no 288-305; 317-318].

16.02.1910 Prof. James Kwast (1852-1927) [8 / no 306-313]

16.02.1910 Mr and Mrs Prof. Kwast [3 / no 314-316]

nn Hans Förster [3 / no 319-321]

nn Hans Förster and S. Wilberg [4 / no 322-325]

07.05.1910 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [2 / no 326-327]

07.05.1910 (Willy Rehberg) Hans Förster [1 / no 328]

23.05.1910 (Willy Rehberg) Hans Förster [6 / no 329-334]

22.07.1910 Hans Förster [5 / no 335-339]

31.07.1910 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [1 / no 340]

01.10.1910 B. Schröder [2 / no 341-342]

13.11.1910 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [7 / no 343-349]

21.11.1910 August Philipps [1 / no 350]

21.11.1910 S. Wilberg [1 / no 351]

21.11.1910 S. Wilberg and Hans Forester [3 / no 352-354]

25.11.1910 Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt (1859-1925) [18 / no 355-373]

05.12.1910 August Philipps [1 / no 374]

06.12.1910 Ignaz Friedmann (1882-1948) [22 / no 375-396]

08.12.1910 Ugo Afferni (1871-1931) [1 / no 397]

07.01.1911 Norah Drewett (1882-1960) [6 / no 398-403]

13.01.1911 Maria Careras [22 / no 404-425]

18.01.1911 Marc Meytschik (1880-1950) [10 / no 426-435]

25.01.1911 Josef Weiss (1864-1945) [24 / no 436-459]

06.02.1911 Felix Baer [5 / no 460-464]

03.05.1911 Michael of Zadora (1882-1946) [23 / no 465-487]

15.05.1911 Prof. Theodor Müller-Reuter (1858-1919) [14 / no 488-501]

16.05.1911 Alfred Grünfeld (1852-1924) [20 / no 502-521]

19.05.1911 Miss Ella Rafelson [24 / no 522-544]

22.05.1911 Augusta Cottlow (1878-1954) [23 / no 545-567]

01.06.1911 Paula Stebel (1885-1932) [20 / no 568-587]

02.06.1911 Johann Strauss III (1866-1939) [7 / no 588-594]

07.06.1911 Prof. Max von Pauer (1866-1945) [22 / no 595-616]

08.06.1911 Ernst Toch (1887-1964) [7 / no 617-623]

10.06.1911 Fritz von Bose (1865-1945) [20 / no 624-643]

17.06.1911 Walter Rehberg (1900-1957) [1 / no 644]

17.06.1911 Irene Hendorf [1 / no 645]

17.06.1911 Miss Else Kallmeyer [1 / no 646]

17.06.1911 Louise Löhr (1862-1938) [3 / no 647-649] [3 / no 647-649

17.06.1911 Frieda Thury [2 / no 650-651]

20.06.1911 Helene Moillet-Gobat [20 / no 652-671]

22.06.1911 Lonny Epstein (1885-1965) [19 / no 672-691]

24.06.1911 Maria Kaufmann [21 / no 692-712]

26.06.1911 Ida Feinmann [3 / no 713-715]

26.06.1911 Heinz Hanitsch [2 / no 716-717]

27.06.1911 Germaine Arnaud [22 / no 718-739]

29.06.1911 Prof. Moritz Mayer-Mahr (1869-1947) [24 / no 740-763]

05.07.1911 Conrad Ansorge (1862-1930) [20 / no 764-783]

10.07.1911 Ernst Buchhorn [12 / no 5000-5011]

11.07.1911 Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924) [22 / no 784-805]

21.07.1911 Richard Singer [22 / no 806-827]

27.07.1911 Paul Eggert [21 / no 828-848]

29.07.1911 B. Hinze-Reinhold (1877-1964) [20 / no 849-868]

31.07.1911 Felix Baer [2 / no 869-870]

10.10.1911 August Schmid-Lindner (1870-1959) [25 / no 871-895]

12.10.1911 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [3 / no 896-898]

14.10.1911 Arthur Friedheim (1859-1932) [22 / no 899-920]

30.10.1911 Adolf Schmitt [10 / no 921-930]

31.10.1911 Hans Förster [1 / no 5012]

03.11.1911 Dr. Otto Neitzel (1852-1920) [18 / no 931-948] [18 / no 931-948]

07.11.1911 Edmund Parlow (1855-1944) [10 / no 949-958]

15.11.1911 Hans Förster [1 / no 969]

16.11.1911 Alfred Cortot (1877-1962) [10 / no 959-968]

20.11.1911 Elfriede Bird [1 / no 970]

20.11.1911 Hans Förster [1 / no 971]

24.11.1911 Germaine Schnitzer (1888-1982) [21 / no 972-992]

25.11.1911 Wynne Pyle (1881-1980) [20 / no 993-1013]

05.12.1911 Alice Ripper (1889-1961) [11 / no 1014-1018; 1020-1025]

11.12.1911 Lucien Wurmser (1877-1967) [21 / no 1026-1046]

14.12.1911 Eduard Risler (1873-1929) [22 / no 1047-1068]

18.12.1911 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [1 /no 1110]

13.01.1912 Arthur Schnabel (1882-1951) [19 / no 1069-1087]

16.01.1912 Wera Schapira (1891-1930) [22 / no 1088-1109]

26.01.1912 Ernst Buchhorn [10 / no 5013-5022]

27.01.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1111]

30.01.1912 Ernst Buchhorn [10 / no 5023-5032]

05.02.1912 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [1 / no 1112]

05.02.1912 Hans Förster and Fr. Treis [3 / no 1113-1115]

05.02.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1116]

14.02.1912 Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) [7 / no 1117-1123]

15.02.1912 Arthur Schnabel (1882-1951) [3 / no 1124-1126]

08.03.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1127]

18.03.1912 Felix Baer [4 / no 1128-1131]

13.04.1912 Alexander Pohl [1 / no 1136]

16.04.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1019]

16.04.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1132]

22.04.1912 Felix Baer [1 / no 1133]

07.05.1912 Hans Förster [2 / no 1134-1135]

17.05.1912 Prof. Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) [16 / no 1137-1152]

17.05.1912 Prof. Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)

and Michael of Zadora (1882-1946) [8 / no 1153-1160]

20.05.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1161]

10.06.1912 Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949) [20 / no 1162-1181]

19.06.1912 Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) [8 / no 1182-1189]

24.06.1912 Felix Baer [4 / no 1190-1193]

31.07.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1194]

27.08.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1195]

25.09.1912 Hans Förster [2 / no 1196-1197]

17.10.1912 Hans Förster [1 / no 1198]

25.11.1912 Willy Rehberg (1863-1937) [1 / no 1199]

13.12.1912 Josef Treis [1 / no 1200]