Decca Records

History

The Decca Record Company originated not in record production but in manufacturing gramophones. Before the First World War, the first Decca product, the "Decca Dulcephone", a portable gramophone, was sold for two guineas. It was made by Barnett Samuel and Sons Ltd, a musical instrument firm founded in 1869. The name "Decca" has uncertain origins, described by musicologist Robert Dearling as "a word whose origins are lost". In the 1920s the company became The Decca Gramophone Company and was floated on the stock market in 1928. Edward Lewis, a London stockbroker, acted for the company despite reservations about its business model. He tried to persuade Decca's board to expand into record production by buying the struggling Duophone Record Company, arguing that the Decca trademark and distribution would ensure success. The directors were unconvinced, so Lewis raised capital to acquire both Duophone and Decca itself. On 7 February 1929, Decca's first discs were recorded: dance music by Ambrose and the May Fair Orchestra. The first classical recording, four days later at the Chenil Galleries in Chelsea, featured violist Cecil Bonvallot in an arrangement of J. S. Bach's Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh. Early releases included numbers from William Walton and Edith Sitwell's Façade conducted by the composer, and Handel Concerti grossi conducted by Ernest Ansermet. A premiere recording of Delius's Sea Drift conducted by Julian Clifford marked Decca's first association with baritone Roy Henderson.