Research on the Production of Czech Sound Recordings to 1946 Focusing on the Gramophone Company ESTA

Abstract

The study brings the partial results of the research undertaken within the framework of the project Internal Grants of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. The research deals with the Czech production of sound recordings and it is focused on the gramophone record company ESTA up to 1946 in Czechoslovakia. A brief summary of the evolution of gramophone records is followed by an introduction of the first Czechoslovak gramophone company ESTA and its production. Methodologically, the study relies on a physical survey of the phonograph records in selected collections in our country and abroad and on the historical bibliographic records or databases of selected institutions in the Czech Republic. The aim of the research is to collect bibliographic information about the production of gramophone records in our territory to 1946 and, in cooperation with the Moravian Library in Brno, finally to make the data gradually accessible in the Virtual National Phonotheque database.