Many thanks to all for their contributions. What great sleuths!

To clarify: I was curious about recordings of performances made specifically for sale to the general public rather than issues of 'field recordings' such as the early Library of Congress sets.

For the period in question I don't think there existed a functional technology to mass-produce, say, selections from Percy Grainger's 1906 field recordings - so the early mass-produced cylinders and discs had to be made from performances made with reproduction in mind.

The picture I'm getting is much as I'd imagined: male voices with chorus and piano and/or orchestral accompaniment. I'd love to listen to some of these (well, once at least). The impressions from the _Gramophone_ reviews are great. And I enjoyed the comments on the folk-ness of performance.

What is the appropriate aesthetic? C. Fox Smith wouldn't have presented us with that delightful rant unless the performance she so derides represented a challenge or threat or . . .