TONOPHONE

Around 1908, St. Petersburg businessman K. Mazel began issuing discs on two imprint names: the rarer Aurora and the more widespread Tonophone. Contemporary research by 78-rpm collectors and Russian discography enthusiasts categorises both as “pirate” labels—i.e., labels that pressed and sold recordings without formal licensing at the time.

Tonophone catered to the Russian market with popular repertoire of the day (opera arias, romances, folk items). Surviving 78-rpm copies—some still trading in collector markets—carry the “Tonophone Record” trademark and A-series catalogue numbers, confirming real market presence in late-Imperial Russia.

In 1911, Mazel reorganised operations into a fully legal label, Zwukopis (Звукопись). Secondary literature notes that Zwukopis initially even considered the name “Svetopis”, as reported that year in the trade press Gramofonny Mir. Zwukopis functioned briefly (1911–1913), with its head office at Voznesensky Prospekt 13 in St. Petersburg, and is associated in sources with entrepreneurs I. Mazel and S. Zhitlovsky.

Because Tonophone ceased as an imprint when Mazel shifted to Zwukopis in 1911, the defunct date for Tonophone is generally taken as that year. The address most securely documented in this lineage is that of Zwukopis (Voznesensky 13). No primary-source street listing explicitly naming “Tonophone” has yet been identified in the readily accessible online scans of St. Petersburg address books; locating one would likely require paging the “Ves’ Peterburg” enterprise indexes for 1908–1911 and/or archival trade registers.