Music: pages 41-43 Flashcards
What did Thomas Edison record, when, and onto what?
He recorded the spoken poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb” onto tinfoil in 1877 with a cylinder ‘phonograph’.
What did Edison do after recording the spoken poem?
He abandoned it and focused on developing electrical light, and then returned to it in 1888 and considered it a dictation machine for use in offices.
What did Columbia introduce, and what was happening at the same time?
It introduced the “graphophone” at the same time that Edison was marketing his phonograph; both used wax cylinders instead of the early tinfoil.
What device followed the graphophone and the phonograph?
The gramophone, which played flat-disc recordings instead of cylindrical, and was therefore much easier to mass-produce.
How long did the graphophone, the gramophone, and the phonograph coexist for?
about 25 years
By 1910, what was common in affluent houses?
78 rpm discs
What symphony was recorded in 1913?
In 1913, the Berlin Philharmonic recorded Beethoven’s 5th Symphony; it took 8 discs that were bound into an “album”
What popular artist started making early recordings, and how much did he make?
Enrico Caruso started making recordings in 1904, and his yearly sales were up to $115,000 by 1920.
What recording device contributed to morale during WW1?
The gramophone, because many soldiers took portable gramophones to the front; in fact, the manufacturer Decca marketed a design as a “trench model”
Who recorded over 2000 Native American melodies?
Frances Densmore
Who experimented successfully with moving pictures, and what did he invent?
Thomas Edison invented the “Kinetoscope” in 1891, which let one person view silent pictures. Then he made the “Kinetophone” which included sound.
What was a problem with both the Kinetoscope and the Kinetophone?
They could not amplify sound enough to fill a room. They also were only for one person at a time.
Who figured out how to amplify sound, when, and with what?
American inventor Lee De Forest in the 1920s perfected a vacuum tube that loudly amplified sound.
What was the first feature film with spoken dialogue?
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Who did Claude Debussy mildly criticize, and what was the response?
He criticized Erik Satie, saying that his music was shapeless and lacked form. Satie responded by writing “Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear” in 1903.
