The Theatrophone

Synopsis

Many music lovers will confess they prefer to hear symphonies or operas in the comfort of their own home rather than live in person at a concert hall or theater.

On today’s date in 1911, famous French novelist, hypochondriac and notorious homebody Marcel Proust wrote to his friend, composer Reynaldo Hahn, that he had just listened to a live afternoon performance of the whole first act of Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger tucked up in bed and planned to hear Debussy’s still-new opera Pelléas and Mélisande later that same evening, once again snugly secure in his Parisian apartment.

Now, these days with radio, TV and multiple livestreaming devices, this would be no big deal — but in 1911 how could that be possible?

Well, for 60 francs a month — a small fortune in 1911 — wealthy Parisians could hear live performances of operas and plays relayed by a special phone line to a home receiver called the théâtrophone. First demonstrated in Paris in 1881, by 1890, the théâtrophone was commercialized and the service continued 1932.

Of course, even an enthusiastic subscriber like Proust had to admit the phone line sound quality was “très mal” (“really bad” in plain English) and hardly the same as being there in person.

Music Played in Today's Program

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pelléas et Mélisande Symphonie Suite (arr. Marius Constant); Orchestre National de Lyon; Jun Märkl, conductor; Naxos 8.570993

On This Day

Births

• 1801 - Czech composer Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, in Prague

• 1836 - French composer Léo Delibes, in St. Germain du Val, Sarthe

• 1844 - French composer and organist Charles Marie Widor, in Lyons

Deaths

• 1996 - American composer and conductor Morton Gould, 82, in Orlando, Florida

Premieres

• 1727 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 52 (Ich Habe Genug) performed on the Feast of the Purification as part of Bach’s third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27)

• 1744 - Handel: oratorio Semele, in London (Julian date: Feb. 10)

• 1749 - Handel: oratorio Susanna in London (Julian date: Feb. 10)

• 1886 - Mussorgsky (arr. Rimsky-Korsakov): opera Khovanschchina, posthumously, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Feb. 9)

• 1907 - Delius: opera, A Village Romeo and Juliet, in Berlin

• 1909 - Liadov: Enchanted Lake for orchestra, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Feb. 8)

• 1917 - Rachmaninoff: Etudes-tableaux (Gregorian date: March 6)

• 1920 - Milhaud: ballet Le Boeuf sur la Toît, in Paris

• 1929 - Respighi: orchestral suite, Roman Festivals, by the New York Philharmonic, Toscanini conducting

• 1946 - Roy Harris: Memories of a Child’s Sunday, by the New York Philharmonic with the composer conducting

• 1948 - Cowell: Suite for Woodwind Quintet, by an ensemble at the McMillan Theater of Columbia University in New York City. This work was written in 1933 for the French flutist Georges Barrère, but the score and parts remained lost until 1947.