The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1910)

38 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. WIRELESS OPERA THE LATEST. Combination of Dictograph and Wireless Telephone Makes Possible the Hearing of the Voice of Caruso or Any Other Noted Artist at Long Distances — Some Interesting Information Upon How This Great Feat Is Accompl ished. Two new wireless marvels must be chronicled. One was a demonstration in the editorial rooms of The World toy E. N. Pickerill, manager of the Waldorf-Astoria station, in which he successfully picked up a message from the ether by the aid of a diminutive "tuner" and a typewriter. The other is the announcement of a season of "wireless opera" by means of a combination of the wireless telephone and the dictograph, an instrument which picks up the smallest sounds. In the case of the demonstration in The World office, experiments which have been carried on by Pickerill over several years have proved that the high "aerials" — the towers which catch the Hertzian waves and carry them to the recording instruments in the wireless stations — are not necessary adjuncts of the receiving apparatus. It was to prove this that Pickerill conducted his demonstration. The "tuner," or receiving apparatus, which Pickerill displayed, was so small that it was contained in a leather receptacle about the size of an ordinary lunch, box, yet it included all the mechanism necessary to pick messages from the air. The aerial was a typewriter and the "ground" was a steam radiator. Used Telephone Receiver. After "hitching up" his tuner to the typewriter and to the radiator, Pickerill placed an ordinary telephone receiver to his ear and after a moment of two's wait announced that he was ready for the test. One of the editors of The World went to another room and thence telephoned a message to the headquarters of the United Wireless Company at No. 42 Broadway, with instructions to send it out at once. The message was "Tomorrow's weather — storms and blizzards." In a few minutes Mr. Pickerill smiled, touched a key or two on his "tuner," to get the note distinctly, and began working on the typewriter. The line he typed out was the test message. It had come through half a mile of steel-framed skyscrapers. Yet it had 'been caught out of the air by the steel frame of the typewriter "Almost anything will do," Mr. Pickerill declared. "At home I use the frame of my bed. Out of doors I use an umbrella hanging over my arm. I purpose putting a coil in my hat, and affixing the phone receivers so that they will hardly be noticeable, and I will get messages just as effectively as if I had the highest-priced apparatus in the world. Useful in Warfare. "In warfare all a detachment needs to do is to send up a kite with a fine aluminum wire in place of a string and with the portable apparatus the men woum always be under the general's command." Asked over how great a distance he had tested his new receiver, Mr. Pickerill said he had spoken through it with Vera Cruz, Mexico, and Colon, Panama, both more than two thousand miles away; and, as to obstructions he had messages from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek, which had the great Pike's Peak, 14,147 feet high, between them. The "wireless opera" season is announced to begin next week at the Metropolitan Opera House. The magic key to this etheric melody will be a wireless receiver. Any wireless receiver, properly attuned and connected to a single upright wire and to a telephone earpiece, will catch the ether pulsations and translate them into the familiar airs of grand opera. How It Is Done. The performance is made possible by improvements in the wireless telephone by Dr. Lee De Forrest and by the invention of the dictograph by Kelly Turner. The dictograph instruments were recently Installed on the stage of the opera house and wires run from them up to the large rehearsal room in the top of the building. There the long distance radio telephone transmitter, combined with a special device whereby the music, as brought up from the stage dicto graph, can be retransmitted and sent out broadcast from the antennae wires set up. Two special masts are erected on the roof of the Metropolitan Opera House, near the Broadway side, and from the top of these the antennae wires lead down to the radiophone. There are hundreds of wireless receiving stations in Greater New York, and as each receiving station can accommodate as many listeners as there are telephone receivers at hand it is estimated that many more people will hear the opera by the new method than the large auditorium of the Metropolitan could possibly accommodate. The masts on the Metropolitan Opera House are not tall, and the range of transmission is therefore limited to perhaps fifty or twenty-five miles, tout the passengers on the Atlantic liners near New York will be able to recognize the voice of their operatic favorite in some familiar passage* SOME FINE SPANISH RECORDS Recently Put Out by the National Phonograph Co. — Instrumental Pieces by Famous Organizations— Music Peculiar to Various Sections of the Country — Some of the Well Known Spanish Singers Whose Voices Have Been Recorded. Probably no class of music has a stronger appeal to the general American public than that of Spain, yet little of it is known here, notwithstanding its effect whenever heard. All of us have heard snatches of it, know the type, and have longed to hear more, yet so far we have been favored with tout little of this music. A great numtoer of selections of this class are included in the Spanish catalog of the National Phonograph Co., and if forcibly brought to the attention of the buying public, they would no doubt be well received. We have already called attention to the many band and orchestra selections recently made by the National Co. in Mexico, and we repeat that these records are interesting and the selections delightful. These musical organizations are world-famous, and one of them captured the first prize at the St. Louis Exposition. Among their selections are many well known classical pieces, tout the Spanish selections are of more than usual charm, and while none but the Spanish can do them justice, their appeal is universal. Although the instrumental selections would undoubtedly find a broader sale, yet the vocal numbers, while sung in Spanish, should appeal to a large discriminating public here. In our last issue we spoke of the records by a numtoer of well known Spanish sopranos and contraltos, and we now wish to do the same by the men. Supreme among Spanish tenors of all countries, and ranking among many on the operatic stage in New York City, is Rafael Bezares. He has a pure tenor voice, which is very rich and expressive, and although he has never appeared in this country, he is well known throughout Europe and Spanish America. He is an artist of great ability and versatility, and his large repertory includes many famous operatic and classical selections. He is particularly known as a "Flamenco" singer, as the music of Andalusia, the region of the south of Spain, is known. The various regions of Spain each possess their own peculiar music, and the "Flamenco" music is typical of Andalusia. It was from Andalusia that Bizet drew the inspiration for his famous opera "Carmen," and Carmen herself is a type of Seville, the largest city of this region. The early history of this portion of Spain is very interesting, and something of its nature may be gleaned from its name. It was originally called Vandalusia, from Vandal, and the wild and passionate strains so dear to the heart of the gypsy still predominate in this music. Their songs are full of love and fire and their dance music is irresistible. Another "Flamenco" singer of note is Francisco Cascales, called "El Sevillano," who has a fine tenor voice and is very widely known. Manuel Romero Maipica is a first class baritone, with a voice of extraordinary range and splendid quality. He is well known throughout Europe and South America and has appeared with great success on the concert stage of this country. Other tenors of the very first rank are Pablo Garcia Bofil and Ismael Magana, who are well known opera singers. Their voices are of excellent quality and well suited for high class music. Jesus Abrego, Adolfo Jimenez, Maxiiniano Rosales and Felix de la Sierra, tenors, and Leo RAJFAEL BEZARES. poldo Picazo and Rafael H. Robinson, baritones, are popular singers of a very high order. Many of their songs are original and all possess a delightful swing and quaint harmony. The several duets by Jesus Abrego and Leopoldo Picazo, as well as those by Maximiano Rosales and Rafael H. Robinson are very interesting. Their voices blend very well together, and many of their songs, accompanied toy guitar, are very beautiful. NEW YEAR OPENS AUSPICIOUSLY For the Victor Co. — Orders Amounting to $116,000 Received First Mail Monday — January Will Make Great Record. January has opened up auspiciously for the Victor Talking Machine Co., and their orders for the opening of the new near show no diminution. It now looks as if January will be as great a month as December, which was the best and biggest in the company's history. Louis F. Geissler, general manager of the company, informed The World this week that in the first mail on Monday, Jan. 3, orders were received amounting to $116,000; better than this, not a single countermand was received. This certainly is a magnificent showing, and gives an idea of the present prosperous condition of the talking machine business in the United States. GOOD REPORTS FROM OHIO. Business in all parts of the country is looking up. Here is a letter from the mining section, dated from Corning, Ohio. D. M. Rodgers says: "The talking machine business has been very dull with me these hard times, but I find your paper interesting and beneficial to any one in this business, and, as long as I handle talking machines, I hope to be a reader of your journal. "Things are slowly on the mend in this mining section, and I hope during the New Year to sell lots of phonographs and Victors again." Steve Porter, the monologist and author, exclusive with the "talent" of the Victor Talking Machine Co., is in New York for the winter. In the spring he removes to his farm at Martinsville, N. J,