Mystery recordings will now be heard for the first time in about 100 years

Mystery recordings² will now be heard for the first time in about 100 years

Transcript³

Before audio playlists, before cassette tapes and even before records, there were wax cylinders⁵ — the earliest, mass-produced way people could both listen to commercial music and record themselves.

In the 1890s, they were a revolution. People slid blank cylinders onto their Edison phonographs (or shaved down the wax on commercial cylinders) and recorded their families, their environments, themselves.

"When I first started here, it was a format⁶ I didn't know much about," said Jessica Wood, assistant curator for music and recorded sound at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. "But it became my favorite format, because there's so many unknowns and it's possible to discover things that haven't been heard since they were recorded."

They haven't been heard because the wax is so fragile. The earliest, putty-colored cylinders deteriorate⁷ after only a few dozen listens if played on the Edison machines; they crack if you hold them too long in your hand. And because the wax tubes themselves were unlabeled, many of them remain mysteries.

"They could be people's birthday parties," Wood said, recordings that could tell us more about the social history of the time. "Or they could be "The Star-Spangled Banner" or something incredibly common," she laughed. "I really hope for people's birthday parties."

She's particularly curious about a box of unlabeled cylinders she found on a storage shelf in 2016. All she knows about them is what was on the inside of the box: Gift of Mary Dana to the New York Public Library in 1935.

Enter the Endpoint Cylinder⁴ and Dictabelt Machine, invented by Californian Nicholas Bergh, which recently was acquired by the library. Thanks to the combination of its laser and needle, it can digitize even broken or cracked wax cylinders — and there are a lot of those. But Bergh said, the design of the cylinder, which makes it fragile, is also its strength.

"Edison thought of this format as a recording¹ format, almost like like a cassette machine," Bergh said. "That's why the format is a [cylinder]. It's very, very hard to do on a disc. And that's also why there's so much great material on wax cylinder that doesn't exist on disc, like field recorded cylinders, ethnographic material, home recordings, things like that."

One of those important collections owned by the library is the "Mapleson Cylinders," a collection recorded by Lionel Mapleson, the Metropolitan⁸ Opera's librarian at the turn of the last century. Mapleson recorded rehearsals⁹ and performances — it's the only way listeners can hear pre-World War I opera singers with a full orchestra. Bob Kosovsky, a librarian in the music and recorded sound division, said the Mapleson Cylinders "represent the first extensive live recordings in recorded history."

He said that some of the stars sing in ways no contemporary opera singer would sing. "And that gives us a sort of a keyhole into what things were like then. Not necessarily to do it that way today, but just to know what options are available and how singers and performers and audiences conceived of these things, which is so different from our own conception. It's a way of opening our minds to hear what other possibilities exist."

It will take the library a couple years to digitize all its cylinders. But when they're through, listeners all over the country should be able to access them from their home computers, opening a window to what people sounded like and thought about over 100 years ago.

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

5 cylinders   

n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 )；圆柱；汽缸；（尤指用作容器的）圆筒状物

参考例句：

• They are working on all cylinders to get the job finished. 他们正在竭尽全力争取把这工作干完。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• That jeep has four cylinders. 那辆吉普车有4个汽缸。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

7 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

8 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

9 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》