OPERA RECORDINGS

Johnson label were Marie Romaine, interpreting “Then You’ll Remember Me” from Bohemian Girl (2 July 1900), and Rosalia Chalia, who sang three arias on 30 Oct 1900: “Ah fors è lui,” Addio del passato,” and “Una voce poco fa.” Victor began recording its counterpart to the Gramophone Red Labels in May 1903. They were the Red Seals, of which the first to represent opera were “Connais tu le pays?” and “Habanera” sung by Zélie de Lussan (#M-2188; 17 May 1903). The Red Seal catalog grew to encompass all the great names of the operatic universe. Victor’s 1917 catalog included interpretations by the artists already mentioned, plus sopranos Frances Alda, Blanche Arral, Celestina Boninsegna, Lucrezia Bori, Emmy Destinn, Emma Eames, Geraldine Farrar, Johanna Gadski, Amelita Galli-Curci, Alma Gluck, Nellie Melba, Alice Nielsen, Adelina Patti, Marcella Sembrich, and Luisa Tetrazzini. Among the contraltos were Clara Butt, Julia Culp, Maria Galvany, Jeanne Gerville-Réache, Louise Homer, Margarete Matzenauer, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. Tenors included Enrico Caruso, Edmond Clément, Hipolito Lazaro, Fernando de Lucia, Francesco Marconi, Riccardo Martin, Giovanni Martinelli, John McCormack, Leo Slezak, and Evan Williams. The principal baritones were Pasquale Amato, Emilio de Gogorza, Giuseppe de Luca, and Titta Ruffo. Marcel Journet was among the bass voices. Through the acoustic era and the pre-LP electrical era, Victor and the Gramophone Co. (EMI from 1931) remained dominant in opera. The list of great singers recruited by 1940 is too long to give here; only a few of the most important names will be mentioned. Sopranos: Kirsten Flagstad, Lotte Lehmann, Lily Pons, Rosa Ponselle, Elisabeth Rethberg, Bidú Sayão, and Helen Traubel. Mezzosopranos and contraltos: Gladys Swarthout, Kerstin Thorberg. Tenors: Jussi Björling, Beniamino Gigli, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Giovanni Martinelli, Lauritz Melchior, Aureliano Pertile, Tito Schipa. Baritones: Friedrich Schorr, Lawrence Tibbett, Leonard Warren. Basses: Alexander Kipnis, Ezio Pinza. The Columbia Phonograph Co. also recruited noted singers, albeit never so many as Victor, and issued a catalog in spring 1903 of “Columbia Grand Opera Disc” records-that was the style of the labels. Those discs were made in New York in late 1902 or early 1903, and marketed the first time in March 1903. Artists in the series included Suzanne Adams, Antonio Scotti, Edouard de Reszke, Giuseppe Campanari, Marcella Sembrich, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. Edison Diamond Discs did not feature opera, but did include some fine recordings (from 1913) by Alessandro Bonci, Lucrezia Bori, Anna Case, Emmy Destinn, Charles Hackett, Frieda Hempel, Maria Labia, Giovanni Martinelli, Margarete Matzenauer, Claudia Muzio, Marie Narelle, Marie Rappold, Jacques Urlus, Alice Verlet, and Giovanni Zenatello. With the introduction of the larger size discs, 10-inch (1901) and 12-inch discs (1903, with perhaps a few earlier), longer numbers were recorded and more complete versions of arias that had appeared in cut form were presented. It is of interest that “star albums” were not made for individual singers during the 78-rpm era. Victor did produce Stars of the Metroplitan, a two-volume set that included arias and duets by many of their famous artists. The LP brought a sudden profusion of new performers, and of individual albums for them. Among the outstanding names of the 1950s and 1960s were Carlo Bergonzi, Montserrat Caballé, Maria Callas, Franco Corelli, Mario del Monaco, Victoria de los Angeles, Giuseppe di Stefano, Placido Domingo, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Gedda, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Tito Gobbi, Marilyn Horne, Sena Jurinac, Alfredo Kraus, Erich Kunz, George London, Christa Ludwig, Cornell MacNeil, James McCracken, Robert Merrill, Sherill Milnes, Anna Moffo, Birgit Nilsson, Luciano

Pavarotti, Jan Peerce, Leontyne Price, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Renata Scotto, Cesare Siepi, Beverly Sills, Giulietta Simionato, Joan Sutherland, Renata Tebaldi, Giorgio Tozzi, Richard Tucker, Jon Vickers, Ljuba Welitsch, Wolfgang Windgassen, and Fritz Wunderlich. Victor no longer controlled the world opera scene, as the labels brought forward by the LP contracted many leading singers. Callas and Schwartzkopf, for example, were on Angel; Del Monaco, Pavarotti, Sutherland, and Tebaldi on London; Fischer-Dieskau on Deutsche Grammophon. Most of the LP artists had albums of their favorite arias. The 1970s and 1980s saw the rise of such individuals as Thomas Allen, Agnes Baltsa, Kathleen Battle, Hildegard Behrens, José Carreras, Edita Gruberova, Siegfried Jerusalem, Tom Krause, Eva Martón, Kurt Moll, Jessye Norman, Leo Nucci, Elena Obraztsova, Lucia Popp, Herman Prey, Samuel Ramey, Katia Ricciarelli, Matti Salminen, Martti Talvela, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Frederica von Stade. In this group also, a variety of record labels are found. There are separate entries in this Encyclopedia for many of the artists cited above. 2. Complete Sets. One of the earliest efforts, perhaps the first, to record a substantial portion of an opera was an Aida on the Zonophone label (#12664/78, #24017, #24019/25) recorded in Milan in 1906 and 1907. The cast included no names of international stature: Teresa Chelotti and Elvira Magliuolo shared the role of Aida (the former participated only in Aida’s two arias and the duet with Amonasro); Virginia Colombati (Amneris), Orazio Cosentino (Rhadames), Giovanni Novelli (Amonasro), and Alfredo Brondi (Ramfis) are the other named participants. That this recording contained substantial cuts is revealed by the absence of the Preludio and by the limitation of both “Ritorna, vincitor” and “O cieli azzurri” to one side each. The chorus in the “Gloria all’Egitto” is identified as that of La Scala, an ascription not to be taken too literally, while the single orchestral excerpt, the “Marcia trionfale,” is performed by what is called the Banda di Milano. In 1907 there was also the more plausible choice (because of its brevity) of Pagliacci (G & T #54338/39, #052163/63, #052166/68, #053150, #054146/55) as a step in the direction of recording complete operas. This version had the marked advantage of Leoncavallo’s personal supervision, although the conductor in charge was Carlo Sabajno. The cast for this effort included more notable singers than the Aida mentioned above: Giuseppina (Josefina) Huguet (Nedda), Antonio Paoli (Canio), Francesco Cigada (Tonio), Gaetano Pini-Corsi (Beppe), and Ernesto Badini (Silvio). The project had originally started out using the tenor Augusto Barbaini as Canio, but the five sides he recorded with the other cast members listed above were shortly remade with Paoli. Because this attempt at a complete recording was not issued as a separately packaged set, it would be theoretically possible to compile some parts of it with alternate leading tenors. After these first Italian efforts, endeavors began in Berlin from 1907 with Johann Strauss’s Fledermaus (G & T #41971/74 (dialogue), #2-40543 (overture), #043074, #244213/22, #44624, #044059/61, #3-42789; 1907) on 21 sides, including four devoted to dialogue. The cast contained some popular local figures in this repertoire: Emilie Herzog (Rosalinde), Marie Dietrich (Adele), Robert Philipp (Eisenstein), and Julius Lieban (doubling the roles of Alfred and Dr. Blind). The following year two French operas were recorded complete in German translations: Carmen (Gramophone Co. Pre-Dog #240829/31, #4-42181/82, #2-43199/201, #042180, #053109, #44690, #2-44464/74, #044093/104, #044505/06; 1908-36 sides) and Faust (Gramophone Co. Pre-Dog #442075/79, #2-43095/96, #040521/23, #042163/64, #043101/02, #2-44366/80,

#044081/85; 1908-34 sides). These sets offer the fascination of Emmy Destinn months before her Metropolitan Opera debut in two roles (Carmen and Margarethe) which she never performed in the U.S. Her tenor partner in both works was Carl Jörn, who sang at the Metropolitan in 1909-1914. Other notable singers in these casts were Minnie Nast (who would create Sophie in Rosenkavalier) as Micaela, and Paul Knupfer as Mephistopheles. Besides the relative celebrity of the major participants, these sets have much to reveal about the German-language performing traditions of these two works in the first decade of the century (e.g., many high notes were added). The impetus of these German recordings led in 1909 to the first major attempt upon the Wagnerian repertory: the complete second act of Tannhäuser (Odeon #50699/710, #76125/26, #80046/48, #80051/53) in the Dresden version, performed by Anny Krull (in her only known recordings; she created the role of Elektra in the same year), the tenors Fritz Vogelstrom and Walter Kirchhoff (as Walter von der Vogelweide), the baritone Hermann Weil, and the American bass Leon Rains. Many years would elapse before a Wagnerian opera was preserved complete. Even more enterprising than these German discs was a series of fulllength operas undertaken by the French firm of Pathé Frères starting in 1912, carried out under the generic title of Le théatre chez soi. This collection would by 1923 include relatively complete recordings of Romeo et Juliette (Pathé #1501/27; 1912), Rigoletto (Pathé #1536/50; 1912), Favorite (Pathé #1551/71; 1912), Galathée (Pathé #1572/86; 1912) of Victor Massé, Traviata (Pathé #1587/1602; 1912), Trouvére [Trovatore] (Pathé #1603/21; 1912), Faust (Pathé #1622/49; 1912), Carmen (Pathé #1650/67; 1912), Noces de Jeannette (Pathé #1708/17; 1921) of Massé, and Manon (Pathé #1718/41; 1923). Although they are sonically unappealing, particularly the earlier sets, these contain much of interest. Outside of France Donizetti’s Favorite is almost always performed in an inaccurate Italian version. The work was originally written for the Paris Opéra (2 Dec 1840) and remained on both Parisian and French provincial stages for more than 70 years. The Pathé Favorite preserves that performing tradition, as nearly as we have come to understand it today. The Trouvère sequence (36 sides) documents the version that Verdi arranged for the Paris Opéra in 1857, which contains some fascinating changes as well as an expanded ending to the final scene. Traviata presents us with the French adaptation made for the Théatre-Lyrique and introduced there in 1864 as Violetta, with the 21-year-old Christine Nilsson making her operatic debut, singing a French translation by Edouard Duprez, the brother of the famous tenor. Romeo, dating from 1912, comes from a time when the influence of Gounod still made itself felt only 19 years after his death. The two opéras-comiques of Massé, although they have disappeared from the international repertoire, provide fascinating souvenirs of a performance style that would otherwise have disappeared. Today, when anything approaching authentic French style is rarely to be encountered, this Pathé series offers much information to the serious student. The singers who participate in these performances are largely unfamiliar today, as relatively few appeared on other than French-language stages, but there are some notable examples of adroit, stylish singing to be found here. The Romeo, for instance, offers the 27-year-old Yvonne Gall as Juliette, the robust tenor of Agustarello Affre as Romeo, the great Marcel Journet as Frère Laurent, Henri Albers as Capulet, Alexis Boyer as Mercutio, and even the veteran Hippolyte Belhomme in the small role of Gregorio. The Manon is Fanny Heldy, and the title role in Noces de Jeannette is sung by the muchrecorded Ninon Vallin. The role of Pygmalion in the other Massé work was originally

written for mezzo-soprano, but later adapted by the composer for bass; in this series that part is assigned to the sonorous voice of André Gresse, who also sings Mephisto in the Faust set. The firm foundation of this series is provided by two baritones: Henri Albers and Jean Noté; the former contributes an aristocratic Alphonse (Favorite), d’Orbel (i.e., Germont), and a vigorous Escamillo; the latter, Rigoletto, di Luna, and Valentin. The historical value of this series far outweighs its sonic deficiencies. In Italy in 1916 and 1917 there appeared two Rigolettos, with traditional cuts and others as well, featuring two prominent baritones in their youthful heydays, Cesare Formichi on the earlier (Columbia #D16346/362; 1916) and Giuseppe Danise on the later (HMV #7-254023/34, #20252004/05, #2-0254014/ 28, #2-254511; 1917), but the casts are otherwise ordinary. Another complete Rigoletto (Phonotype #1566/67, #1592, #1777, #1795/96, and also #1795/take 3, #1875, #1883/87, #1910/23, #1929/36, #1939, #2299; 1918), most of which was recorded in Naples in 1918, but using some material from earlier sessions, features the 52-year-old Fernando De Lucia as the Duke, availing himself of convenient transpositions, and surrounded by a local cast. In the summer of that same 1918, De Lucia, who had made his debut in 1884, incised his Count Almaviva in a full-length Barbiere (Phonotype #1924, #1942/50, #1962/70, #1983/91, #1996/99, #2015, #2067/69, #2297/98, #2337, #2000/02; 1918) again with largely nondescript partners. These two De Lucia sets, idiosyncratic and uneven as they are, preserve in complete roles the highly individual art of one of the first generation of recorded singers and are of indubitable historic interest. The immediate post-World War I acoustic era saw the major Italian companies returning to a limited number of complete sets. From 1918, there is a Traviata on 22 sides (HMV #5620/41; 1918); from 1919 another Barbiere, this one with Ernesto Badini as Figaro standing out from a generally lackluster entourage. In 1920 there was a single-cast Aida (HMV #S5150/80; 1920) from Voce del Padrone that superseded a 1912 version from Columbia (Columbia Zonophone #12664/678, #24017/25; 1912) that had been patched together with four Aidas while four mezzo-sopranos shared the role of Amneris, and two tenors sang Rhadames. Columbia issued an Italian Carmen (Columbia #D4620/43; 1920) with Fanny Anitua in the title role and Luigi Bolis as José. The first full-length Puccini recordings are another feature of this period: Boheme (HMV #S5056/78; 1918) and Tosca in two versions (Columbia; 1918) and Voce del Padrone (HMV #S5701-24; 1920). One other phenomenon of the later acoustic and early electric period deserves mention. This was a series of semicomplete operas in English. Among them is to be found the first recorded Madama Butterfly (HMV #D893/906), with British artists Rosina Buckman, Nellie Walker, Tudor Davies, and Frederick Ranalow in the leading parts, and Eugene Goossens at the musical helm. This tradition was carried on with an English Pagliacci (Columbia #4347/58; 1927) with Frank Mullings singing “On with the Motley,” and a restrained Cavalleria (Columbia #5127/36; 1927). The most interesting one of this group is an abridged Faust (Columbia #DX 88-103; 1929-30), conducted by Thomas Beecham, with a cast headed by Miriam Licette and Heddle Nash. That more complete sets were not made in the period 1918-1925 may be explained in part by the rumors of the improved electric recording method then under development. Certainly, once the new technique became established, there was a rush both in Italy and France to replace older sets with modern ones and to explore some new territory. Both Columbia and Voce del Padrone produced rival sets of the standard works, and in the then more rarified field of the final Verdi, they divided the honors: Columbia with

Falstaff (Columbia GQX #10563/576; 1930) and Voce del Padrone producing Otello (HMV S #10350/65; 1931). These sets reflect the performing practices of the period: e.g., the regulation cuts and traditional oppure. Unlike some recent complete recordings, they present seasoned (if not invariably pleasing) performers of their parts. Particular highpoints are the Rhadames (HMV AW #23/41; 1928) and Manrico (HMV AW #224/38; 1930) of Aureliano Pertile, the Barbiere Figaro (Columbia D #14565/79; 1929) and Rigoletto (Columbia GQX #10028/42; 1930) of Riccardo Stracciari, and the Tonio (Columbia QCX #10016/24; 1930) and Germont (Columbia D #14479/93; 1928) of Carlo Galeffi. There are also agreeable surprises: the Azucena of Irene Minghini-Cattaneo, and the Count di Luna and Iago of Apollo Granforte. In Italy this was not merely a period of recapitulating what had already been done. There was also the treasurable Don Pasquale (HMV #1410/24; 1932) which contains Tito Schipa’s only complete, commercially recorded role, as Ernesto. Columbia was even more venturesome, producing Gioconda (Columbia GQX #10600/18; 1928) with Giannina Arangi-Lombardi in the title role, and Boito’s Mefistofele (Columbia GQX #10619/35; 1932) with Nazzareno De Angelis as the devil and a youthful Mafalda Favero as Margherita. There is even a Fedora (Columbia GQX #10496/506; 1931), blemished for some tastes by the damaged voice of Gilda Dalla Rizza in the title role, but redeemed from another point of view by being recorded when the verismo tradition still maintained some echoes of its original vitality. The French studios were also active. From 1928 there is a Carmen (Columbia #9527/41; 1928) with an almost impeccable José from Georges Thill. From 1931 came the famous version of Faust (HMV #C2122/41; 1931), with Cesar Vezzani in the title role, the veteran Journet as Mephisto, Mirielle Berthon as Marguerite, and the eloquent Louis Musy as Valentin, conducted by Henri Busser. One of the finest recordings of any period is the complete Werther (Columbia LFX #151/65; 1933) that boasts Ninon Vallin and Thill in leading parts. More than a bit of memorable stylishness is to be found in Manon (Columbia D #15156/73; 1932) with Germaine Feraldy as Manon and the poetic Rogatchewsky as Des Grieux. Besides these sets, there are some abridged versions of the same period that should not be overlooked; the Mignon (Columbia CM-Op #19) from the Monnaie that preserves most of the mellifluous Wilhelm of André d’Arkor, and the Louise (Columbia CM-Op #12; 1934), abridged by the composer, Gustave Charpentier, with Vallin and Thill. Far more enjoyable to listen to than the ground-breaking Pathé series of 20 years earlier, these sets as a whole are required listening for anyone wanting to understand the French style. There was no comparable spurt of activity in German studios. Although there were a number of versions of highlights, the sheer length of the Wagner operas made them a financial risk. Two important examples, however, deserve mention. One is the 1928 set of Meistersinger (IGI #298; 1928) from Berlin, with Leo Blech conducting and Friedrich Schorr as Hans Sachs. The other is the famous Rosenkavalier from Vienna (Victor #VM-196; 1933), presenting about two-thirds of the whole score. Lotte Lehmann was the Marschallin, Maria Olszewka was Octavian, Elisabeth Schumann was Sophie, and Richard Mayr was Ochs. Nor should it be overlooked that in these years around 1930 from Bayreuth there appeared two historic recordings, the first festival recordings since the piano-accompanied excerpts from 1904. An abridged Tristan (Columbia #L2187/206) from 1928 contained only about half the score; it had an experienced Isolde in rather impersonal Nanny Larsen-Todsen. It was followed by a nearly complete Tannhäuser, Paris version (Columbia LFX #102/119; 1930). The first move toward a substantial

recording of the Ring had been in England, with scenes from Götterdämmerung (HMV #D1572/87; 1928) sung in English. In a project divided between Berlin and London, with mixed casts and two conductors, about two-thirds of Siegfried was recorded (Victor #VM-83, 20 sides; #VM-161, 12 sides; #VM-167, eight sides; 1928-1933), dominated by Melchior’s heroic Siegfried. A project to record Walküre (Victor #VM-298; 1935) began in Vienna in 1935, with Bruno Walter leading Lehmann, Melchior, and Emanuel List. A healthy start was made on Act II (Victor #VM-582; 1937-1938) by the same forces, but World War II intervened and the missing sections were filled in from Berlin. The war prevented the completion of the project from its original source, but U.S. Columbia produced Act III (Columbia CBS #32260018E; 1945) with a vintage Metropolitan Opera cast (Helen Traubel as Brünnhilde, Herbert Janssen as Wotan, and Irene Jessner as Sieglinde), under Artur Rodzinski’s leadership. Probably the most significant and influential series of 78-rpm electric recordings of complete operas were the three Mozart recordings from the Glyndebourne Festival directed by Fritz Busch. That there were serious questions about the viability of such a project in mid-Depression is revealed by the form in which the first of them, the Figaro (HMV DB #2474/79, DB #2583/93) of 1934 was produced. It appeared in three volumes, one devoted to the larger ensembles, the other two containing arias and duets, but without any of the recitativo secco. Even without any sense of dramatic continuity, the music rather than the drab singing of it seemed like rain in mid-Sahara. The following year saw a Così fan tutte (Victor #VM812/813/814; 1935) and the year after that a Don Giovanni (Victor #VM-423/424/425; 1936), both produced in correct sequence. It is no exaggeration to claim that these three recordings, plus Beecham’s Berlin Zauberflöte (Victor #VM-541/542; 1937)—even without the dialogue-played a key part in preparing the ground for the general appreciation of Mozart’s primacy as an opera composer. Contemporary with these Mozart recordings, there were important recordings in Italy of Beniamino Gigli. He was heard in Pagliacci (HMV DB #2229/307; 1934), and Puccini’s three masterworks Boheme (HMV DB #3448/60; 1938); Tosca (HMV DB #3562/75; 1938); and Madama Butterfly (HMV DB #3859/74; 1939). In the following year, he sang Turridu in the 50th anniversary Cavalleria (HMV DB #3960/70; 1940), plus a Verdi Requiem, Andrea Chenier (HMV DB #5423/35; 1940), and Aida (HMV DB #6392/411; 1942). Finally there was a Ballo in maschera (HMV DM #0100/16; 1943). Cetra began its important series of full-length operas with the first recordings of Norma (1937) and Turandot (1938), both featuring Gina Cigna in the title roles. By that time the notion of recording operas with international celebrities was fairly established. The LP record of 1948 and the change from acetate discs to magnetic tapes for the original recording media changed and simplified the process of recording complete operas. Cetra exploited the technological advances with a stream of firsts. Among them were Sonnambula with Lina Pagliughi, Ferruccio Tagliavini, and Cesare Siepi; Ernani, Nabucco, Forza del destino, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlos, L’amico Fritz, Adriana Lecouvreur, Fanciulla del West, and L’amore dei tre re. After recording a few sets for Cetra, Maria Callas was signed by the company known in the U.S. as Angel, while London embarked upon a rival series starring Renata Tebaldi. The famous Toscanini series of opera broadcasts with the NBC Symphony from the 1940s was released by RCA in the 1950s. In the years since, there has been a proliferation of sets of an ever-widening repertory that extends from Jacopo Peri, Claudio Monteverdi, and Pier Cavalli to Benjamin Britten, Hans Werner Henze, and

Karlheinz Stockhausen. The ever-widening range of available material is enriched by the choice between studio and live recordings, the latter promulgated by both commercial and private enterprises. Now, in the CD period, a great deal of out-of-print material is emerging. VCR and the DVD are providing access to the visible aspects of opera (section 2) [Blyth 1979.]

See also La Scala; Metropolitan Opera Company WILLIAM ASHBROOK

An American vertical-cut (with some lateral cuts) record made by the Operaphone Manufacturing Corp., New York, in 1916 and 1917, then by the Operaphone Co., Inc., from April 1918 to December 1920. John Fletcher was the organizer and vice president of the firm, which was established in 1914. When the company filed for trademark registration,

for the Operaphone name, on 13 Sep 1919, it was identified as the Operaphone Co., Inc., of Queens, New York City. That application stated that the corporation had been using

the trademark continuously since 1 Mar 1915. The earliest advertisement for Operaphone records appeared in January 1916, announcing eight-inch double-sided discs, said to play as long as 12-inch discs, at $0.35 each. By April 1916 there were 144 titles available on 72 discs, and 12 new discs (24 selections) were being released each month. There were 200 titles issued by September 1916, but advertising in TMW ceased after February 1917. In April 1918 the label was again mentioned, as coming from the Operaphone Co., Inc. By July 1918 there were 300 selections in the catalog. A series of 10-inch lateral-cut records was released from September 1919 to December 1920. Advertising in July 1920 gave the price per disc as $1. The repertoire at that time was popular vocal, dance, and light orchestral material; there were no opera numbers on Operaphone. Among the artists in 1920 were Sam Ash, the Harmonizers, Ernest Hare, Lewis James, Billy Jones, Billy Murray, Al Bernard, and the Orpheus Trio. Al Ofman’s Dance Orchestra and the Novelty Dance Orchestra provided the dance items. “Music for Everybody” was the slogan seen on the record labels. It was reported in March 1921 that the company was going to withdraw from the record field. The business was acquired by the Remington Phonograph Corp., which reorganized it as the Olympic Disc Record Co. [Kunstadt 1986/4.]

FRANK ANDREWS

A system of recording sound on film through a photographic process. The sound signal activates a light valve, causing variations in the light that falls upon and exposes the film as it moves past the valve. The changes in density that result are analogs to the frequency and amplitude of the original signal. Playback is achieved by drawing the film between a photoelectric cell and a light source, producing a fluctuation that is converted back into sound. Because the fidelity of this kind of recording is inferior to that of other processes, magnetic recording is used on film sound tracks for improved reproduction. The idea of recording with light beams is an old one, traceable to the Photophone of 1879. TMW described such a process in May 1912.