What did the Edwardians like to do in their free time? Smoke pipes? Grow moustaches? Wear boater hats? Chain themselves to railings? Let’s add one to the list – rollerskating. Apparently the late 1900s saw a rollerskating craze sweep the UK, and at one point 500 rinks were open for public use. A deep, but …
A truism that bears continual restating; the Edwardian / “progressive” era was really, truly racist. Even the most diehard bigots these days would be unlikely to begrudge a black man his boxing career, but it took the best part of a decade of being the best boxer in the world, and two years of stalking …
Another journey into the history of recorded sound with James and Sean. This time we delve into the vaults for 1890 and 1891, explore the pop music of the gilded age, and hear the voices of P.T. Barnum, Florence Nightingale, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
January 1 — Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the Nimrod, for Antarctica. January 13 — A fire at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 170 February 1 — King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon. February 12 — The first around-the-world car race, …
MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack I’ve lived through a couple of decades of recorded sound now — perhaps you have too — and as a result the world of 1908 seems almost entirely alien from the perspective of 1888. Recording technology has improved a great deal of …
Gustav Klimt – Danaë Pablo Picasso — Les Demoiselles d’Avignon Jacek Malczewski – Death of Ellenai Vardges Sureniants — Salome Lyonel Feininger — Der weiße Mann Ivan Grohar — The Sower Félix Vallotton – Andromède debout et Persée Mikalojus Konstantinas ÄŒiurlionis – Sonata of the Sun Robert Delaunay — Paysage au disque Gustaf Fjæstad — …
That Fatal Sneeze The Red Spectre Tunneling the Channel The Policemen’s Little Run The Golden Beetle The Dancing Pig The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon The Race For The Sausage Ride through Victoria and Vancouver, Canada Laughing Gas Premier Prix de violoncelle / First Prize for Cello The Lion Hunt Ben-Hur
I was interviewed last week for the United States WW1 Centennial Commission’s weekly ‘Centennial News’ podcast, and had the chance to discuss the musical trends of the era. The episode can be downloaded or streamed here – my part is 36 minutes in.
“This time James and Sean take a trip back to the 80s – the 1880s that is. Aside from the original music we have celebrity appearances from Arthur Sullivan, Johannes Brahms, William Ewart Gladstone and Queen Victoria herself (possibly) – plus some very drunk old Englishmen (not us)”
For UK readers, BBC4 are now re-showing the 2015 series Sound of Song. If you are interested in the history of sound recording and the ways in which changes in technology led to vast changes in popular music in the 20th century (and, as you are reading this, I’m guessing you are interested) then it’s …
