The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1881-02-05
Opera by Wire.

The most extraordinary Development OF the
telephone seems to be the use of it as q means
of conveying opera to the sick. Some OF my
readers may remember a certain Edward Fry,
who, tv enty-fve years ago, shared with Max
Maretzek, the direction of whatever opera this
country was blessed with. lie managed Italian
opera until the Strakoschs' made their appear
ance and drove him out of the field, just as
Strakosch has now been driven out by Mapleson.
For the last ten years he has been an invalid.
confined to his room. With his old love of opera
strong within him. he wanted to hear these new
works, Carmen and g Meistofele," which
have displaced the favorItes of his day. Necessl-
ty is the mother of invention. He applied to Mr..
Mapleson for permission to put a telephone on
the stage of the Academy of Music, offering 10
pay the regular price OF three dollars a perior-
nance for each opera enjoyed through the tele-
phone. The receiving instrument was put BESIDE
the prompter's box, right behind the loot-lIghts.
1t is an ordinary receiver, enclosed in a wooden
box about six inches high, and Is not noticed at
all from the front of the house. -Four wires run
from it to Mr.. Fry's room, about a quarter OF a
mile off. The transmitter is of the new-iangled
kind and gives a sound loud enough to be heard
at some distance from the instrument Mr.. Fry
lies in bed with the thereto before him, the
transmittor close to his ear, the pictures Of the
leading singers of the evening around him, and
listens to an opera as attentiveiy as 1t he was III
the Opera House. Whenever a singer does par
ticularly well he applauds gently, and when
Gerster outdoes herself he pats her picture APP
provingly. When Signor Monti sings false, he
sends that gentleman's picture flying. This morn
ing | called on Mr.. Fry and had the pleasure OF
listening through the telephone to some one play
ing on the piano for the ballet to rehearse with.
1t was like listening to some distant but distinct
music. Now and then the thud OF the ballet glrIs
as they came down on the stage in unison and
the voice of the Ballet Master giving orders,
scoldiug and approving-mostly scoldlng-could
be heard. | can imagine that opera heard In
these circumstances may be better than nothing,
especially to a bed-ridden person who has no
other amusement but 1t Is opera on n very
small scale, and to many persons would be more
of an aggravatlOn than a pleasure. FROM some OF
the enthusiastic newspaper articles printed about
the experiment, | had imagined that l would have
only to close my eyes to imagine myself In the
Academy Of Music, with a performance in full
blast ; in other words, that | would enjoy as much
of the performance as a blind man could. But
this notion is all wrong it is only an echo eli
the opera which Mr.. Fry gets through his tele-
phone. 1t is perfectly possible, however, that
the time is fast coming when the te phone shall
be so improved as to carry sound t5tter than 1T
does now, and | am far from believing that the
next generation may not enjoy opera at home, or
that you, in San Francisco, will not be able to
share our New York opera by telephone. Ma
pleson has had three more requests from bed
ridden persons, anxious for home opera, for
permission to put telephones on the Academy
stage, but has refused them, as opening the way
for unlimited requests Of the kind. AT present
he does not fear the telephone, but he contesses
that the day may come when he will give opera
60 an audience of telephones, and his subscribers
will have opera on tap, so to speak.