Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in ... - Aaaaarg

ELECTRONIC PIONEERS 45
A musician, probably Karl W.Schulz, playing the Telharmonium in Holyoke in 1906. The
music that was triggered from this room was actually generated by the massive
Telharmonium installed in another part of the building. The music could be heard through
telephone receivers and horn speakers wired directly to the instrument. (Smithsonian
Institution Photo no.77469. Used with permission).
system in tune, purifying or modulating the tones, mixing and amplification, and
the control of dynamic features for the shaping of sounds. Cahill was never able
to build a Telharmonium that precisely followed his original specifications,
although we will see that he came very close despite financial and technical
difficulties. In all, he built three of these devices, each somewhat more
complicated than its predecessor.
The first Telharmonium was a small prototype version. It was built in
Washington, D.C., in 1900. Cahill constructed it purely for demonstration
purposes, with the hope of gaining the financial backing that he needed to
support full-scale production. This model contained only thirty-five tone wheels
distributed over a single octave of twelve notes, thus allowing for only two or
three tone partials per note, but it was impressive enough to interest investors in
his idea. His first transmissions of electronic music over the telephone wire
occurred during 1900 and 1901. These attempts were limited to sending the
sound from his laboratory in one part of Washington to his home and office in
other parts of town. In 1902, he sent some of his live telharmonic music to the
home of George Westinghouse also in Washington, as well as to the office of a
friend in Baltimore via leased telephone lines. Westinghouse was a wealthy
tycoon in the railroad air-brake industry, and through his recommendation,