NOTE: Short selections from recordings discussed in this chapter appear in the Figures section, below.
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land. Robert Speaight, performer. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Spoken Arts, LP Record, 1956. Source: Author’s collection
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land. T.S. Eliot, performer. Instantaneous Discs/Audio Tape, Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum Collection, Library of Congress, c1933. Source: Columbia University and Library of Congress
T. S. Eliot, T.S. Eliot Reading his Own Poems. 78 rpm mono 12” records. 1946; Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Recording Laboratory, 1949. Source: Author’s collection
Figure 1. Advertisement for “The Reginaphone” record player. Source: The Cosmopolitan (April, 1904: back matter.
Figure 2. Advertisement from 1898 in which The Gramophone speaks a riddle. Source: Stock List.—Nov. 16th, 1898. Record Catalogue. Catalogue Collection of the Music Division, Library and Archives Canada, R13984 183.
Figure 3. Robert J. Wildhack cartoon illustrating his own talking records, “Snores” and “Sneezes.” Source: Victor Records 1917 Catalogue, with biographical sketches, opera plots, new portraits and special Red Seal section (Camden, NJ: The Victor Talking Machine Company, November 1917, Wi.
Chapter 2
Figure 4. Photograph of Victrola used in classroom teaching. Source: Victor Record Co. Pamphlet. 1918. The Victrola in the Schools. Library and Archives Canada, Harold D. Smith fonds, MUS 113, Vol. 3, File 85.
Figure 5. Catalogue pages depicting William Sterling Battis, “Dickens Man” recordings. Source: Victor Records Suitable for Use in the Teaching of English Literature. 1916. Library and Archives Canada, Harold D. Smith fonds, MUS 113, Vol. 9, File 253.
Chapter 3
Figure 6. Record catalogue description of “A Dramatic Recitation by Rose Coghlan.” Source: Victor Records Catalogue (July 1910: 120.
Figure 7. Praat interval annotation showing tremor and prolongation pitch contours in Lewis Waller’s recitation of “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”
Figure 8. Praat interval annotation showing tremor and prolongation pitch contours in Canon Fleming’s recitation of “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”
Figure 9. Praat interval annotation showing tremor and prolongation pitch contours in Henry Ainley’s recitation of “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”
Figure 10. Detail depicting “degrees of force” in vocal expression. Source: Robert I. Fulton and Thomas C. Trueblood, Practical Elements of Elocution (Boston: Ginn, 1893, 148.
Figure 11. Chart depicting vocal force, form and quality. Source: Robert I. Fulton and Thomas C. Trueblood, Practical Elements of Elocution (Boston: Ginn, 1893, 153.
Figure 12. Praat interval annotation showing pitch contours in Henry Ainley’s delivery of the words, “he said.”
Chapter 4
Figure 13. Multi-track comparison of wave forms, T.S. Eliot reading “The Burial of the Dead” (detail from 1946 78 rpm record (top) and 1933 instantaneous disc (bottom).
Stereo (Left channel = 1946, Right channel = 1933)
Mono (1946)
Mono (1933)
Figure 14. Praat annotated visualization of Robert Speaight reading from “The Burial of the Dead” section of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. Source: Poems of T.S. Eliot, Robert Speaight, performer, LP Record (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Spoken Arts, 1956.
Figure 15. Praat annotated visualization of T.S. Eliot reading a take of “Death by Water” from The Waste Land, recorded in 1933.
Figure 16. Praat annotated visualization of T.S. Eliot reading “Burial of the Dead” from The Waste Land, depicting “excessive intonation curves.”
Figure 17. Praat annotated visualization of T.S. Eliot reading “Burial of the Dead” from The Waste Land, depicting “truncated intonation curves.”
Table
T.S. Eliot’s multiple 1933 Instantaneous Disc Recordings of The Waste Land. [Table]
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