Thaddeus Cahill, a young lawyer and part-time inventor of mechanisms for piano and printing machines, lived in Washington D.C. When young, Cahill experimented with transferring music that was performed on traditional acoustic instruments over long distances via telephone lines. However, the sound was too weak for large rooms. Electrical amplification has not yet been invented, as well as radio tubes. A radical idea to solve this problem came to Cahill in 1893: he wanted to get musical sounds directly from the electricity itself, or, more precisely, with the help of a special system of electronic oscillators.
So, telharmonium was invented. It was originally called dynamophone (120 Years. Net, “The ‘Telharmonium’ or ‘Dynamophone’ Thaddeus Cahill, USA 1897”). Telharmonium was designed to transfer music from a central hub in downtown Manhattan to the restaurants, hotels and houses across the city using the telephone network. Citizens could call anytime the operator and ask to get connected to a telharmonium. The wires of their telephone line were connected to the wires of a telharmonium. Electrically-generated music could be listened to through the handset equipped with a huge paper funnel to amplify sound. It was so simple because there were no power amplifiers known then.
Cahill dreamed that it would be the most perfect of all hitherto existing music machines, which would inherit the advantages of all known musical instruments. He wanted to broadcast the music performed from one place (which he called "Central Station") to the tens of thousands of other sites at the same time. By the end of the 19th century, Thaddeus Cahill personally created the first, yet a relatively small version of his amazing instrument (Weidenaar 25).
In 1897, he received a patent giving him a right to use a device that was transmitting music with electricity. Live music was created in a place that Cahill called a "music factory": it was located at the intersection of Broadway and 39th Street. A whole floor of the building, which later became known as telharmonium hall, was filled with equipment with a total weight of 200 tons, that was required to create ringtones for telharmonium. Due to its rotating rotors, switchboards, transformers and AC generators, this instrument was very much like a huge "machine plant", according to scholars (Neatorama.com, “Thaddeus Cahill and His Telharmonium”).
The final version of the telharmonium was finished in 1907. It was then, in fact, when the instrument got its final name – Telharmonium. Not a single living creature saw or heard anything like this before. The machine weighed 200 tons, its length was about 20 meters and, of course, the cost was equal to a fair estate (Neatorama.com, “Thaddeus Cahill and His Telharmonium”).
Gradually Cahill worked out methods for creating different sounds, more or less resembling the sound of orchestral instruments. Four-hands-approach was used to play this musical instrument. Musical pieces of such classical composers as Bach, Rossini, Chopin, Grieg were mostly performed on it (Weidenaar 28).
Despite the fact that telharmonium was a mechanized musical instrument for creating melodies people for its exploitation were still needed. On the floor above the musical instrument, there were two keypads connected by wires to all the rotors and generators of telharmonium. When pressed, each key acted on a switch that was setting a certain dynamo into motion. Then, as scholars explain, electrical waves were sent out with a help of a huge central mechanism that were transforming a usual telephone device into sound waves that could be converted into a symphony, lullabies and other music that was performed on will of listeners (Weidenaar 29).
The idea of music as a service to be provided was revolutionary. Rather than bringing new people to the music, this new Cahill`s musical instrument was sending the music to the people. People were ready to pay 20 cents an hour to listen to their favorite operas, symphony or ragtime. They were able to turn on and off the live music at their choice. Radio had not been yet invented, that is why invention of telharmonium was considered a great achievement. This marked the onset of the epoch of musical democracy, as scientists state (Open Culture, “Meet the “Telharmonium,” the First Synthesizer (and Predecessor to Muzak), Invented in 1897”).
The plans of Cahill were to extend the range of action of his invention outside of New York City, as well as to extend the proposed "musical selection". Unfortunately, technological limitations and adverse economic conditions did not allow his dreams come true. According to Thomas Holmes, “it was a very inefficient system, which was losing a lot of electricity on its way” (37). Those who were using the operation of a telharmonium could hear a weak or distorted music. In addition, telephone calls were constantly interrupted by sudden sounds of telharmonium.
In April 1907 Hays Hammond, head of the engineering department of the "AT & T" company, agreed that "any investment in telharmonium will be extremely unfavorable. In theory, the electric music was a wonderful invention, but in practice – too expensive and disruptive. Cahill desperately tried to save his invention, but in 1916 telharmonium hall was closed permanently. In 1920, the humming machine weighing 200 tons was removed from the building at the heart of New York City (Holmes 38-39).
Works Cited
120years.net. “The ‘Telharmonium’ or ‘Dynamophone’ Thaddeus Cahill, USA 1897”. 120years.net. N.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
Holmes, T. Electronic and Experimental Music. Scribner, 2005. Print.
Neatorama.com. “Thaddeus Cahill and His Telharmonium”. neatorama.com. 3 Mar. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
Open Culture. “Meet the “Telharmonium,” the First Synthesizer (and Predecessor to Muzak), Invented in 1897”. openculture.com. 6 Jan. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
Weidenaar, R. Magic Music from the Telharmonium. Reynold Weidenaar, 1995. Print.
