One of the scenes in Monréal and Blondeau’s Paris port de mer, which played at the Parisian Théâtre des Variétés in 1891, involves a horse race.

L’Illustration, Vol. XCVII (14 March 1891): 236.

An engraving published in L’Illustration beautifully depicts this realistic and motion-filled horse race from the perspective of the audience. From this view, however, it is difficult to discern exactly how this event was produced. Are the horses mechanical? Are they real, but restrained in some way? How did they do it? The next image reveals the technology used to create the illusion. When you think you have it all figured out, scroll down!

Ibid.

Astoundingly, the stage of the Théâtre des Variétés was rigged with three separate treadmills, upon which three living, breathing horses, ridden by three likely-professional jockeys, galloped unrestrained. To create the illusion of the horses running on a track, the pickets of the fence in the foreground were attached to a belt, which moved concurrently to the 95 yards of scenery canvas being unwound in the background. So, as the horses seemingly move in one direction, the sliding fence pickets and scenery canvas moved in the opposite direction, giving the feeling of motion . Et voilà, a horse race on stage!

RIPM search tip: A combined search for “horse race” as a keyword in RIPM Retrospective Index and Preservation Series: European and North American Music Periodicals generates a list of 109 results, including a four-verse song published in an 1824 issue of the London journal The Harmonicon entitled, “The Race-Horse”.

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein. Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (forthcoming). WWW.RIPM.ORG

RIPM’s “Illustrations of the Week” gets into the festive spirit by featuring two picturesque scenes of ice skating rinks in 19th-century Paris. Look carefully, for each contains an orchestra!

The skating rink at the Closerie des Lilas.L'Illustration, Vol. LXVII (15 April 1876): 253.

The skating rink of the Saint-Honoré suburbL'Illustration, Vol. LXVIII (5 August 1876): 96.

Happy holidays from all of us at the RIPM Center!

RIPM search tip: Want to know how some celebrated 19^th-century composers and performers spent the holiday season? Read our curio from December 2015 here!

Today, we feature five sumptuous covers from the Italian journal, Ars et labor: Musica e musicisti (1906-1912), issued by the famed Milan publishing house, Ricordi.

Vol. 63 No. 12 (15 December 1908)

Vol. 61 No. 3 (15 March 1906)

Vol. 61 No. 7 (15 July 1906)

Vol. 67 No. 12 (15 November 1912)

Vol. 63 No. 6 (15 June 1908)

RIPM search tip: Ars et labor: Musica e musicisti (Milan, 1906-1912) can be found in full text in RIPM’s e-Library of Music Periodicals. To view this journal specifically, select the periodical in Browse Mode!

This week’s illustrations feature three 19^th-century images offering a unique operatic vision from the depths of the ocean and from above its surface. For an 1843 production of the now obscure three-act opera, Le naufrage héroïque du vaisseau, Le Vengeur (The Heroic Sinking of the Ship, The Avenger), this is how extras at the Cirque-Olympique created the illusion of a calm sea …

The calm of the seaL'Illustration, Vol. II (23 December 1843): 261.

… and one turned violent.

The rough sea Ibid.

Though there were many technological advances on the stage during the 19^th-century, by 1866, charting the seas was not one of them.

L’Illustration, Vol. XLVIII (29 September 1866): 205.

RIPM search tip: To browse numerous images of opera scenes in RIPM’s Retrospective Index and Online Archive, fill in the following fields: Keyword = Opera; Type = Illustration. Those records labeled “ROA” are available in full-text.

An amusing feature of the London journal The Musical World is a series of illustrations by the English tenor Charles Lyall. One of his many subjects was English composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. Though he also composed serious choral, ballet, and orchestral works, Sullivan is best known for his fourteen “comic operas” created with librettist W.S. Gilbert. They are often referred to as “Savoy operas,” named after the Savoy Theatre, a London venue built specifically to showcase Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Many of these works, like the Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, continue to have broad international success. On the 117^th anniversary of his passing, we present these four illustrations.

This depicts Arthur Sullivan after receiving an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University in 1876.

The Musical World, Vol. 54 No. 28 (8 July 1876): 467.

After traveling to Egypt in 1882, there was much speculation that Sullivan was composing a symphony on Egyptian themes. The symphony never materialized, but Lyall fueled the rumor with this illustration.

The Musical World, Vol. 60 No. 14 (8 April 1882): 212.

Sullivan’s conducting was often criticized as being unenergetic and restrained.

The Musical World, Vol. 56 No. 39 (28 September 1878): 626.

He invariably sat in the usual high chair and seemed to keep his eyes always on the score in front of him. His beat was restrained and rather cramped, his baton moving across the top or up and down the sides of the score.

David Bispham, A Quaker Singer’s Recollections (New York, 1920): 174-175.

An illustration entitled, "In Purgatory," depicts Sullivan tormented by Anton Rubinstein at the piano (left), Richard Wagner (upper right), and a variety of devilish gremlins.

The Musical World, Vol. 56 No. 33 (17 August 1878): 530.

A common, humorous trademark of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas is the patter song, featuring a rapid paced, tongue-twisting text sung by a comic bass or baritone. Here is a famous example: “I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,” from Act I of the Pirates of Penzance.

Remarkably, Arthur Sullivan’s voice was captured on a very early recording by George Gouraud, Thomas Edison’s representative in England. At a dinner party on 5 October 1888, Sullivan remarks on the newly invented phonogram.

RIPM search tip: To view Charles Lyall’s illustrations, select the Advanced Search option of the Retrospective Index and fill in the following fields: Keyword = Charles Lyall; Periodical = Musical World, The [1836-1891]; Type = Illustration.