Chapter 172: Hastings, the Eye of the Beholder
Chapter 171 – Wise Eyes Hastings
Arthur held the gramophone, smiled as he stood on the stage, and rushed to introduce it to a crowd of gentlemen and ladies who were too surprised to speak.
“As you can see and hear, this is a phonograph. As the name suggests, its function is to record sound onto the record that is now spinning on the machine, and of course, it can also play back the recorded sound.
The piece you are hearing is the Paganini exercise “Bells”, which I recorded in the musical instrument shop of Mr. Charles Wheatstone, the inventor of the phonograph, on a special recording piano that can be connected to the phonograph.
Of course, due to the size of the record, the present recording range of the phonograph is only about four or five minutes, and the wind has to be rewound after a short listening session. However, I’m sure that with Mr. Wheatstone’s ingenuity, he will solve these problems sooner or later.”
Elder, who had known about this new invention for a long time, agreed with a bad smile, “That’s right, about these problems, Mr. Wheatstone can’t solve them even if he says he can’t.”
At the end of his words, he also stretched out his index finger and thumb at Arthur, comparing a pistol shape.
The guests on the stage were amazed at this invention, and they exclaimed.
“My God! What on earth is the principle of this thing? Recording human voices, I always thought the only one who could do such a thing was God! Could it be that his old man has finally shared the mysteries of the world with us?”
“What exactly is that Mr. Charles Wheatstone, and why have I never heard of him before?”
“Mr. Hastings, is he a new young scientist you have recently unearthed? Like when Sir David discovered Faraday and Mr. Faraday discovered you?”
“Britain is more and more beautiful because of natural philosophy researchers like you and Mr. Faraday who are happy to make a name for themselves for others, thank you, Mr. Hastings, and more than that, thank God, and may he keep on blessing you in the future as well!”
“By the way, where is that Mr. Wheatstone’s musical instrument house? How much would it cost to buy such a building of phonographs and records?”
The words were uttered, and at once the ladies and gentlemen present were aroused to purchase.
Such a thing as a phonograph was already a novelty in itself, and if it was coupled with a piano piece adapted from Paganini’s masterpiece “La Campanella”, they would have to get themselves one no matter how much it cost.
If they could get such a machine before anyone else, it would not simply be a way to listen to music at any time, it would be a proof of their passion for new science and technology.
Back to their own party salon so a put, will not be their friends shocked a large group?
And the shock of friends also means that the tide, means that our family is more fashionable than others!
For these ladies and gentlemen who are active in the social circle, nothing can satisfy their vanity better than the envious eyes of others.
At this point, most of the ladies and gentlemen were focused on inquiring about Arthur’s purchase location and price, but some of the music-obsessed guests discovered the blind spot lurking in Arthur’s words just now.
Mrs. Codrington sweated on her forehead and said, “Wait, Mr. Hastings, did you just say that this phonograph can only record for a maximum of five minutes?”
Arthur nodded slightly, thinking that Mrs. Codrington was dissatisfied with the length of the recording, so he politely defended the gramophone, “That is indeed true at the moment, but five minutes can already record quite a few tunes.”
Mrs. Codrington quickly waved her hand, “No, no, you misunderstood me, I am not questioning this great new invention. I …… I …… God, what was I thinking. Mr. Hastings, I really shouldn’t have doubted you!
To tell you the truth, I just noticed when I heard you play that Etude that the Bells are a considerable simplification of Mr. Paganini’s La Campanella. At the time, I thought that you had been forced to reduce some of the rapidly changing registers of La Campanella because the original was so difficult.
Now it seems that it turns out that you shortened it to accommodate this gramophone!”
And Mr. Moscheles, who stood beside Arthur, after being reminded by Mrs. Codrington, also discovered the subtleties as if in a dream.
He had been so surprised by the new invention that he had forgotten this most important point.
“This ……” Moscheles, whose complexion was somewhat complicated, inquired cautiously, “Mr. Hastings, could you not add to the difficulty?”
Arthur thought about the selling price of the song “The Bells” at the Devil’s, and grudgingly smiled, “Actually, there’s not much room to be able to raise it anymore.”
“You actually really can still raise it?!”
With a roar from Mr. Moscheles, a number of guests slapped their heads as if by appointment, only to hear a crunching sound that nearly shattered the window glass of the ballroom. After thinking about it, Moscheles finally couldn’t help but speak, “Mr. Hastings, I wonder if you are interested in joining the London Philharmonic Society? We are currently in the process of building the Association’s third symphony orchestra, and I sincerely extend an invitation to you, would you like to become its pianist and orchestra conductor?”
Arthur flatly refused without even thinking about it, “Mr. Moscheles, you really overestimate me. Like I said before, I’m a beginner, and the only piece I can play at the moment is this adaptation of ‘The Bells’ from ‘La Campanella’.”
Although Arthur said that, Moscheles didn’t buy his argument.
“Mr. Hastings, don’t be modest. Even if you are a beginner, and you can play this ‘Bells’ now, then even if you don’t progress at all in the future, you are fully capable of learning most of the piano pieces currently on the market.”
As soon as Mr. Moscheles had finished saying this, Mrs. Cowper, who had been standing at the bottom of the stage and smiling, also opened her mouth.
“Mr. Hastings, I think Mr. Moscheles is right. Or to take a step back again, even if you only knew this one piece for the rest of your life, I would be willing to take my friends to your recital. Mr. Paganini’s skill is great, but he is an Apennine musician. In comparison, I would prefer to support you, who comes from our native Britain.”
General Codrington sniffed and also joked to his wife aside, “I don’t want to wear the Paganini hat you bought me, but if it’s a hat with Hastings’ name embroidered on it, I can consider it.”
At that, General Codrington also took his wife’s hand and pointed to the silver Paganini chain on her wrist, and cheekily followed up with, “By the way, Anna, perhaps you need to think about a new piece of jewelry as well.”
General Cochran followed suit with his glass of wine, “Look, Mr. Hastings, there are more than a dozen guests tonight alone, so you could have tickets for all of us in your pocket by now if you wanted to. Of course, General Sidney Smith probably can’t; his old man has to go back to Paris in a while.”
General Smith’s cheeks were flushed with wine; he was a little drunk: “Nonsense! Cochran! Whether I go back to Paris or not depends on Mr. Hastings giving me the benefit of the doubt. As long as he doesn’t send the Scotland Yard police to throw me into debtor’s prison, I’d still be happy to attend his recital.”
Hearing this, Cochran was finally sure that General Smith was really drunk, and he sneered in a roundabout way at the now old general who had been bullying him in the lounge before the banquet began.
“It’s all right, General Smith, you’ll be the same even if you go to debtor’s prison and squat in it listening to a phonograph.”
The crowd laughed at this.
The laughter has not yet stopped, who knows that the mantis is catching the yellow bird in the back, the Elder who was previously bullied by Cochran opened his mouth again sorrowfully.
“General Cochran, it is possible that this sentence you just said has been recorded by the phonograph. Back when General Smith is in debtor’s prison, do you really want to play this to him?”
Cochran raised an eyebrow in shock as he hurriedly rushed at Arthur and spoke, “Mr. Hastings, you wouldn’t really have recorded this, would you? Please, for the sake of our friendship today, hurry up and pinch this.”
Arthur nodded rather seriously, “About that, I have to check it out. I almost forgot to tell you before that every record has two sides, so I’ll check now that the reverse side of the record has not been recorded for you.”
The guests were surprised, “Can this thing actually record two things at the same time?”
“Front and back, five minutes on one side, two sides is ten minutes.”
“It seems that this phonograph is even better than I thought, ten minutes can already record quite a few tunes.”
“General Cochran, I think you’d better not talk nonsense in the future, spoiling such a good copy for nothing.”
In the midst of their murmurs, Arthur plucked the needle, turned the record over, and played it again from the beginning.
One by one, the ladies and gentlemen held their breath, only to hear a murmur followed by a rustle of turning pages from the brass horn of the phonograph.
Immediately afterward, Arthur’s gentle voice rang out over the phonograph, “The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter One, The Ship to Marseilles. On February twenty-fourth, 1815, the lookout on the lookout tower at the Sheltering Weir signaled the people that the three-masted schooner Pharaoh had arrived in the port of Marseilles. It had come from Smyrna by way of Trieste and Naples ……”
Thank you to ‘The Lovely and Charming Villainous Character Professor M’ for the alliance reward.
(End of chapter)