Music recorded in 1900
The year 1900 marked the beginning of a new century, and saw the simultaneous rise of war, imperialism, urbanization, science and technology, and popular culture. We can see the process by which the social conditions for the transition from "live performance" to "reproduced and distributed sound" were put into place on a global scale. The expansion of electricity, transportation, and communication networks, the concentration of urban populations, and the expansion of the leisure industry all boosted demand for music as entertainment and for recording media.
A symbol of this is the 1900 Paris World's Fair (Exposition Universelle, April 14 - November 12, 1900). During the same period, the 1900 Paris Olympics (Games of the II Olympiad, May 14 - October 28, 1900) was also held in the same city, making it a large-scale urban event where exhibitions, sports, and entertainment intersected. Furthermore, Paris developed a subway system to support the movement of visitors, with Line 1 (Porte Maillot–Porte de Vincennes) opening on July 19, 1900. The simultaneous development of huge crowds and urban infrastructure increased the number of places where spectators could gather, making the consumption of music, theater, and shows a more commonplace experience.
At the same exhibition, Danish inventor Valdemar Poulsen (1869–1942) demonstrated the magnetic recording device, the Telegraphone, capturing the voice of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830–1916), making it one of the earliest known magnetic recordings. In an era when mechanical recording (cylinders/discs) was the norm, this demonstrated that sound could be preserved and reproduced using "different principles," and made it possible for recording to expand beyond songs to include media that could preserve "voices" and "events."
Meanwhile, tensions in international politics were increasing. In China, the Boxer Rebellion intensified, and the Beijing legation area was besieged from June 20 to August 14, 1900. Although the siege was lifted with the arrival of a multinational force, the intervention of the great powers severely damaged the authority of the Qing Dynasty and cast a long shadow over the course of modern Chinese history. Another clash of imperialism continued in South Africa, with the Second Boer War (1899–1902), and in 1900, British forces occupied major cities such as Bloemfontein (March 13) and Pretoria (June 5). The war expanded logistics and media coverage, and at the same time, the circuits of cultural transmission, such as songs, fashions, and traveling bands, also became thicker.
The institutionalization of mass society also progressed. In the UK, the Labour Representation Committee was formed in February 1900, creating a framework for increasing the political representation of workers. In the US, William McKinley (1843–1901) was re-elected in the presidential election on November 6, 1900, and debates over industrialization and foreign policy became central to mass politics. As the population and information resources grew, newspapers, advertising, and entertainment businesses began to commercialize the "mood of the times," and hit music and sales of recordings became incorporated into this wave.
Natural disasters also exposed the fragility of modern society. The Galveston Hurricane of September 8, 1900, is considered one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, with an estimated death toll of 6,000–12,000 (often estimated at around 8,000). Another characteristic of this era was that disasters were no longer just "local disasters" but were instead shared, recorded, and remembered through the media.
In the fields of science and philosophy, the seeds of ideas that would define the 20th century were beginning to emerge. Max Planck (1858–1947) presented his theory of blackbody radiation at the German Physical Society on December 14, 1900, introducing ideas that would become the starting point for the quantum hypothesis. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) also published The Interpretation of Dreams (Die Traumdeutung) in 1899, but circulated under the calendar date of 1900, strengthening the trend toward using new vocabulary to explain the human psyche.
The year 1900 saw the coexistence of empires, populist politics, disasters, journalism, and new worldviews such as the quantum state and the unconscious. The magnetic recording demonstration shown in Paris foretold that recording would continue to change in form as technology improved and the market expanded, and brought to the surface of history the premise that 20th-century music culture would expand enormously, centered around "reproduction and distribution."
