What are the Mapleson Cylinders?

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The Mapleson Cylinders are a group of more than 100 phonograph cylinders recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera, primarily in the years 1901-1903, by the Met librarian Lionel Mapleson (a nephew of James Henry Mapleson). They contain short fragments of actual operatic performances. Despite their extremely poor sound, they are very important historically because of the aural picture they present of pre-World War I singers performing in a real opera house with a real orchestra, rather than with a tinny piano accompaniment in a boxy room at a commercial recording studio. They also feature a number of famous singers and conductors who never recorded commercially. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapleson_Cylinders Jan 06 10, 1:48 AM