The Opera and its phantoms

"Lastly, with my bundle of papers in hand, I once more went over the ghost's vast domain, the huge building which he had made his kingdom. All that my eyes saw, all that my mind perceived, corroborated the Persian's documents precisely; and a wonderful discovery crowned my labors in a very definite fashion. It will be remembered that, later, when digging in the substructure of the Opera, before burying the phonographic records of the artist's voice, the workmen laid bare a corpse. Well, I was at once able to prove that this corpse was that of the Opera ghost."

--Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera, "Prologue."

Did you notice the phrase "before burying the phonographic records of the artist's voice"? In 1907, a room of that Paris Opera House was filled with phonographic records of the greatest stars of the day, and sealed, not to be opened for a hundred years. But the hundred years are over.

And here is the New York Times reporting of the burial of the records. Yes: the NY Times has archives from 1907 online. (!!)

Here's another article from CBC news; another from the Smithsonian; and, last but not least, one from ABC that mentions EMI's plan to issue the recordings on CD. I was unable to verify that last from the EMI website, though.

Hat tip: Brandywine Books.