Walter Mayer reminded me with regard to Der Zauberberg:

>Subscribers to this list who will read further in *The Magic Mountain*,
>either in the original or in one of the translations will find their
>musical interests gratified in the chapter towards the end, entitled
>"Fullness of Harmony" in the Woods translation, describing the collection
>of classical phonograph records that the sanatorium has acquired along w/
>a state of the art record player, of which Hans Castorp, by default became
>the custodian.

Quite right - what a wonderful chapter that was.  I had completely
forgotten about it.  What was particularly interesting from a merely
documentary perspective was the grammophone machine bought by the
sanatorium management - described not as the huge mechanical resonance-horn
that one imagines, but a surprisingly modern-looking simple black box with
speed dials and electric propulsion.  Also the repertoire that included not
just opera excerpts and popular pieces, but symphonic movements and chamber
music, and the description of the sounds as often remarkably vivid, just
rather distant, as through reversed binoculars.  All this in about 1910!
For those on the list who have seen and heard expensive 'hi-fi' equipment
from before WWI - is this an accurate description, or was TM either mixing
in later impressions from the '20's or describing things as transfigured by
the delighted ears of Hans Castorp? And was there really a 1900s recording
of Debussy's 'Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un Faune'?

Felix Delbruck
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