Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009

Audio recording of interview with Jules Verne (1903)

From: Garmt de Vries <G.deVries~at~phys.uu.nl>
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 17:22:43 +0200 (CEST)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

Dear fellow Vernians,

This week I did an amzing discovery that I'd like to share with you: an
audio recording of an interview with Jules Verne by a Dutch journalist!

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from a Mrs Rina Appel from
Amersfoort, a town not far from where I live. Among the inheritance left
by her aunt, who passed away last year, she had found a small wooden crate
containing five wax cilinders, each wrapped in a leather case. On the
crate was a handwritten label that read "Jules Verne 1903".

The crate had belonged to Rina Appel's grandfather, Ger Appel. He was a
reporter who worked for the newspaper "Amersfoortsche courant" in the
beginning of the 20th century. After that, he wrote for "De Gids", a
literary magazine. Unfortunately, he got ill quite early in life. His
daughter, Rina Appel's aunt, nursed him until his death, and after that
she stayed in the house, where she lived alone. Many items belonging to
Ger Appel were still lying in the attic when she died.

When he worked for the "Amersfoortsche courant", Ger Appel interviewed
many celebrities in the Netherlands and abroad, such as Edison, Berlage,
Domela Nieuwenhuis, and, as it turns out, Jules Verne. Appel visited Verne
on 18 March 1903; the interview was published two weeks later. A copy of
the newspaper page containing the article, is in Rina Appel's possession.

Ger Appel had a portable phonograph at his disposal, and he recorded his
interviews on wax cilinders. Once the interviews had been written down, he
would erase the cilinders so he could use them again. But in the case of
Jules Verne, he apparently decided to keep the recordings. Phonograph
cilinders weren't cheap, and it is quite remarkable that Appel didn't
erase this interview. He seems to have been a great fan of Verne. Among
his things, there was the complete series of the "blue covers", the first
editions of Verne's works in Dutch, as well as a copy of "In een kist naar
't Hemelsche Rijk" (Dutch translation of Bombarnac, published 1902),
signed by Verne. These books are now in Rina Appel's bookcase. When she
was cleaning up the attic of her aunt's house, the crate with the
recordings turned up, and she contacted me.

Of course, I phoned her at once, and made an appointment. Today, I visited
Rina Appel. She showed me the crate, the cilinders and the newspaper. The
contents of the interview are hardly remarkable. It's about Verne's poor
health, his way of working, and the lack of literary recognition from
which he suffered. Appel mentions the phonograph, which he says Verne
already mentioned in "Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine". To this,
Verne modestly replies that these machines had existed for some time when
he wrote that novel. One could suggest that Appel copied all this from
other sources, but the fact that he possessed a signed copy of a book that
was published in 1902 at least proves that he visited Verne between 1902
and 1905. Another indication for the authenticity of the interview is a
mention of Verne's latest novel, in which two Dutchmen play an important
part. This of course refers to "Les frères Kip", which had appeared in
France the year before, but hadn't appeared in Dutch translation yet at
the time when Appel visited Verne.

Having seen the crate and the newspaper, I was of course anxious to hear
the recordings. I didn't really want to insist, but Rina Appel herself
offered to listen to one of the cilinders. She owns a phonograph, also
from her grandfather's inheritance, and she had, especially on this
occasion, figured out how it worked. The sound was, as could be expected,
of a moderate quality. The wax had been weathered over the years, and the
recorded sound is hardly audible at times. Also, the spring that drives
the phonograph is not so strong anymore. Add to that Verne's soft and
inarticulate voice, and you see that it's difficult to make out what is
said. However, we were able to understand a few sentences. We didn't want
to move the needle over the wax too often, for fear of more damage, so we
listened to this cilinder twice and then stopped.

I will go to Rina Appel again this Friday evening. Her son will be there
too, and he will bring a laptop and a microphone. We will then play all
five cilinders, and record the sound on the computer. With some dedicated
software, we will then try to enhance the quality of the sound. I have
done that before with vinyl records, so I have some experience with the
elimination of noice, scratches and other unwanted sounds. Of course, you
can't attach the phonograph directly to the input of the computer, like
you can do with a modern record player. We will hold the microphone in
front of the speaker, and hope that the quality will be sufficient.

If all goes well, I can make at least a portion of the interview available
as mp3 this Saturday. I will put it online at
http://www.phys.uu.nl/~gdevries/recording/. On this page, I already show a
quick first scan of the newspaper. This Friday, I will scan the complete
article and I will put it online along with the mp3. I will send a cd with
the entire interview to those who are interested, but give me some time to
copy everything.

As far as I'm aware, no recordings of Verne.s voice are known. Now, over a
century after his death, we will finally be able to hear what he sounded
like. I'm very very pleased with this unique find, and of course I'm
immensely grateful to Rina Appel for sharing her discovery with me!


Cheers,
Garmt.
Received on Wed 29 Mar 2006 - 17:23:01 IST

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2009/02/01 22:36:11 $$