Age shall weary them… or me, at least

ARGH. I have the famous-ish 1913 recording of Beethoven’s 5th symphony by Arthur Nikisch, and have more than once pondered the way it now sits closer in time to the premiere of that symphony in 1808 than it does to us now. 105 years between the premiere and the recording, 113 years between the recording and us in 2026 (the latter number, of course, can only ever get bigger), and I always find that kind of head-spinning to contemplate. But something about this makes me feel even older… 92 years between the book and the film, 116 (and rising) between the film and us. Oh my aching bones. And then he further noted it was closer in time to Mary Shelley’s birth in 1797 than it is to us and oh my even more aching bones…

And then someone else noted:

Oh NO. There are, of course, multiple arguable points for the beginnings on cinema, but for the purposes of this discussion let’s say it was 1893 when Edison first publicly exbibited his… er, mostly W.K.L. Dickson’s experiments. That’s… 117 years from the declaration to the Brooklyn Institute showing and 133 (and rising) from the latter to ourselves. My bones are no longer aching, having disintegrated into a fine powder from the age of it all. If you need me, I’ll be somewhere among the rest of the dust in this room…