The history of the Russian gas industry began with retired Lieutenant Pyotr Sobolevsky (1782-1841), who improved Philippe le Bon's design for a "thermolamp" and presented it to Emperor Alexander I in 1811; in January 1812, Sobolevsky was instructed to draw up a plan for gas street-lighting for St. Petersburg. The French invasion of Russia delayed implementation, but St. Petersburg's Governor General Mikhail Miloradovich, who had seen the gas lighting of Vienna, Paris and other European cities, initiated experimental work on gas lighting for the capital, using British apparatus for obtaining gas from pit coal, and by the autumn of 1819, Russia's first gas street light was lit on one of the streets on Aptekarsky Island.
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According to this Beethoven must have enjoyed the benefits of gas street-lighting. Had he gas lighting in the houses he lived in at any moment during his late life? -
Good to see you post again, Enrique! Hope you are well! It's an interesting question but I do not have an answer. -
Thank you Sorrano, hope you are well too.Comment
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No he only had candles for light. Gas lighting only came in the late Victorian era in homes.Originally posted by Enrique View PostLudwig van Beethoven
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It seems that Wagner's Opera house in Bayreuth had gas lighting, that it played a role in some of the operas, such as the The Rhinegold.Comment
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Yes hello Enrique!Originally posted by Enrique View Post
Some more info on this:
"Since 1667 it was known that coal gas is flammable. It took 140 years, Industrial Revolution and a man called William Murdoch for things to start.
While working at the Soho Foundry, he experimented with different types of gas and found that coal gas (result of distillation of coal) is the most effective. Idea was to transport gas through pipe installations to the place of consumption and there lit in the gas lamps to be used for illumination. In 1792, he lit his house with coal gas which is considered as first commercial use of gas and gas lamps for illumination.
After that, in 1798, he used gas to light the main building of the place he worked - Soho Foundry and 1802 lit the outside of the building in a public display of the gas light which was met with great astonishment by the local population. In Paris in 1801, Philip Lebon had used gas to light his house. 1807 Pall Mall in London was the first street to be illuminated with gas lamps and 1820 Paris starts using gas lamps on the streets. Gas streetlights were placed on the posts and had to be lit every evening and put out every morning. That was a job of Lamp lighters that had to take care not to let too much gas into lamp and then lit it which would result in explosion. After that gas light spread to other countries. Baltimore was the first city in the United States to have gas streetlights."'Man know thyself'Comment
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I would imagine that in Beethoven's time only the main streets of Vienna had gas lighting, probably from about 1815 or so, so most of the little streets would have been unlit and certainly in the countryside no lighting- how dark it must have been! But on the upside- the night skies must have been fantastic!
But you know they were used to the dark and it has long been thought that writers, composers etc could not work well by candlelight- but we know now that they did. Their eyes were used to it- us modern folks who have grew up with electricity are used to so much brightness. But...I can read by candlelight to the surprise of a lot of people. After turning out the electric lighting and sitting in candlelight for 5 minutes the eyes adjust and you can see quite well! In fact when you put the electric lamp back on it hurts the eyes- seems far too bright!!Ludwig van Beethoven
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