The film features Dickson playing a violin into a recording horn for an off-camera wax cylinder.A few sources, including Dixon (2003, p. 53) and FilmSound.org, suggest that the violinist is or might be Charles D'Almaine, who recorded a number of cylinders for Edison. For a detailed rebuttal of this claim, see Loughney (2001), p. 216. A photograph positively identified as of D'Almaine, available online, also belies the notion that he is the violinist seen in the film. See also Hendricks (1966), p. 122. The melody is from a barcarolle, "Song of the Cabin Boy", from Les Cloches de Corneville (literally The Bells of Corneville; presented in English-speaking countries as The Chimes of Normandy), a light opera composed by Robert Planquette in 1877.See, e.g., UNLV Short Film Archive . Courtesy of Wikipedia editor Franz Jacobs, the following material can be accessed to compare Dickson's performance with a selection from "Song of the Cabin Boy", demonstrating that Dickson plays the vocal part on the violin:
