text:
Residual-current device

A residual-current device (RCD), residual-current circuit breaker (RCCB) or ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) is an electrical safety device that interrupts an electrical circuit when the current passing through a conductor is not equal and opposite in both directions, therefore indicating leakage current to ground or current flowing to another powered conductor. The device's purpose is to reduce the severity of injury caused by an electric shock. Injury from shock is limited to the time before the electrical circuit is interrupted, but the victim may also sustain further injury, e.g. by falling after receiving a shock. This type of circuit interrupter can not protect a person who touches both circuit conductors at the same time, since it then cannot distinguish normal current from that passing through a person.

If the RCD device has additional overcurrent protection integrated in the same device, it is referred to as RCBO. An earth leakage circuit breaker may be an RCD, although an older type of voltage-operated earth leakage circuit breaker (ELCB) also exists.

These electrical wiring devices are designed to quickly interrupt the protected circuit when it detects that the electric current is unbalanced between the supply and return conductors of the protected circuit. Any difference between the currents in these conductors indicates leakage current, which presents a shock hazard. Alternating 60 Hz current above 20 mA (0.020 amperes) through the human body is potentially sufficient to cause cardiac arrest or serious harm if it persists for more than a small fraction of a second. RCDs are designed to disconnect the conducting wires ("trip") quickly enough to potentially prevent serious injury to humans, and to prevent damage to electrical devices.

RCDs are testable and resettable devices—a test button safely creates a small leakage condition, and another button resets the conductors after a fault condition has been cleared. Some RCDs disconnect both the energized and return conductors upon a fault (double pole), while a single pole RCD only disconnects the energized conductor. If the fault has left the return wire "floating" or not at its expected ground potential for any reason, then a single-pole RCD will leave this conductor still connected to the circuit when it detects the fault.

'''Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupter (GFCI)

The GFCI device is listed to UL 943, and has a trip threshold to ensure let-go can occur. The Let-go threshold was established through testing by C. F. Dalziel and published as part of an IEEE Paper titled "Let-Go Currents and Voltage" The GFCI listed device is a requirement in many applications as part of the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70). Section 210.8 of this installation Code is the primary reference for the installation requirements of the GFCI but other requirements can be found in Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the NEC.

Purpose and operation
RCDs are designed to disconnect the circuit if there is a leakage current. In their first implementation in the 1950s, power companies used them to prevent electricity theft where consumers grounded returning circuits rather than connecting them to neutral to inhibit electrical meters from registering their power consumption.

The most common modern application is as a safety device to detect small leakage currents (typically 5–30mA) and disconnecting quickly enough (<30 milliseconds) to prevent device damage or electrocution. They are an essential part of the automatic disconnection of supply (ADS), i.e. to switch off when a fault develops, rather than rely on human intervention, one of the essential tenets of modern electrical practice.

To reduce the risk of electrocution, RCDs should operate within 25–40 milliseconds with any leakage currents (through a person) of greater than 30mA, before electric shock can drive the heart into ventricular fibrillation, the most common cause of death through electric shock. By contrast, conventional circuit breakers or fuses only break the circuit when the total current is excessive (which may be thousands of times the leakage current an RCD responds to). A small leakage current, such as through a person, can be a very serious fault, but would probably not increase the total current enough for a fuse or overload circuit breaker to isolate the circuit, and not fast enough to save a life.

RCDs operate by measuring the current balance between two conductors using a differential current transformer. This measures the difference between current flowing through the live conductor and that returning through the neutral conductor. If these do not sum to zero, there is a leakage of current to somewhere else (to earth/ground or to another circuit), and the device will open its contacts. Operation does not require a fault current to return through the earth wire in the installation; the trip will operate just as well if the return path is through plumbing or contact with the ground or anything else. Automatic disconnection and a measure of shock protection is therefore still provided even if the earth wiring of the installation is damaged or incomplete.

For an RCD used with three-phase power, all three live conductors and the neutral (if fitted) must pass through the current transformer.

Application
Electrical plugs with incorporated RCD are sometimes installed on appliances that might be considered to pose a particular safety hazard, for example long extension leads, which might be used outdoors, or garden equipment or hair dryers, which may be used near a bath or sink. Occasionally an in-line RCD may be used to serve a similar function to one in a plug. By putting the RCD in the extension lead, protection is provided at whatever outlet is used even if the building has old wiring, such as knob and tube, or wiring that does not contain a grounding conductor. The in-line RCD can also have a lower tripping threshold than the building to further improve safety for a specific electrical device.

In North America, GFI receptacles can be used in cases where there is no grounding conductor, but they must be labeled as "no equipment ground". This is referenced in the National Electric Code section 406 (D) 2, however codes change and someone should always consult a licensed professional and their local building and safety departments. The code is An ungrounded GFI receptacle will trip using the built-in "test" button, but will not trip using a GFI test plug, because the plug tests by passing a small current from line to the non-existent ground. It is worth noting that despite this, only one GFCI receptacle at the beginning of each circuit is necessary to protect downstream receptacles. There does not appear to be a risk of using multiple GFI receptacles on the same circuit, though it is considered redundant.

In Europe, RCDs can fit on the same DIN rail as the miniature circuit breakers; much like in miniature circuit breakers, the busbar arrangements in consumer units and distribution boards provides protection for anything downstream.

RCBO
A pure RCD will detect imbalance in the currents of the supply and return conductors of a circuit. But it cannot protect against overload or short circuit like a fuse or a miniature circuit breaker (MCB) does (except for the special case of a short circuit from live to ground, not live to neutral).

However, an RCD and an MCB often come integrated in the same device, thus being able to detect both supply imbalance and overload current. Such a device is called an RCBO, for residual-current circuit breaker with overcurrent protection, in Europe and Australia, and a GFCI breaker, for ground fault circuit interrupter, in the USA and Canada.

Typical design
The diagram depicts the internal mechanism of a residual-current device (RCD). The device is designed to be wired in-line in an appliance power cord. It is rated to carry a maximal current of 13A and is designed to trip on a leakage current of 30mA. This is an active RCD; that is, it latches electrically and therefore trips on power failure, a useful feature for equipment that could be dangerous on unexpected re-energisation. Some early RCDs were entirely electromechanical and relied on finely balanced sprung over-centre mechanisms driven directly from the current transformer. As these are hard to manufacture to the required accuracy and prone to drift in sensitivity both from pivot wear and lubricant dry-out, the electronically-amplified type with a more robust solenoid part as illustrated are now dominant.

In the internal mechanism of an RCD, the incoming supply and the neutral conductors are connected to the terminals at (1), and the outgoing load conductors are connected to the terminals at (2). The earth conductor (not shown) is connected through from supply to load uninterrupted. When the reset button (3) is pressed, the contacts ((4) and another, hidden behind (5)) close, allowing current to pass. The solenoid (5) keeps the contacts closed when the reset button is released.

The sense coil (6) is a differential current transformer which surrounds (but is not electrically connected to) the live and neutral conductors. In normal operation, all the current down the live conductor returns up the neutral conductor. The currents in the two conductors are therefore equal and opposite and cancel each other out.

Any fault to earth (for example caused by a person touching a live component in the attached appliance) causes some of the current to take a different return path, which means that there is an imbalance (difference) in the current in the two conductors (single-phase case), or, more generally, a nonzero sum of currents from among various conductors (for example, three phase conductors and one neutral conductor).

This difference causes a current in the sense coil (6), which is picked up by the sense circuitry (7). The sense circuitry then removes power from the solenoid (5), and the contacts (4) are forced apart by a spring, cutting off the electricity supply to the appliance. A power failure will also remove power from the solenoid and cause the contacts to open, causing the safe trip-on-power-failure behaviour mentioned above.

The test button (8) allows the correct operation of the device to be verified by passing a small current through the orange test wire (9). This simulates a fault by creating an imbalance in the sense coil. If the RCD does not trip when this button is pressed, then the device must be replaced.

RCD with additional overcurrent protection circuitry (RCBO or GFCI breaker)

Residual-current and over-current protection may be combined in one device for installation into the service panel; this device is known as a GFCI (Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter) breaker in the US and Canada, and as a RCBO (residual-current circuit breaker with over-current protection) in Europe and Australia. They are effectively a combination of a RCD and a MCB. In the US, GFCI breakers are more expensive than GFCI outlets.

As well as requiring both live and neutral inputs and outputs (or, full three-phase), many GFCI/RCBO devices require a functional earth (FE) connection. This serves to provide both EMC immunity and to reliably operate the device if the input-side neutral connection is lost but live and earth remain.

For reasons of space, many devices, especially in DIN rail format, use flying leads rather than screw terminals, especially for the neutral input and FE connections. Additionally, because of the small form factor, the output cables of some models (Eaton/MEM) are used to form the primary winding of the RCD part, and the outgoing circuit cables must be led through a specially dimensioned terminal tunnel with the current transformer part around it. This can lead to incorrect failed trip results when testing with meter probes from the screw heads of the terminals, rather than from the final circuit wiring.

Having one RCD feeding another is generally unnecessary, provided they have been wired properly. One exception is the case of a TT earthing system, where the earth loop impedance may be high, meaning that a ground fault might not cause sufficient current to trip an ordinary circuit breaker or fuse. In this case a special 100mA (or greater) trip current time-delayed RCD is installed, covering the whole installation, and then more sensitive RCDs should be installed downstream of it for sockets and other circuits that are considered high-risk.

RCD with additional arc fault protection circuitry
In addition to ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs), arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCI) are equally important as they offer added protection from potentially hazardous arc-faults resulting from damage in branch circuit wiring as well as extensions to branches such as appliances and cord sets. By detecting hazardous arc-faults and responding by interrupting power, AFCIs helps reduce the likelihood of the home's electrical system being an ignition source of a fire. Dual function AFCI/GFCI devices offer both electrical fire prevention and shock prevention in one device making them a solution for many rooms in the home, especially when replacing an existing standard receptacle or existing ungrounded receptacle.

Differences in disconnection actions
Major differences exist regarding the manner in which an RCD-unit will act to disconnect the power to a circuit or appliance.

There are four situations in which different types of RCD-units are used:

 * 1) At the consumer power distribution level, usually in conjunction with an RCBO resettable circuit breaker;
 * 2) Built into a wall socket;
 * 3) Plugged into a wall socket, which may be part of a power-extension cable; and
 * 4) Built into the cord of a portable appliance, such as those intended to be used in outdoor or wet areas.

The first three of those situations relate largely to usage as part of a power-distribution system and are almost always of the 'passive' or 'latched' variety, whereas the fourth relates solely to specific appliances and are always of the 'active' or 'non-latching' variety. 'Active' means prevention of any 're-activation' of the power supply after any inadvertent form of power outage, as soon as the mains supply becomes re-established; 'latch' relates to a 'switch' inside the unit housing the RCD that remains as set following any form of power outage, but has to be reset manually after the detection of an error-condition.

In the fourth situation, it would be deemed to be highly undesirable, and probably very unsafe, for a connected appliance to automatically resume operation after a power disconnection, without having the operator in attendance – as such, manual reactivation of the RCD is necessary.

The difference between the modes of operation of the essentially two different types of RCD functionality is that the operation for power distribution purposes requires the internal latch to remain set within the RCD after any form of power disconnection caused by either the user turning the power off, or after any power outage; such arrangements are particularly applicable for connections to refrigerators and freezers.

Situation two is mostly installed just as described above, but some wall socket RCDs are available to fit the fourth situation, often by operating a switch on the fascia panel.

RCDs for the first and third situation are most commonly rated at 30mA and 40ms. For the fourth situation, there is generally a greater choice of ratings available – generally all lower than the other forms, but lower values often result in more nuisance tripping. Sometimes users apply protection in addition to one of the other forms, when they wish to override those with a lower rating. It may be wise to have a selection of type 4 RCDs available, because connections made under damp conditions or using lengthy power cables are more prone to trip-out when any of the lower ratings of RCD are used; ratings as low as 10mA are available.

Number of poles and pole terminology
The number of poles represents the number of conductors that are interrupted when a fault condition occurs. RCDs used on single-phase AC supplies (two current paths), such as domestic power, are usually one- or two-pole designs, also known as single- and double-pole. A single-pole RCD interrupts only the energized conductor, while a double-pole RCD interrupts both the energized and return conductors. (In a single-pole RCD, the return conductor is usually anticipated to be at ground potential at all times and therefore safe on its own).

RCDs with three or more poles can be used on three-phase AC supplies (three current paths) or to disconnect the neutral conductor as well, with four-pole RCDs used to interrupt three-phase and neutral supplies. Specially designed RCDs can also be used with both AC and DC power distribution systems.

The following terms are sometimes used to describe the manner in which conductors are connected and disconnected by an RCD:
 * Single-pole or one-pole – the RCD will disconnect the energized wire only.
 * Double-pole or two-pole – the RCD will disconnect both the energized and return wires.
 * 1+N and 1P+N – non-standard terms used in the context of RCBOs, at times used differently by different manufacturers. Typically these terms may signify that the return (neutral) conductor is an isolating pole only, without a protective element (an unprotected but switched neutral), that the RCBO provides a conducting path and connectors for the return (neutral) conductor but this path remains uninterrupted when a fault occurs (sometimes known as "solid neutral"), or that both conductors are disconnected for some faults (such as RCD detected leakage) but only one conductor is disconnected for other faults (such as overload).

Sensitivity
RCD sensitivity is expressed as the rated residual operating current, noted IΔn. Preferred values have been defined by the IEC, thus making it possible to divide RCDs into three groups according to their IΔn value:
 * high sensitivity (HS): 5** – 10 – 30mA (for direct-contact or life injury protection),
 * medium sensitivity (MS): 100 – 300 – 500 – 1000mA (for fire protection),
 * low sensitivity (LS): 3 – 10 – 30A (typically for protection of machine).

The 5mA sensitivity is typical for GFCI outlets.

Break time (response speed)
There are two groups of devices. 'G' (general use) 'instantaneous' RCDs have no intentional time delay. They must never trip at one-half of the nominal current rating, but must trip within 200 milliseconds for rated current, and within 40 milliseconds at five times rated current. 'S' (selective) or 'T' (time-delayed) RCDs have a short time delay. They are typically used at the origin of an installation for fire protection to discriminate with 'G' devices at the loads, and in circuits containing surge suppressors. They must not trip at one-half of rated current. They provide at least 130 milliseconds delay of tripping at rated current, 60 milliseconds at twice rated, and 50 milliseconds at five times rated. The maximum break time is 500ms at rated current, 200ms at twice rated, and 150ms at five times rated.

Programmable earth fault relays are available to allow co-ordinated installations to minimise outage. For example, a power distribution system might have a 300mA, 300ms device at the service entry of a building, feeding several 100mA 'S' type at each sub-board, and 30mA 'G' type for each final circuit. In this way, a failure of a device to detect the fault will eventually be cleared by a higher-level device, at the cost of interrupting more circuits.

Type (types of leakage current detected)
IEC Standard 60755 (General requirements for residual current operated protective devices) defines three types of RCD depending on the waveforms and frequency of the fault current. The BEAMA RCD Handbook - Guide to the Selection and Application of RCDs summarises this as follows: and notes that these designations have been introduced because some designs of type A and AC RCD can be disabled if a DC current is present that saturates the core of the detector.
 * Type AC RCDs trip on sinusoidal residual current.
 * Type A RCDs, in addition to Type AC, also respond to pulsating or continuous direct current of either polarity.
 * Type B RCDs, in addition to Type A, also respond to steady DC, and higher frequency current, or for combinations of alternating and direct current as may be found from single-phase or multi-phase rectifying circuits, like all the switching power supplies used at home, or for example washing machines etc., equipped with DC motors.
 * Type AC RCDs trip on alternating sinusoidal residual current, suddenly applied or smoothly increasing.
 * Type A RCDs trip on alternating sinusoidal residual current and on residual pulsating direct current, suddenly applied or smoothly increasing.
 * Type F RCDs trip in the same conditions as Type A and in addition:
 * for composite residual currents, whether suddenly applied or slowly rising intended for circuit supplied between phase and neutral or phase and earthed middle conductor;
 * for residual pulsating direct currents superimposed on smooth direct current.
 * Type B RCDs trip in the same conditions as Type F and in addition:
 * for residual sinusoidal alternating currents up to 1kHz;
 * for residual alternating currents superimposed on a smooth direct current;
 * for residual pulsating direct currents superimposed on a smooth direct current;
 * for residual pulsating rectified direct current which results from two or more phases;
 * for residual smooth direct currents whether suddenly applied or slowly increased independent of polarity.

Surge current resistance
The surge current refers to the peak current an RCD is designed to withstand using a test impulse of specified characteristics. The IEC 61008 and IEC 61009 standards require that RCDs withstand a 200A "ring wave" impulse. The standards also require RCDs classified as "selective" to withstand a 3000A impulse surge current of specified waveform.

Testing of correct operation
RCDs can be tested with a built-in test button to confirm functionality on a regular basis. RCDs may not operate correctly if wired improperly, so they are generally tested by the installer. By introducing a controlled fault current from live to earth, the operating time and wiring can be tested. Such a test may be performed on installation of the device and at any "downstream" outlet. (Upstream outlets are not protected.) To avoid needless tripping, only one RCD should be installed on any single circuit (excluding corded RCDs, such as bathroom small appliances).

Limitations
A residual-current circuit breaker cannot remove all risk of electric shock or fire. In particular, an RCD alone will not detect overload conditions, phase-to-neutral short circuits or phase-to-phase short circuits (see three-phase electric power). Over-current protection (fuses or circuit breakers) must be provided. Circuit breakers that combine the functions of an RCD with overcurrent protection respond to both types of fault. These are known as RCBOs and are available in 2-, 3- and 4-pole configurations. RCBOs will typically have separate circuits for detecting current imbalance and for overload current but use a common interrupting mechanism. Some RCBOs have separate levers for residual-current and over-current protection or use a separate indicator for ground faults.

An RCD helps to protect against electric shock when current flows through a person from a phase (live / line / hot) to earth. It cannot protect against electric shock when current flows through a person from phase to neutral or from phase to phase, for example where a finger touches both live and neutral contacts in a light fitting; a device cannot differentiate between current flow through an intended load from flow through a person, though the RCD may still trip if the person is in contact with the ground (earth), as some current may still pass through the persons finger and body to earth.

Whole installations on a single RCD, common in older installations in the UK, are prone to "nuisance" trips that can cause secondary safety problems with loss of lighting and defrosting of food. Frequently the trips are caused by deteriorating insulation on heater elements, such as water heaters and cooker elements or rings. Although regarded as a nuisance, the fault is with the deteriorated element and not the RCD: replacement of the offending element will resolve the problem, but replacing the RCD will not.

RCDs are not selective, for example when a ground fault occurs on a circuit protected by a 30 mA IΔn RCD in series with a 300 mA IΔn RCD either or both may trip. Special time-delayed types are available to provide selectivity in such installations.

In the case of RCDs that need a power supply, a dangerous condition can arise if the neutral wire is broken or switched off on the supply side of the RCD, while the corresponding live wire remains uninterrupted. The tripping circuit needs power to work and does not trip when the power supply fails. Connected equipment will not work without a neutral, but the RCD cannot protect people from contact with the energized wire. For this reason circuit breakers must be installed in a way that ensures that the neutral wire cannot be switched off unless the live wire is also switched off at the same time. Where there is a requirement for switching off the neutral wire, two-pole breakers (or four-pole for 3-phase) must be used. To provide some protection with an interrupted neutral, some RCDs and RCBOs are equipped with an auxiliary connection wire that must be connected to the earth busbar of the distribution board. This either enables the device to detect the missing neutral of the supply, causing the device to trip, or provides an alternative supply path for the tripping circuitry, enabling it to continue to function normally in the absence of the supply neutral.

Related to this, a single-pole RCD/RCBO interrupts the energized conductor only, while a double-pole device interrupts both the energized and return conductors. Usually this is a standard and safe practice, since the return conductor is held at ground potential anyway. However, because of its design, a single-pole RCD will not isolate or disconnect all relevant wires in certain uncommon situations, for example where the return conductor is not being held, as expected, at ground potential, or where current leakage occurs between the return and earth conductors. In these cases, a double-pole RCD will offer protection, since the return conductor would also be disconnected.

History and nomenclature
The world's first high-sensitivity earth leakage protection system (i.e. a system capable of protecting people from the hazards of direct contact between a live conductor and earth), was a second-harmonic magnetic amplifier core-balance system, known as the magamp, developed in South Africa by Henri Rubin. Electrical hazards were of great concern in South African gold mines, and Rubin, an engineer at the company C.J. Fuchs Electrical Industries of Alberton Johannesburg, initially developed a cold-cathode system in 1955 which operated at 525V and had a tripping sensitivity of 250mA. Prior to this, core balance earth leakage protection systems operated at sensitivities of about 10A.

The cold cathode system was installed in a number of gold mines and worked reliably. However, Rubin began working on a completely novel system with greatly improved sensitivity, and by early 1956, he had produced a prototype second-harmonic magnetic amplifier-type core balance system (South African Patent No. 2268/56 and Australian Patent No. 218360). The prototype magamp was rated at 220V, 60A and had an internally adjustable tripping sensitivity of 12.5–17.5mA. Very rapid tripping times were achieved through a novel design, and this combined with the high sensitivity was well within the safe current–time envelope for ventricular fibrillation determined by Charles Dalziel of the University of California, Berkeley, USA, who had estimated electrical shock hazards in humans. This system, with its associated circuit breaker, included overcurrent and short-circuit protection. In addition, the original prototype was able to trip at a lower sensitivity in the presence of an interrupted neutral, thus protecting against an important cause of electrical fire.

Following the accidental electrocution of a woman in a domestic accident at the Stilfontein gold mining village near Johannesburg, a few hundred F.W.J. 20mA magamp earth leakage protection units were installed in the homes of the mining village during 1957 and 1958. F.W.J. Electrical Industries, which later changed its name to FW Electrical Industries, continued to manufacture 20mA single phase and three phase magamp units.

At the time that he worked on the magamp, Rubin also considered using transistors in this application, but concluded that the early transistors then available were too unreliable. However, with the advent of improved transistors, the company that he worked for and other companies later produced transistorized versions of earth leakage protection.

In 1961, Dalziel, working with Rucker Manufacturing Co., developed a transistorized device for earth leakage protection which became known as a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI), sometimes colloquially shortened to Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI). This name for high-sensitivity earth leakage protection is still in common use in the U.S.A.

In the early 1970s most North American GFCI devices were of the circuit breaker type. GFCIs built into the outlet receptacle became commonplace beginning in the 1980s. The circuit breaker type, installed into a distribution panel, suffered from accidental trips mainly caused by poor or inconsistent insulation on the wiring. False trips were frequent when insulation problems were compounded by long circuit lengths. So much current leaked along the length of the conductors' insulation that the breaker might trip with the slightest increase of current imbalance. The migration to outlet-receptacle–based protection in North American installations reduced the accidental trips and provided obvious verification that wet areas were under electrical-code–required protection. European installations continue to use primarily RCDs installed at the distribution board, which provides protection in case of damage to fixed wiring. In Europe socket-based RCDs are primarily used for retrofitting.

Regulation and adoption
Regulations differ widely from country to country. A single RCD installed for an entire electrical installation provides protection against shock hazards to all circuits, however, any fault may cut all power to the premises. A solution is to create groups of circuits, each with an RCD, or to use an RCBO for each individual circuit.

Australia
In Australia, residual current devices have been mandatory on power circuits since 1991 and on light circuits since 2000. In Queensland specifically, residual power devices have been compulsory for all new homes since 1992.

A minimum of two RCDs is required per domestic installation. All socket outlets and lighting circuits are to be distributed over circuit RCDs. A maximum of three subcircuits only, may be connected to a single RCD. In Australia, the RCD testing procedure must meet a set standard – this is the AS/NZS 3760:2010 in-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment.

Austria
Austria regulated residual current devices in the ÖVE E8001-1/A1:2013-11-01 norm (most recent revision). It has been required in private housing since 1980. The maximum activation time must not exceed 0.4 seconds. It needs to be installed on all circuits with power plugs with a maximum leakage current of 30mA and a maximum rated current of 16A.

Additional requirements are placed on circuits in wet areas, construction sites and commercial buildings.

Belgium
Belgian domestic installations are required to be equipped with a 300mA residual current device that protects all circuits. Furthermore, at least one 30mA residual current device is required that protects all circuits in "wet rooms" (e.g. bathroom, kitchen) as well as circuits that power certain "wet" appliances (washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher). Electrical underfloor heating is required to be protected by a 100mA RCD. These RCDs must be of type A.

Brazil
Since NBR 5410 (1997) residual current devices and grounding are required for new construction or repair in wet areas, outdoor areas, interior outlets used for external appliances, or in areas where water is more probable like bathrooms and kitchens.

Denmark
Denmark requires 30mA RCDs on all circuits that are rated for less than 20 A (circuits at greater rating are mostly used for distribution). RCDs became mandatory in 1975 for new buildings, and then for all buildings in 2008.

France
According to the NF C 15-100 regulation (1911 -> 2002), a general RCD not exceeding 100 to 300mA at the origin of the installation is mandatory. Moreover, all circuits must also include 30mA protections in the user's distribution board, with each RCD protecting up to 8 circuit breakers, usually on the same DIN rail (electric panels of 1 to 4 DIN rails are the norm for residential). Before 1991, this 30mA protection was mandatory only in rooms where there is water, high power or sensitive equipment (bathrooms, kitchens, IT...). The type of RCD required (A, AC, F) depends upon the type of the equipment that will be connected and the maximum power of the socket outlet. Minimal distances between electrical devices and water or the floor are described and mandatory.

Germany
Since 1 May 1984, RCDs are mandatory for all rooms with a bath tub or a shower. Since June 2007 Germany requires the use of RCDs with a trip current of no more than 30mA on sockets rated up to 32A which are for general use. (DIN Verband der Elektrotechnik, Elektronik und Informationstechnik (VDE) 0100-410 Nr. 411.3.3). It is not allowed to use type "AC" RCDs since 1987, to be used to protect humans against electrical shocks. It must be Type "A" or type "B".

India
According to Regulation 36 of the Electricity Regulations 1990

a) For a place of public entertainment, protection against earth leakage current must be provided by a residual current device of sensitivity not exceeding 10mA.

b) For a place where the floor is likely to be wet or where the wall or enclosure is of low electrical resistance, protection against earth leakage current must be provided by a residual current device of sensitivity not exceeding 10mA.

c) For an installation where hand-held equipment, apparatus or appliance is likely to be used, protection against earth leakage current must be provided by a residual current device of sensitivity not exceeding 30mA.

d) For an installation other than the installation in (a), (b) and (c), protection against earth leakage current must be provided by a residual current device of sensitivity not exceeding 100mA.

Italy
The Italian law (n. 46 March 1990) prescribes RCDs with no more than 30mA residual current (informally called "salvavita"—life saver, after early BTicino models, or differential circuit breaker for the mode of operation) for all domestic installations to protect all the lines. The law was recently updated to mandate at least two separate RCDs for separate domestic circuits. Short-circuit and overload protection has been compulsory since 1968.

Malaysia
In the latest guidelines for electrical wiring in residential buildings (2008) handbook, the overall residential wiring need to be protected by a residual current device of sensitivity not exceeding 100mA. Additionally, all power sockets need to be protected by a residual current device of sensitivity not exceeding 30mA and all equipment in wet places (water heater, water pump) need to be protected by a residual current device of sensitivity not exceeding 10mA.

New Zealand
From January 2003, all new circuits originating at the switchboard supplying lighting or socket outlets (power points) in domestic buildings must have RCD protection. Residential facilities (such as boarding houses, hospitals, hotels and motels) will also require RCD protection for all new circuits originating at the switchboard supplying socket outlets. These RCDs will normally be located at the switchboard. They will provide protection for all electrical wiring and appliances plugged into the new circuits.

North America

In North America socket-outlets located in places where an easy path to ground exists—such as wet areas and rooms with uncovered concrete floors—must be protected by a GFCI. The US National Electrical Code has required devices in certain locations to be protected by GFCIs since the 1960s. Beginning with underwater swimming pool lights (1968) successive editions of the code have expanded the areas where GFCIs are required to include: construction sites (1974), bathrooms and outdoor areas (1975), garages (1978), areas near hot tubs or spas (1981), hotel bathrooms (1984), kitchen counter sockets (1987), crawl spaces and unfinished basements (1990), near wet bar sinks (1993), near laundry sinks (2005) and in laundry rooms (2014).

GFCIs are commonly available as an integral part of a socket or a circuit breaker installed in the distribution panelboard. GFCI sockets invariably have rectangular faces and accept so-called Decora face plates, and can be mixed with regular outlets or switches in a multi-gang box with standard cover plates. In both Canada and the US older two-wire, ungrounded NEMA 1 sockets may be replaced with NEMA 5 sockets protected by a GFCI (integral with the socket or with the corresponding circuit breaker) in lieu of rewiring the entire circuit with a grounding conductor. In such cases the sockets must be labeled "no equipment ground" and "GFCI protected"; GFCI manufacturers typically provide tags for the appropriate installation description.

GFCIs approved for protection against electric shock trip at 5mA within 25ms. A GFCI device which protects equipment (not people) is allowed to trip as high as 30mA of current; this is known as an Equipment Protective Device (EPD). RCDs with trip currents as high as 500mA are sometimes deployed in environments (such as computing centers) where a lower threshold would carry an unacceptable risk of accidental trips. These high-current RCDs serve for equipment and fire protection instead of protection against the risks of electrical shocks.

In the United States the American Boat and Yacht Council requires both GFCIs for outlets and Equipment Leakage Circuit Interrupters (ELCI) for the entire boat. The difference is GFCIs trip on 5mA of current whereas ELCIs trip on 30mA after up to 100ms. The greater values are intended to provide protection while minimizing nuisance trips.

Norway
In Norway, it has been required in all new homes since 2002, and on all new sockets since 2006. This applies to 32A sockets and below. The RCD must trigger after a maximum 0.4 seconds for 230V circuits, or 0.2 seconds for 400V circuits.

South Africa
South Africa mandated the use of Earth Leakage Protection devices in residential environments (e.g. houses, flats, hotels, etc.) from October 1974, with regulations being refined in 1975 and 1976. Devices need to be installed in new premises and when repairs are carried out. Protection is required for power outlets and lighting, with the exception of emergency lighting that should not be interrupted. The standard device used in South Africa is indeed a hybrid of ELPD and RCCB.

Switzerland
According to the NIBT regulation, the use of RCD type AC is forbidden (since 2010).

Taiwan
Taiwan requires circuits of receptacles in washrooms, balconies, and receptacles in kitchen no more than 1.8 metres from the sink the use of earth leakage circuit breakers. This requirement also apply to circuit of water heater in washrooms and circuits that involves devices in water, lights on metal frames, public drinking fountains and so on. In principle, ELCBs should be installed on branch circuits, with trip current no more than 30mA within 0.1 second according to Taiwanese law.

Turkey
Turkey requires the use of RCDs with no more than 30mA and 300mA in all new homes since 2004. This rule was introduced in RG-16/06/2004-25494.

United Kingdom
The current (18th) edition of the IEE Electrical Wiring Regulations requires that all socket outlets in most installations have RCD protection, though there are exemptions. Non armoured cables buried in walls must also be RCD protected (again with some specific exemptions). Provision of RCD protection for circuits present in bathrooms and shower rooms reduces the requirement for supplementary bonding in those locations. Two RCDs may be used to cover the installation, with upstairs and downstairs lighting and power circuits spread across both RCDs. When one RCD trips, power is maintained to at least one lighting and power circuit. Other arrangements, such as the use of RCBOs, may be employed to meet the regulations. The new requirements for RCDs do not affect most existing installations unless they are rewired, the distribution board is changed, a new circuit is installed, or alterations are made such as additional socket outlets or new cables buried in walls.

RCDs used for shock protection must be of the 'immediate' operation type (not time-delayed) and must have a residual current sensitivity of no greater than 30mA.

If spurious tripping would cause a greater problem than the risk of the electrical accident the RCD is supposed to prevent (examples might be a supply to a critical factory process, or to life support equipment), RCDs may be omitted, providing affected circuits are clearly labelled and the balance of risks considered; this may include the provision of alternative safety measures.

The previous edition of the regulations required use of RCDs for socket outlets that were liable to be used by outdoor appliances. Normal practice in domestic installations was to use a single RCD to cover all the circuits requiring RCD protection (typically sockets and showers) but to have some circuits (typically lighting) not RCD protected. This was to avoid a potentially dangerous loss of lighting should the RCD trip. Protection arrangements for other circuits varied. To implement this arrangement it was common to install a consumer unit incorporating an RCD in what is known as a split load configuration, where one group of circuit breakers is supplied direct from the main switch (or time delay RCD in the case of a TT earth) and a second group of circuits is supplied via the RCD. This arrangement had the recognised problems that cumulative earth leakage currents from the normal operation of many items of equipment could cause spurious tripping of the RCD, and that tripping of the RCD would disconnect power from all the protected circuits.

title: Residual-current device


text:
Talk:Hyeokgeose of Silla

I could not find any historical records saying "Park clan lost power over Silla by Kim clan''. Instead, I found many historical records saying many Kings(Both Kim, Seok) worshipped Bak Hyeokgeose as their ancestral shrine. B2V22BHARAT (talk) 21:41, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

-Yes, they never lost their power by using bone rank system I didn't change those facts. About the edit that you changed his family and identification as 'Inai no Mikoto/Inahi (稻飯命)' in the article, there is no evidence that both are related or either the same person. The Inai in record is "he become a Sahimoshinokami (鋤持神), (one of the god in Japan) after he went into the sea   while he was heading to the east". As a result, Inai is one of the Japanese god's records that collected by 日本書紀 collected. Also since he   headed towards the east,You should check out Mu (lost continent) or Hawaii instead of this article, if you believe this mythology. 2600:1700:50b3:1760:7c39:4371:8c2e:365 11:13, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not about putting your own idea. Please present your idea with reliable historical documents. B2V22BHARAT (talk) 19:58, 1 October 2019 (UTC)

And also You mention 古事記, both 日本書紀 and 古事記 are reliable source in Japanese record, but record about Korea is mostly off the track by   different view of how society works, for ex, when they only robbed several town in Silla, and killed village headman, they record are off the time and they record that as they killed king of Silla and take over whole Silla and Baekje and Goguryeo surrender. because their government far as Japan could get were Chiefdom level at that time, they thought village was one country. However, even that source are reliable, that doesn't mean the both persons are same person. Especially only record of 'Inai' in 古事記 is only one sentence "The Inai became a standing seat of Sea of Mothers'land". Yes, there is person called 'Inai' in reliable source, but that doesn't mean both are same person and what I asked is reliable source prove that. 2600:1700:50b3:1760:7c39:4371:8c2e:365 10:45, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

See this historical record from Shinsen Shōjiroku:

"新良貴 彦波瀲武鸕鷀草葦不合尊男 稻飯命之後也. 是出於 新良國王 稻飯命. 出於 新羅國王者 祖令, 新良貴 於新良國卽爲國主 稻飮命者新羅國王之祖也".

I think it's pretty straight forward.

According to Samguk sagi, Bak Hyeokgeose(朴赫居世) was the founder of the Silla kingdom (Originally called Saroguk) and according to Shinsen Shōjiroku, Inai no Mikoto (稻飯命) is recorded as the founding father(國主) of the Silla (新良) kingdom. So they are the same person. Also, please read these two articles that deal with Bak Hyeokgeose's origin.

http://www.dailywrn.com/sub_read.html?uid=6862 http://www.dailywrn.com/sub_read.html?uid=6930

Also, did you check these two sites that I mentioned?

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/稲飯命 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/稻飯命

Both sites describe 稻飯命 as the ancestor of the Silla kingdom and link him to Korean last name Park (Korean surname).

I'm not here to dispute, but just putting what's written in the historical record, that's all.

If you have any questions, please keep asking, because as a descendant of Park family, I also want to know the true origin of Bak Hyeokgeose. Samguk sagi described him as if he had been born from an egg, but I think it's a lie and he probably came from an outside forces and ruled six chiefdoms in Korea. B2V22BHARAT (talk) 19:58, 1 October 2019 (UTC)

Foreign wikipedia is not a reliable source by the way, because they usually not stay in neutral. You can check View history of those two articles, User "Aitok I " who describe himself as Japanese in In Japanese Wikipedia and he also edit some part of article in Japanese Wiki, Edit himself the almost whole article in Chinese Wikipedia throughout September 2018 to July 2019, which use to 'Not' describe 稻飯命 as related to king of Silla.

If you think that editor "Aitok I" is wrong, you can improve this article https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/稻飯命 by citing actual historical records that say 稻飯命 is not related to Bak Hyeokgeose, and hence Korean surname Park (Korean surname). B2V22BHARAT (talk) 04:28, 3 October 2019 (UTC) 日本書紀 is official record,but they through a lot of verification before it believes to be an true, because of main purpose of they wrote and organized this book is to Justify their Authenticity to hold their power. Known example would be Empress Jingū who they said captured whole Korean penensula and. Read this document and check that 日本書紀 is biased or not especially in their Justification. Or Emperor Jimmu, who suppose to be a younger brother of 稲飯命 is 600 years older than him. Shinsen Shōjiroku is an record of list of genealogy that use source from 日本書紀 because that is official record either it's right or not and that doesn't make this as historical evidence itself.

About top two article you posted, is totally against your opinion. on first article, the title '일본시조 神武王은 신라국왕 祖令의 후예' meaning " Japan   ancestor 神武王 is an descendant of 祖令 the king of Silla." Sentences in second article '어쨌든 이 같은 설들은 어디까지나 신무왕을 비롯한 일본왕계가 한반도에서 건너간 우리 한민족의 후예들임을 확실히 말해 주는 것이 다.' meaning " However, these theories clearly indicate that the Japanese kingdoms, including King Shinmu, are descendants of the Korean people who   crossed the sea from Korean Peninsula.

If you read the first article, http://www.dailywrn.com/sub_read.html?uid=6862 Kim Juho(김주호) mentions 5 times that 稻飯命 is the same person as 朴赫居世.

1. 일본시조 神武王은 신라국왕 祖令의 후예, 성씨록 고사기 일본서기가 입증, 박혁거세의 동생.

2. ‘... 稻飮命之後也, 是於新羅國, 卽爲國王. 稻飮命者, 新羅國王之祖也’. 이 기록은 이나히노미꼬도(稻飮命)가 신라국왕의 시조가 되었다는 것이다. 신라의 시조왕은 박혁거세(朴赫居世)이다. 따라서 ‘도반명’, ‘도음명(稻飮命)’은 신라의 시조 왕이라는 점에서 같은 인물 박혁거세를 말한 것이라 본다.

3. 여기에 이나히노미꼬도(稻氷命)는『일본서기』나 『성씨록』의 ‘이나히노미꼬도(稻飮命)’를 말하는 것이다. 그 ‘氷’과 ‘飮’은 다같이 ‘이나히노미꼬도’로서 같은 사람인 박혁거세를 말하는 것이다.

4. 여기서 4남 와까미께누미꼬도와 맏형 이쓰세노미꼬도 둘이서만 바다를 건너간 것으로 되어 있고, 다른 형제 2남(稻氷命= 朴赫居世)과 3남 미께누노미꼬도(御毛沼命)는 바다를 건너가지 않고 부모와 더불어 한국(신라)에 남아 있었다고 봐야겠다.

5. 둘째아들 되는 ‘이나히노미꼬도(稻飮<氷>命=朴赫居世)’가 어머니의 나라이기 때문에 ‘바닷가로 가버렸다’고 한 것은 일본에서 있었던 행동을 말한 것이 아니라 신라에서의 행동을 말한 것이다. 만일 이것이 일본에서 있었던 일을 기술한 것이라면 ‘바다를 건너서 어머니의 나라로 가기 위해 배를 탔다’고 했을 것이다.

Also, in the second article, http://www.dailywrn.com/sub_read.html?uid=6930

1. 그런데 『고사기』에는 2남 이나히도 미꼬도(稻氷命)가 신라국 시조라고 했다. 신라국 시조는 박혁거세(朴赫居世)이다. 그런 만큼 2남 稻氷命=稻飯命(혹은 稻飮命)은 다 같은 한 인물로서 박혁거세 임이 분명하다.

Also, Aitok I. 稻飯命（日语：稲飯命〔稻飯命〕／いない（或いないい） の みこと/いいなひめ〔いなひ（或いないひ） の みこと/いいなひめ〕 Inapi no mikoto，稻飯姬命）為《日本書紀》裡的記述，《古事記》則記作稻冰命或彥稻冰命，是神武天皇（日本第1代天皇）的皇兄，也是新良國國主，也是新羅國王（朴姓）之祖. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/稻飯命

B2V22BHARAT (talk) 04:28, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

As you thinking that Hyeokgeose is came from egg is 'wrong', that is misunderstanding of Origin myth. 난생신화, is an type of myth that appears in    origin myth of Dongmyeong of Goguryeo, Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, and Talhae of Silla. Korean thought that bird is mysterious/holy Creature that connecting heaven and land, therefore many Korean royal family use it to enhance one's status that they are came from egg, and showing they(royal family) are different from another.

https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0011702 Check this source, this is article of 'Encyclopedia of Korean Culture' that run by Academy of Korean Studies.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:50B3:1760:6594:906C:E27B:83C (talk) 01:19, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

I didn't say that Hyeokgeose being born from an egg is "wrong". There are many birth mythologies surrounding ancient gods, such as Zeus as part of a divinization process. For example, white horse appears in Bak Hyeokgeose's birth mythology, 진한(辰韓) 땅의 여섯 마을 우두머리들이 알천 상류에 모였다. 군왕을 정하여 받들고자 하여 높은 곳에 올라 멀리 남쪽을 바라보았다. 그러자 양산 기슭에 있는 나정이라는 우물가에 번개와 같은 이상한 기운이 드리워진 흰말이 엎드려 절하고 있었다. 찾아가서 그곳을 살폈더니 자줏빛 알이 있었고 말은 사람들을 보자 길게 울고는 하늘로 올라갔다. 그 알을 깨뜨리자 사내아이가 나오매, 경이롭게 여기면서 동천 샘에 목욕시키니 온몸에서 빛살을 뿜는 것이었다. 이때 새와 짐승이 더불어 춤추고 하늘과 땅이 흔들리고 해와 달이 청명하였다. 이로 말미암아 혁거세왕이라 이름을 짓고 위호(位號)주 01)는 거슬한(居瑟邯)이라고 하였다. but it can be also found in the Westerne culture. White horse (mythology)

If you check one of Bak Hyeokgeose's important subordinate named Hogong, he was from Japan. 三國史記 卷第一 新羅本紀第一 始祖赫居世, 「瓠公者未詳其族姓本倭人初以瓠繫腰渡海而來故稱瓠公」And Bak Hyeokgeose(朴赫居世) is a four-letter name which is the same as Japanese name convention. Also, there appears to be Silla prince named Amenohiboko, who is suspected to be one of Park princes from Silla, who settled in Japan during the era of Emperor Suinin, around the 3rd or 4th century. He is currently the ancestral god of Tajima Province and is enshrined in the Shinto Shrine (出石神社) at Toyooka. I think all of these historical records imply that Bak Hyeokgeose came from Japan, not Korea. B2V22BHARAT (talk) 04:28, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

"어쨌든 이 같은 설들은 어디까지나 신무왕을 비롯한 일본왕계가 한반도에서 건너간 우리 한민족의 후예들임을 확실히 말해 주는 것이다."

You posted that supporting Japanese royal family is origin by Korea and saying opposite of that, that's ironic. I can't believe that you insisting opinion that Official Japanese Historian don't even care about, by using evidence from just part of religion news article that stand against your opinion overall, and all evidence you can find in the whole internet is Wikipedia and 2 article of who saying "The   history of the Korean people are began when they ruled over the winds like of Jesus who stopped the storm." http://www.dailywrn.com/4993

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Hyeokgeose of Silla


text:
Lucius Lyon

Lucius Lyon (February 26, 1800 – September 24, 1851) was a U.S. statesman from the state of Michigan. Along with Louis Campau, Lucius Lyon is remembered as one of the founding fathers of Grand Rapids, Michigan, the state's second-largest city. A Democrat, he served as a Delegate to the U.S. House from Michigan Territory (1833–1835), a U.S. Senator from Michigan (1837–1839), and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's second congressional district (1843–1845).

Early life
Lyon was born in Shelburne, Vermont, on February 26, 1800, a son of Asa Lyon and Sarah (Atwater) Lyon. He received a common school education in Shelburne and then worked with his father on the family farm. At age 18, Lyon began attendance at academies in Shelburne and Burlington, and he taught school in between academy terms. He studied engineering and surveying with John Johnson of Burlington, and moved to Detroit, Michigan Territory, in 1821. Lyon initially worked in Michigan as a teacher, then took up surveying, and was eventually appointed Deputy Surveyor General of Michigan Territory.

Early career
During the summers of the mid-1820s, Lyon surveyed areas that are now parts of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. In the winters, he often visited family in Vermont and studied scientific subjects including geology at Middlebury College. These studies enabled him to develop superior knowledge of Michigan Territory, including land and lakes, flora and fauna, and natural resources. In 1829, he was commissioned to rebuild the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse at the entrance to the St. Clair River from Lake Huron. In the 1830s, he surveyed a portion of what would become the boundary between Illinois and Wisconsin. Lyon placed the initial point of the Fourth Principal Meridian on December 10, 1831. He also participated in the survey parties which established the baseline and meridian used to define townships in Wisconsin. His field notebooks recorded considerable detail about the land he surveyed, providing a rich source of information for later researchers.

When Michigan applied for statehood in the 1830s, action was delayed in Congress because Ohio objected to surrendering the Toledo Strip, which resulted in a conflict known as the Toledo War. Lyon's detailed knowledge of Michigan's geography enabled him to make a persuasive argument to residents of Michigan that accepting the Upper Peninsula in lieu of the Toledo Strip was an equitable solution. The compromise caused Ohio to withdraw its objections to Michigan statehood, and Michigan joined the Union in 1837.

Continued career
Lyon was elected as a non-voting Delegate to the U.S. Congress for the Michigan Territory, serving from 1833 to 1835. On December 11, 1833, he presented a formal petition to Congress requesting Michigan's admission into the Union. Congress delayed consideration of statehood, in part due to a dispute with Ohio over the Toledo Strip and also in part due to opposition from southern states to admit another free state.

From May 11 to June 24, 1835, he was a member of the convention that drafted the first Michigan Constitution, which voters adopted in October, 1835. In November 1835, Lyon was elected as U.S. Senator. However Michigan's delegation to Congress was seated as "spectators", pending Michigan's admission as a state. Upon Michigan's admission as a state on January 26, 1837, Lyon served as a full U.S. Senator until 1839.

On March 28, 1836, Lyon was a witness to the Treaty of Washington of 1836, in which the Ottawa and Chippewa nations of Indians ceded much of the land in the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. He was also witness to a separate treaty on May 9, 1836, with the Chippewa in which additional land was ceded.

He did not run for reelection in 1839 and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan from 1837 to 1839, and was appointed Indian commissioner at La Pointe, Wisconsin, in 1839. He was elected as a Democrat from the newly formed 2nd district in Michigan to the 28th Congress, serving one term from March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1845. He was the first person to represent Michigan in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House. In both houses of Congress he served on the Committee on Public Lands. He did not run for reelection to the U.S. House in 1844.

Later career
After leaving Congress, Lyon was appointed by President James K. Polk as U.S. Surveyor General for Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. He moved the office for this post from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Detroit, Michigan, and served from 1845 to 1850.

Lyon was also a major financial backer of Hiram Moore, an inventor and a founder of the village of Climax, Michigan. Moore reportedly invented a working farm machine in the 1830s and 1840s that "combined" the functions of a threshing machine and a reaper, decades before combines were commonly available. Moore's designs were allegedly copied by Cyrus McCormick and despite many years of legal wrangling, Moore was unsuccessful in pursuing his patent claims.

He also owned a large tract of land in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and engaged in a feud over platting the area with the other major land owner, Louis Campau. Lyon wanted to call it the village of Kent rather than Grand Rapids. Lyon is also remembered in Grand Rapids for attempting to commercialize salt deposits in the city by boring a hole and extracting salt from the brine water below.

Lyon professed the Swedenborgian religious faith and was an active advocate for temperance until he later became affiliated with the Washingtonian movement, which advocated the total abstinence from consuming alcohol.

Death and burial
Lyon never married, and had no children. He died at the Detroit home of his nephew George W. Thayer on September 24, 1851. Lyon was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.

Legacy
The Michigan locales South Lyon; Lyon Township, Oakland County; Lyon Township, Roscommon County; Lyon Lake; and Lyons Township are all named after Lyon. Notably, in 1836, Lucius Lyon purchased much of the property in a small village in Ionia County, Michigan, and renamed it Lyons. He platted the village, established the first post office and installed his brother, Truman, as the first postmaster, although he never lived in the village.

Lyon Street and Lyon Square, both located in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, are named after him. In 2008, city leaders erected a bronze statue of Lyon's likeness downtown, as part of a "Community Legends" initiative intended to pay tribute to pivotal figures in Grand Rapids history.

title: Lucius Lyon


text:
Sigismond Thalberg

Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was an Austrian composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.

Family
Thalberg was born in Pâquis near Geneva on 8 January 1812. Thalberg asserted that he was the illegitimate son of Moritz, Prince of Dietrichstein and Maria Julia Bydeskuty von Ipp, from a Hungarian family of lower nobility. In 1820, Julia married Baron Alexander Ludwig (an ennobled Jewish Viennese family ). According to Thalberg's birth certificate, he was the son of Joseph Thalberg and Fortunée Stein, both from Frankfurt-am-Main.

Early life
Little is known about Thalberg's childhood and early youth. It is possible that his mother had brought him to Vienna at the age of 10 (the same year in which the 10-year-old Franz Liszt arrived there with his parents). According to Thalberg's own account, he attended the first performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony on 7 May 1824, in the Kärntnerthortheater.

There is no evidence as to Thalberg's early teachers. Baroness von Wetzlar, his putative mother, who according to Wurzbach was occupied with his education during his childhood and early youth, was a brilliant amateur pianist. It may be therefore that she gave him his first instruction at the piano.

In spring 1826, Thalberg studied with Ignaz Moscheles in London. Moscheles, according to a letter to Felix Mendelssohn dated 14 August 1836, had the impression that Thalberg had already reached a level at which no further help would be needed in order to become a great artist. Thalberg's first public performance in London was on 17 May 1826. In Vienna, 6 April 1827, he played the first movement of Hummel's Piano Concerto No. 3 in B minor, later playing the Adagio and the Rondo on 6 May 1827. After this, Thalberg performed regularly in Vienna. His repertoire was mainly classical, including concertos by Hummel, Mozart and Beethoven. He also performed chamber music. In the year 1827, his Op. 1, a fantasy and variations on melodies from Carl Maria von Weber's Euryanthe, was published by Tobias Haslinger.

In 1830, Thalberg met Mendelssohn and Frédéric Chopin in Vienna. Their letters show their opinion that Thalberg's main strength was his astonishing technical skills. Further information can be found in the diary of the 10-year-old Clara Wieck. She had heard Thalberg on 14 May 1830 at a concert which he gave in the theatre of Leipzig. He had played his own Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 5 and a fantasy that he had also composed. Two days before, Clara had played the first solo of John Field's Piano Concerto No. 2 to Thalberg, and, together with him, the first movement of Hummel's Sonata for Piano 4-Hands, Op. 51. Her diary, edited by her father Friedrich Wieck, notes Thalberg as "very accomplished". His playing was clear and precise, also being very strong and expressive.

In the early 1830s, Thalberg studied counterpoint under Simon Sechter. As a result, passages of canon and fugue can be found in some of Thalberg's fantasies of this time. An example is his Grande fantaisie et variations sur 'Norma', Op. 12, which contains a march-theme and variations (one of them a canon), and a fugue on a lyrical theme. The fantasy was published in 1834 and became very popular; but on publication, it was criticised by some—for example, by Robert Schumann.

Thalberg successfully changed his composing style, reducing the counterpoint. Several works in his new style, among them the 2 Airs russes variés, Op. 17, were even enthusiastically praised by Schumann.

Early virtuoso career

In November 1835, Thalberg arrived in Paris. He performed on 16 November 1835 at a private concert of the Austrian ambassador Count Rudolph Apponyi. On 24 January 1836, he took part in a concert of the "Society of the Paris Conservatoire concerts", playing his Grande fantaisie, Op. 22. Thalberg was praised by many of the most prominent artists, among them Rossini and Meyerbeer.

Chopin didn't share his fellow artists' enthusiasm. After hearing Thalberg play, in Vienna, Chopin wrote:"He plays splendidly, but he's not my man. He's younger than I and pleases the ladies—makes potpourris on La Muette—produces his piano and forte with the pedal, not the hand—takes tenths as I do octaves and wears diamond shirt studs."

His début at the Conservatoire concert was in the Revue et gazette musicale of 31 January 1836, enthusiastically reviewed by Hector Berlioz. Le Ménestrel of 13 March 1836 wrote:"Moscheles, Kalkbrenner, Chopin, Liszt and Herz are and will always be for me great artists, but Thalberg is the creator of a new art which I do not know how to compare to anything that existed before him . . . Thalberg is not only the premier pianist of the world, he is also an extremely distinguished composer."On 16 April 1836, Thalberg gave his first solo concert in Paris, and the success was again sensational. According to Apponyi's diary, Thalberg made a profit of 10,000 francs (say 5000 bottles of fine Burgundy wine of €12 or US$13 a bottle in 2024 money), a sum that no virtuoso had gained before from a single concert.

Liszt had heard of Thalberg's successes during the winter 1835–36 in Geneva, in spring 1836 in Lyon, and in Paris. In his letter to Marie d'Agoult of 29 April 1836, he compared himself to the exiled Napoleon. In a review of 8 January 1837, in the Revue et Gazette musicale, Liszt controversially denigrated Thalberg's compositions.

After Thalberg returned to Paris in the beginning of February 1837, a rivalry developed between him and Liszt. On 4 February, Thalberg heard Liszt play in concert for the first time in his life. Thalberg was stupefied. While Liszt then gave over a dozen concerts, Thalberg gave only one concert on 12 March 1837 in the Paris Conservatoire, and a further concert on 2 April 1837. In addition, on 31 March 1837, both Liszt and Thalberg played at a benefit concert to raise money for Italian refugees.

In May 1837, Thalberg gave a concert in London, following which The Athenaeum gave an enthusiastic review. Such enthusiasm followed Thalberg throughout the following years. His Fantasia on Rossini's 'Moses', Op. 33 became one of the most famous concert pieces of the 19th century, and was still praised by Berlioz in his Mémoires (1870). The fantasy was published at end of March 1839; in May 1839, Clara Schumann studied and was delighted by it. In 1848, the fantasy was played by Liszt's daughter Blandine.

First steps
After Thalberg's stay in London in May 1837, he made a first, short tour, giving concerts in several towns in Great Britain, but he became ill and soon returned to Vienna. In spring 1838, he gave concerts in Paris again. A note in the Revue et Gazette musicale of 4 March 1838 shows that Thalberg's fame had in the meantime grown. He was now called "the most famous of our composers". Thalberg left Paris on 18 April 1838, travelling to Vienna, the very same day that Liszt gave there a charity concert for the benefit of the victims of a flood in Hungary. Thalberg invited Liszt for dinner, and the two great pianists dined together on the 28th with Prince Moritz Dietrichstein, who told Liszt that he was delighted to have "Castor and Pollux" together in his home. During the evening, Thalberg remarked to Liszt with admirable candour: "In comparison with you, I have never enjoyed more than a succes d'estime in Vienna". They dined again the next day, after Liszt's concert on 29 April 1838. Liszt and Thalberg were both dinner guests of Metternich. During Liszt's stay in Vienna, Thalberg did not perform at all.

In October 1838, Thalberg became acquainted with Schumann. According to Schumann's diary, Thalberg played from memory études by Chopin, Joseph Christoph Kessler, and Ferdinand Hiller. He also played with great skill and inspiration works by Beethoven, Schubert, and Dussek, as well sight-reading Schumann's Kreisleriana, Op. 16. On 27 November 1838, Thalberg took part in a charity concert, playing his new Fantasia on Rossini's 'La Donna del Lago', Op. 40 ("The Lady of the Lake" after Walter Scott). At one of his own "Farewell concerts" on 1 December 1838, he played three of his 12 Etudes, Op. 26; his Op. 33 (Moses); and his Fantasia on Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Op. 39. As a result, in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik of 8 March 1839, an enthusiastic review by Schumann of the second book (likely Nos. 6–12) of Thalberg's Op. 26 appeared, concluding "He is a God when sitting at the piano."

First extended tour
After Thalberg's "Farewell concert" in Vienna, he began his first extended European tour. On 19 and 21 December 1838, he gave two concerts in Dresden, and he performed twice at the Court. Receiving honours from the King of Saxony, he told him, "Wait until you have heard Liszt!" In Leipzig, he gave a concert on 28 December 1838, attended by Mendelssohn, who, on the following day—in a letter to his sister Fanny—gave an enthusiastic account. Mendelssohn became a friend and admirer of Thalberg.

After a second concert in Leipzig on 30 December 1838, Thalberg travelled to Berlin to give a series of concerts there. Via Danzig, Mitau, and other places, he performed at St. Petersburg, receiving excellent reviews. From St. Petersburg, he went on a steamboat to London where he gave further concerts. He then journeyed to Brussels to meet his violinist friend Charles de Bériot. There, he gave several private performances.

After Brussels, Thalberg arrived in the Rhineland, where he gave a series of concerts with Bériot. He returned to London at the beginning of February 1840, and then travelled from London to Paris together with Baroness Wetzlar, his mother, awaiting the arrival of Liszt.

Interlude
Thalberg had already announced in December 1838—during his stay in Leipzig—that he would take time off at the end of his tour, and did not perform at any concert during his stay in spring 1840 in Paris.

At this time Mendelssohn, after meeting Liszt, compared him to Thalberg in a letter to his mother:"Thalberg, with his composure, and within his more restricted sphere, is more nearly perfect as a real virtuoso; and after all this is the standard by which Liszt must also be judged, for his compositions are inferior to his playing, and, in fact, are calculated solely for virtuosi."After the end of the Parisian concert season, Thalberg travelled as tourist in the Rhineland. In the beginning of June 1840, he attended a music festival directed by Louis Spohr in Aachen. He got an invitation from the Russian Tsarina and performed at a court-concert in Bad Ems, but this was his only concert during his stay in the Rhineland. According to a note in the Revue et Gazette musicale of 2 August 1840, Bériot would get married two days later in Elsene (Ixelles). His bride was a young lady Maria Huber, born in Vienna, from Germany. She was an orphan and had been adopted by Prince von Dietrichstein, Thalberg's father. It may therefore be presumed that Thalberg wanted to take part in the wedding celebration. During previous visits to the Rhineland, he wanted only to relax. He also taught Bériot's son, the pianist Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot.

In the Revue et Gazette musicale of 9 May 1841, an essay by Fétis appeared—Études d'exécution transcendente—in which he praised Liszt for a new composing style which had been stimulated by Thalberg's challenge. In letters to Fétis of 17 May 1841, and to Simon Löwy of 20 May 1841, Liszt agreed with this analysis.

1840–1848
Thalberg performed in Brussels in fall 1840. He then travelled to Frankfurt-am-Main, where he stayed until January 1841. It had been announced that Thalberg would give concerts in Paris again in spring 1841, but he changed his plans. In Frankfurt, he only took part in a charity concert on 15 January 1841, playing his fantasies on La Donna del Lago and Les Huguenots. He was busily composing new works; his Grande fantaisie sur la Sérénade et le Menuet de 'Don Juan' , Op. 42 and his Fantasia on Rossini's 'Semiramide', Op. 51 date from this time.

In the second half of January 1841, Thalberg travelled from Frankfurt to Weimar, where he performed three times at the Grand Duke's court and also in the Theatre. He then went to Leipzig, where he visited Mendelssohn and Schumann. On 8 February 1841, he gave a solo concert in Leipzig, enthusiastically reviewed by Schumann, playing his Op. 42 (Don Juan); his Andante final de 'Lucia di Lammermoor' , Op. 44; his Theme and Etude, Op. 45; and his Grand Caprice on Bellini's 'La Sonnambula', Op. 46.

Clara Schumann (née Wieck) noted in her diary:"On Monday Thalberg visited us and played to the delightment beautiful on my piano. An even more accomplished mechanism than his does not exist, and many of his piano effects must ravish the connoisseurs. He does not fail a single note, his passages can be compared to rows of pearls, his octaves are the most beautiful ones I ever heard."Mendelssohn's student Horsley wrote of the meeting of his teacher and Thalberg:"We were a trio, and after dinner Mendelssohn asked Thalberg if he had written anything new, whereupon Thalberg sat down to the piano and played his Fantasia from the 'Sonnambula' . . . At the close there are several runs of Chromatique Octaves, which at that time had not previously heard, and of which peculiar passages Thalberg was undoubtedly the inventor. Mendelssohn was much struck with the novel effect produced, and greatly admired its ingenuity. . . he told me to be with him the next afternoon at 2 o'clock. When I arrived at his study door I heard him playing to himself, and practising continually this passage which had so struck him the previous day. I waited for at least half an hour listening in wonderment to the facility with which he applied his own thoughts to the cleverness of Thalberg's mechanism, and then went into the room. He laughed and said: 'Listen to this, is it not almost like Thalberg?'"After his stay in Leipzig, Thalberg gave concerts in Breslau and Warsaw. He then travelled to Vienna and gave two successful concerts there. In a review in the Leipziger Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Thalberg was described as Liszt's only rival.

In winter 1841–1842, Thalberg gave concerts in Italy, while Liszt, from end of December 1841 until beginning of March 1842, gave a series of concerts in Berlin. Thalberg matched Liszt's successes in Berlin. He then returned via Marseilles, Toulon, and Dijon, arriving on 11 April 1842, in Paris. On the next day, he gave his first—and on 21 April, his second—concert. According to an account by Berlioz, Thalberg made a profit of 12,000 francs from his first concert, and one of 13,000 francs from his second. The concerts were reviewed in the Revue et Gazette musicale by Henri Blanchard who—two years before, in his review of Liszt's concert on 20 April 1840—had nominated Thalberg as Cesar, Octavian or Napoleon of the piano. In spring 1842, Blanchard reached for new superlatives even surpassing his former ones. In his review of Thalberg's second concert, he wrote that Thalberg would in 100 years have been canonized—and by all coming pianists, be invoked with—the name of Holy Thalberg. According to the account by Berlioz, at the end of Thalberg's second concert, a golden crown was thrown onto the stage.

In addition to his own concerts, Thalberg took part in a concert of Émile Prudent. He then travelled via Brussels to London. Later, in 1842, Thalberg was decorated with the Cross of the French Legion of Honour. He travelled to Vienna where he stayed until fall 1842. In the second half of November until 12 December 1842, he made a further tour in Great Britain, and in January 1843, he returned to Paris. At the end of March 1843, he performed at a private concert of Pierre Erard (nephew of the piano and harp maker Sébastien Érard), but this was his only concert appearance during that season. =

In March 1843, Heinrich Heine wrote about Thalberg:"His performance is so gentlemanly, so entirely without any forced acting the genius, so entirely without that well-known brashness that makes a poor cover for inner insecurity. Healthy women love him. So do sickly women, even though he does not engage their sympathy by epileptic seizures at the piano, even though he does not play at their overstrung, delicate nerves, even though he neither electrifies them nor galvanizes them."In winter 1843–44, Thalberg gave concerts in Italy again. At the end of March 1844, he returned to Paris, where—at the same time—Liszt was also expected. Liszt arrived on April 8 and gave on 16 April a first concert, at which he played his Réminiscences de Norma, S. 394, published shortly before. When composing this fantasy, Liszt had put many Thalbergian effects into it. In his later years, he told August Göllerich, one of his pupils: "As I met Thalberg, I said to him: 'Here I have cribbed everything from you.' 'Yes,' he replied, 'there are Thalberg-passages included which are indeed indecent.'"Shortly after Liszt's concert on 11 May 1844, Thalberg left Paris. He travelled to London and gave a concert there on 28 May 1844. At a further concert in London, he played a concerto for three pianos by J. S. Bach together with Moscheles and Mendelssohn. He also took part in a concert of Julius Benedict. In August 1844, Thalberg returned to Paris, where he stayed until 1845. During the winter 1844–45, he gave a piano course for selected students at the Paris Conservatoire. On April 2, 1845, he gave a concert in Paris, playing his Fantasia on Rossini's Barber of Seville, Op. 63; his Grande fantaisie sur les motifs de 'Don Pasquale', Op. 67; and his Fantasia on Auber's 'La Muette de Portici' , Op. 52—as well as his Marche funèbre, Op. 59 and his Barcarolle, Op. 60.

In spring 1848, in Vienna, Liszt met Thalberg once more. On 3 May 1848, Thalberg gave a benefit concert which Liszt attended. According to an account by his pupil, Liszt was sitting on the stage, carefully listening, and loudly applauding. It had been 11 years since he had first heard his rival's playing.

Concerts in America
On 22 July 1843, Thalberg married Francesca ("Cecchina"), the eldest daughter of Luigi Lablache, first bass at the Théâtre des Italiens in Paris. Thalberg went with his wife to Italy where they stayed for the winter 1843–44.

In 1855, after Thalberg's operas Florinda, Op. 71 and Cristina di Svezia had failed, he realized his ambition to give concerts in America. From July to December 1855, he performed with overwhelming success in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. He returned to Europe, but—after a stay of several months in Paris—went on the steamboat Africa to North America, where he arrived on 3 October 1856, in New York. After Thalberg's debut there on 10 November 1856, a performance marathon ensued, during which he spent eight months giving concerts five or six days a week. Occasionally, he gave two or even three concerts a day. On Sundays, concerts were generally only allowed if they presented "sacred music", but several times Thalberg performed anyhow, playing pieces like his Op. 33 (Moses), based on a prayer from Rossini's opera, or his Huguenots-fantasy with the chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" as main subject. His Andante, Op. 32 and his Op. 59 (Marche funèbre) were also allowed.

Thalberg's first American season ended with a concert on 29 July 1857 in Saratoga Springs. On 15 September 1857, he gave another concert in New York, starting his second season. With very few intermissions, he was busy until his last concert on 12 June 1858, in Peoria. By then, he had visited nearly 80 cities and given more than 320 regular concerts in the United States, and 20 concerts in Canada. In addition, he gave at least 20 free concerts for many thousands of schoolchildren. Thalberg also gave a series of solo matinées in New York and in Boston at which he played own works as well as chamber music. From 1857, the violinist Henri Vieuxtemps toured with Thalberg. They played works by Beethoven and duos composed by Thalberg. Thalberg's financial success on these tours was immense. He got an average of about $500 per concert and probably made more than $150,000 during his two seasons—the equivalent today of about $3 million. A large part of his appeal on these tours was his unpretentious and unassuming personality; he did not resort to advertising gimmicks or cheap crowd-pleasing tricks—instead, he offered superbly polished renditions of his own compositions, which had already been well known in America. Upon rising from the piano after such performances, he was always the same quiet, respectable, self-possessed, middle-aged gentleman that he was at the dinner table of his hotel. He played works by Beethoven, among them the sonatas Nos. 12 ("Funeral March") and 14 ("Moonlight"), as well as the first movements of the Third and Fifth Piano Concertos. His cadenza to Beethoven's third concerto was admired. He also played works by J. S. Bach, Chopin, Hummel, Mendelssohn, and several other composers. The New-York Musical Review and Gazette of July 24, 1858, wrote:"Thalberg . . . quite unexpectedly closed what has been a most brilliant career—completely successful, musically, giving to the talented and genial artist abundance of both fame and money. There is probably not another virtuoso, whether with instrument or voice (Liszt alone excepted), who could have excited a moiety of the enthusiasm, or gathered a fragment of the dollars, which Thalberg has excited and gathered."The unexpected close referred to the announcement in June 1858 in Chicago that Thalberg would make only one of three scheduled appearances before immediately returning to Europe. In fact, Thalberg did not even perform at that concert, but very hastily left instead. His wife, Francesca, had arrived from Europe following reports that Thalberg had an extra-marital liaison. This caused further confusion when the opera singer Zare Thalberg debuted at Covent Garden in 1875. She had been one of his students, but she was misidentified as his daughter.

Later years
The reason as to why Francesca had left for America and returned, with her husband, to Europe is unknown. The death of Thalberg's father-in-law, Lablache, on 23 January 1858, could be one reason. A further possibility is that there may have been consideration of legitimizing Thalberg to enable him to succeed his natural father, Prince Franz Joseph von Dietrichstein.

There are unsubstantiated reports that, after his return to Europe, Thalberg settled in Posillipo, near Naples, in a villa that had belonged to Lablache. The reality is that he dwelled at Viale Calascione, 5 in the Pizzofalcone section of Naples, not far from the elite Nunziatella Military School. Thalberg's residence at Viale Calascione, 5 is confirmed both by a plaque on the building and by a monument to him in the courtyard. For the following four years, Thalberg lived there in silence. In spring 1862, he gave concerts in Paris and London once again, and was as successful as ever. After a last tour in Brazil in 1863, he put an end to his career. He considered taking up a position as a piano professor at the conservatory in Naples, but he did not have the prerequisite of having an Italian nationality. One year later, he received an offer from the same conservatory, but he refused. The claim of Italian pianist and music teacher that Thalberg published instructive editions of J. S. Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" and Muzio Clementi's "Gradus ad Parnassum" has been recently disputed by Italian pianist and musicologist. When Thalberg died on 27 April 1871, he left behind a collection of several hundred autographs by famous composers, among them J. S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, and others; even Liszt. The collection was sold after Thalberg's death. He is buried at Naples' Poggioreale cemetery.

Composer
In the 1830s and the 1840s, Thalberg's style was a major force in European piano playing. He was greatly in fashion and was imitated by others. In 1852, Wilhelm von Lenz wrote:"The piano playing of the present day, to tell the truth, consists only of Thalberg simple, Thalberg amended, and Thalberg exaggerated; scratch what is written for the piano, and you will find Thalberg."Ten years later, on 13 June 1862, a London correspondent of the Revue et gazette musicale  wrote:"Thalberg was indeed imitated like no other; his manner was parodied, exaggerated, turned upside down, tortured, and it may have happened to all of us to curse more than once this Thalbergian school which brought us this avalanche of notes, these arpeggios up and down, with, or more often than not without the slightest song in the middle. The apostles have altered the word of the master. But when we return to the source, we are reconciled with him and we prostrate ourselves again, as twenty years ago, as in the time of youth and enthusiasm." In the late 19th century, Thalberg's fame had come to depend on his association with a single piano technique: the "three-hand effect". Carl Friedrich Weitzmann, in his Geschichte des Klavierspiels (1879), wrote:"His bravura pieces, fantasies on melodies from Rossini's Mosè and La donna del lago, on motifs from Bellini's Norma and on Russian folk-songs, became extraordinarily popular through his own, brilliant execution; however, they treat their subjects always in one and the same way, [namely] . . . to let the tones of a melody be played in the medium octave of the keyboard now by the thumb of the right, now of the left hand, while the rest of the fingers are executing arpeggios filling the whole range of the keyboard."

Discography

 * Grand Concerto pour le piano avec Accompagnement de l’Orchestre, f-minor, op. 5. (Francesco Nicolosi, Razumowsky Symphony Orchestra, A. Mogrelia, NAXOS 8.553701)
 * 12 Etudes op. 26, Fantasie op. 33, Fantasie op. 40 (Stefan Irmer, MDG 2009)
 * Fantasies on Operas by Bellini opp. 12, 10, 49, 9 (Nicolosi, NAXOS 8.555498)
 * Fantasies on Operas by Verdi, Rossini and Bellini opp. 3, 70, 77, 78, 81, 82 (Nicolosi, MARCO POLO 8.223367)
 * Fantasies on Operas by Donizetti opp. 68, 67, 50, 44, 66 (Nicolosi, MARCO POLO 8.223365)
 * Fantasies on Operas by Rossini opp. 51, 40, 63, 33 (Nicolosi, NAXOS 8.555501)
 * Soirees de Pausilippe opp. 75 (Nicolosi, MARCO POLO 8.223807)
 * Lacrimosa, Fantasie on Don Giovanni (Cyprien Katsaris,, SONY SK 52551)
 * Apotheose & Fantasies on French Operas (Mark Viner, Piano Classics, PCL10178)
 * Opera Fantasies (Viner, Piano Classics, PCL0092)

title: Sigismond Thalberg


text:
George Spaulding

George L. Spaulding (December 26, 1864 – June 1, 1921) was an American composer.

Spaulding was born in Newburgh, New York. He studied piano with local teachers. When he was sixteen he moved to Brooklyn, where he studied harmony for a short time with an organist of that city. Since that time he was entirely self-taught. For many years he was in the music publishing and selling business, first as a music clerk, and then in partnership with others.

His first adventures in musical composition were in the form of popular songs. Among these were "The Volunteer Organist", "Two Little Girls in Blue", and others which had very large sales at the time.

It was discovered, however, that he had a splendid talent for writing simple piano pieces with well defined melodies and effective harmony. These he turned out in great number, among his most popular being: "Sing, Robin", "Sing - Pretty Little Song Bird", "Airy Fairies", "Child's Good Night", "Dollie's Dream", "June Roses", "Just a Bunch of Flowers", "Mountain Pink" and "Dreaming Poppies".

His Tunes and Rhymes for the Playroom, Souvenirs of the Masters, and Well Known Fables Set to Music are among the most widely used collections of easy piano pieces in book form. Two little operettas for children, A Day in Flowerdom and The Isle of Jewels placed Spaulding in the front rank among writers of juvenile entertainment material. His wife, Jessica Moore, a talented poet, wrote many of his verses.

Spaulding's works have served an important purpose in juvenile education. His elementary technical books have also made an interesting place for themselves.

By far the greater majority of his works were published by the Theo. Presser Co.

title: George Spaulding