A little early dimmer history for today.
Nicola Sabbatini was the first person known to have written about dimming of theatrical stage lighting.
His classic Manual for Constructing Theatrical Scenes and Machine [Pratica di fabricar scene e macchine ne ‘teatri), Ravenna, 1638 has an illustration of the first stage light dimmer. The first analog control also..... :-)
Not only did he describe the first dimming in this work, he went on to write about using reflectors to create spotlights, and many other aspects of theatre engineering. I was fortunate enough to have seen an actual copy of this book at the Compulite Lighting Museum in Israel. You can catch a glimpse of it in their museum tour video here. I also got to operate a salt water dimmer while I was there, but that's another story...
And to see some of this vintage stuff in action, check out this behind the scenes video of the Drottningholm Court Theatre in Sweden. They bill themselves as the worlds most genuine early opera experience.
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