Finding Lost Recording From the 1880s

An anonymous reader writes "The NY Times recently ran a story on the discovery of a cache of wax cylinder records, recorded in Europe in the 1880s, of Otto von Bismarck, Helmuth von Moltke, and various musicians. 'In June 1889, Edison sent Wangemann to Europe, initially to ensure that the phonograph at the Paris World’s Fair remained in working order. After Paris, Wangemann toured his native Germany, recording musical artists and often visiting the homes of prominent members of society who were fascinated with the talking machine. Until now, the only available recording from Wangemann’s European trip has been a well-known and well-worn cylinder of Brahms playing an excerpt from his first Hungarian Dance. That recording is so damaged "that many listeners can scarcely discern the sound of a piano, which has in turn tarnished the reputations of both Wangemann and the Edison phonograph of the late 1880s," Dr. Feaster said. "These newly unearthed examples vindicate both."'"

Comments

Re:Handle them carefully

[fleebait]

Those old recordings, really are more delicate than eggshells. When I was 5 or 6, in 1949, or 1950, I was at my friend's house. His father was a professor at University of Minnesota -- and had a box of old cylinders on a table in the basement. My friend showed them to me, and I proceeded to break, two, or three. I remember one being so delicate, just picking it up out of the box, by putting my finger through, was enough to break it. They were dull reddish brown, and I always thought they were made out of clay or plastic. Still feel guilty about it..

First recording of 'fuck'

[DNS-and-BIND]

Click here to hear, from March 11, 1885, the first time the word 'fuck' was ever recorded. (Disc 3) Some fellow is making a test recording of 'mary had a little lamb' and screws it up in the middle, uttering 'oh fuck' before stopping and restarting the recording. There is no evidence he meant to say fuck, it was meant for internal use within the company. It survives to us today.

I wonder who the first person to say 'shit' was?

Re:First recording of 'fuck'

[Deep Esophagus]

No, it's rather clear (although I ran it through Audacity's noise removal first, so I suppose I cheated). In fact I was so surprised by the sudden exclamation of "Oh, fuck!" that I went back to the website to read more detail about the recording and confirm that I had heard correctly.

Unscripted history in the making is the best kind of history.

WRT to the stilted speaking style, also of some amusement (to me anyway) is the tendency in turn-of-the-century recordings to use operatic divas to record Tin Pan Alley popular songs. You end up with this hilarious combination of BBC-perfect pronunciation and trilled R's with whimsical lyrics, often using faux-black dialect.

Re:Bismarck Copyright Term Extension Act

[Trepidity]

Oddly enough, he's less famous for some things about politics he did actually say, which are widely used, but less widely remembered as originating with Bismarck:

"Politics is not an exact science."

"Politics is the art of the possible."

He's also the source of the prediction: "If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans."

Lost Mark Twain recordings

[Creosote]

It has long been known that Mark Twain dictated part of his novel The American Claimant onto Edison cylinders. It was an experiment that he never repeated. Strangely, for someone whose manner of speaking was celebrated and often described during his lifetime, no one else ever thought to record him for posterity.

The American Claimant cylinders have long since gone missing. Keep your eye out for them in antique shops or your relatives' attics—if found, they would be worth who knows how many thousands or millions of dollars on the open market.