Edison phonograph cylinder (1888): Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) - The Lost Chord & Speech

[EmmetEarwax]

"Lost Chord" appears to be badly damaged near the end, mostly surface noise. Wax cylinders prior to 1890 appear to be rare and ruinous. None of the original tin foil recordings are playable.

[pianopera]

There's a very interesting article online, "Could Liszt have made a recording?"

Who knows? In 1886, Liszt visited London. Colonel Georges Gouraud represented Edison's interests in Britain from 1873, and had also demonstrated Edison's earliest phonograph (recording on tinfoil) in London before 1880. By 1886, Gouraud had been experimenting with the phonograph himself, and he also made this recording of Arthur Sullivan in 1888.

Liszt *could have made* a primitive tinfoil recording in London...!

[Professor6871]

Remarable recording of somebody of over a hundred 121 years ago.

[verdew8181]

Gilbert & Sullivan's "semiclassical" operettas are some of the most wonderfully entertaining and also most underappreciated music ever written. I would estimate that something like 99% of the world's people will never hear any of them and will never know what they missed.

[aLcatrazConnectioNz]

Vay amk.

[ferociousgumby]

Whew. That's primitive. But by 1900, recordings had improved substantially. By 1920 they had very little surface noise, except if they were scratched.

[chrisz78]

@ACDC392333 If you read my previous comment as "deification" you are mistaking me badly. Among early record producers, he is more of a tragicomic figure, as he definitely had the technical know-how to make better recordings than his competitors, but he was a complete blockhead in artistic matters, so he gave us excellent recordings of much "hideous and bad music", as Sullivan puts it. He did so even though that meant financial loss, to satisfy his own (lack of) taste - vanity rather than greed!

[RoninAvenger]

God its so weird to think that this was recorded in victorian england, God its weird as heck

[GeorgeVreelandHill]

Thank you for sharing such a historical piece with us.

It really is beautiful.

George Vreeland Hill

[rweerakkody4565]

this is a beautiful musical piece....dont mind the shshshshsh sound of the wax

[jfsanin]

thanks for sharing this historical document.

[12fig]

BACK IN MY DAY,YA HAD TO LISTEN TO SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP WHEN YA PLAYED MOOSIC,AND IT WAS STILL SO QUIET,YEH HAD TO SHOVE YOUR EAR UP TO HEAR IT!

[Firstworldleader]

Dude was pretty funny.

[sbd650]

This is just AMAZING!

[showhiminbailey]

That is Spooky! Wonderful - but scary to hear the man himself. Wow.

[acesi0486]

do i hear the delay effect in there?

[darksound1973]

Edison Phonograph works still makes this formula for historical reasons. They are not paraffin but rather Ceresine, which is very close, but is a natural wax, it was the main part, followed by stearic, and a little beeswax, some records from this era have a little caranauba wax added to make them harder, within months Aluminum and Lead Stearates were used, some of the first steartate ones decomposed the first summer, and are lost, by mid 1889 the formula would change little until 1901.

[MacJaxonManOfAction]

"...so much hideous and bad music may be put on record for ever"

What an extraordinarily prescient man Mr Sullivan was. But I'm guessing that even he could not foresee the hellbound travesty known as "Mr Blobby", nor the mindless abomination that was "Agadoo".

[PriceRight89]

@MacJaxonManOfAction But I guess could see Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber coming.

[Banzeken]

It is such a fascinating thing to hear someone from the 19th Century speak. It sounds very respectful and clean (with the exception of the recording's quality)!

This video is one of many reasons that I'm thankful for the Internet ;)

[lilysea]

Wow!

How right was he about the hideous and bad music though? We certainly have a glut of that, as he feared.

: )

[daniel15671]

It's almost like the video footage of the divers going through the underwater wreckage of the Titanic or some other spooky relic of the past.

[PrincessZelda613]

I quite enjoy listening to music from this era. Alas, recorded music from the 1880s is scarce, but of what there is, it always is a treat for these ears of mine.

[NotHomelessAnymore]

It's so spooky hearing these early recordings. It's like a very murky window into a lost time.

[joyfulyes]

yes, exactly

[ilove1994]

its a early recording its from 1888 man & this is what music sound like back then until the 1910s then it got more clear & this is a awesome recording & they where also just testing with a new invention of the time & so thats all i have too say but no need foe a mean comments your just giving classical music a dirty felling & i HATE THAT.

[HTprods]

How extraordinary. it's very strange to hear a 19th century man talk. i would expect this person to sound really posh and rich due to the fact he would be important enough to go to such an event,but he sounds like a normal person. i'm only a kid,but this is very intresting.

[Awesomo4003]

was this during an era were people still believed in witchcraft? because it would be a bad day to be thomas edison :)

[ridderopaard]

hahaha, awesome recording me and a mate had to laugh when we heard/read

'' astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record for ever. ''

oh what great things he had forseen ;), allthough it's amazing that now we can plug in our mp3's and listen to what ever we like, in such a small form, and such a quality.

[Josh3455]

I hear a lady laugh after he said He has his lucid intervals".

[locksmith8]

Thank you for taking the trouble to upload this. A voice I never thought I would hear. There is a sense of great nostalgia about it, desspite all the clicks and plops. It was more emotional than a recording of Beethoven or Mozart, at least it was for me. I wonder if a recording of w.s. Gilbert exists. I think there are a few feet of film but I could be wrong.

[GerardvanR]

This recording is very valuable. If we had such recordings of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert..........

[vstasov]

d60944, thank you for your always interesting commentaries, not to mention the precious documents you provide.

[leadbiscuit]

Incredible.... to hear a voice from over a century ago. Speaks volumes of what humans have invented and the current advancement of technology.

[totoroben]

wow, its kind of creepy with that swish swish noise

[BSNFabricating]

If Edison knew the music industry would lead to Britney Spears and Marilyn Manson he'd have said, "Never mind, I'll invent the toaster instead..."

[blofeld39]

Well, Edison DIDN'T invent it; he just stole everybody else's patents, instead. ;)

For myself, I can only say that I am truly grateful to have been able to hear the voice of Sir Arthur Sullivan, recorded in 1888, on this day in 2009. I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced... :)

[edisonphonographs]

Actually a french inventor named Leon Scot invented the first machine for recording a visual image of sound that could not be played back until recently. Edison was the first to invent a machine that could both record and reproduce sound.

[blofeld39]

Actually, though Scott invented the visual representation of sound, Frank Lambert invented the phonograph; Edison merely stole his patent when Lambert worked for him.

[edisonphonographs]

Lambert began to experiment with phonograph improvements after edison already invented it. Lambert did make a recording in lead that can still be heard today.

Thanks

[DeutscheRossiya]

@blofeld39 Lmao Blofeld you just hating cause your dumb as dirt and he was intelligent,you are just as butthurt as Tesla,Bet your ugly too XD you couldn't stand that he was beautiful and intelligent Don't rank on Eddy

[ARoadster29]

@BSNFabricating: I dunno about that. Having a large collection of Edison cylinders, brown, black and blue, I can honestly say it's all relative! :-)

[theo9952]

@BSNFabricating

maybe he could guess.... which is why he invented the electric chair,  too...

[ACDC392333]

@BSNFabricating No he wouldnt of. Edison was interested in money not scientific or cultural integrity. Edison wouldve been like "Hell I should sign them and make myself even more rich!" He wouldve loved Britney.

[chrisz78]

@ACDC392333 Nothing could be wronger than this! When you compare Edison's catalogue to that of his competitors Victor and Columbia, you will notice the influence of the old man's personal taste, which leaned heavily to sentimental and religious songs and "old-school" 19th century dance music (waltzes, polkas, mazurkas) - he only very reluctantly included "frivolous" things like foxtrots or jazz near the end of his enterprise, when he probably felt obliged to do so to keep the company going.

[ACDC392333]

@chrisz78 The deification of Edison by some people astounds me. The guy was a straight for profit shark. Just because he had a personal preference doesnt mean he wouldnt sign an artist who would make him a shitload of dough. In fact you supported this statement with your last sentence

[rihartley]

Well he was only the most prolific inventor in history who brought us the electric light, phonograph, moving pictures, brown telephone (Bell invented the black telephone), was instrumental in setting up electrical distributions systems, etc, etc. He had something like 3,000 patents. And he did not profit largely from the invention of the phonograph. Why should you expect him to have good musical taste as well?

[rihartley]

Well he was only the most prolific inventor in history who brought us the electric light, phonograph, moving pictures, brown telephone (Bell invented the black telephone), was instrumental in setting up electrical distributions systems, etc, etc. He had something like 3,000 patents. And he did not profit largely from the invention of the phonograph. Why should you expect him to have good musical taste as well?

[DeutscheRossiya]

@rihartley he was hard of hearing so I guess he could barely hear music.

[DeutscheRossiya]

@ACDC392333 Are you a Tesla fan? sounds like it because you like Tesla are butt hurt.PS.Everyone works for Money he's the biggest pimp.So don't hate on Edison

[ACDC392333]

@DeutscheRossiya I am a Tesla fan. Doesn't mean I hate Edison, but he was a man who used others and employed dirty tactics and that's nigh irrefutable. When it comes to Nikola Tesla, he couldn't keep up a good business model, many of his financial failures should fall squarely on him. Tesla was a better scientist though and there's almost no denying that.

[DeutscheRossiya]

@ACDC392333 So is everyone else a theif if you think about it seriously.

[ACDC392333]

@DeutscheRossiya I dont really get what you mean. Edison took credit for his assistants' work. Tesla has no notorious historical record like that. Alexander Graham Bell fucked people over in the invention of the telephone. Its the way science works/

[DeutscheRossiya]

@ACDC392333 everyone copies deary,Edison was no thief,rather a great man who used his brain for business all he did was improve other people's lousy work. Edison was great,Tesla was an idiot who couldn't do stuff on his own. One man makes a car then everyone else does,that makes them thieves? and if Graham didn't make the phone no one would have even called each other at all,people want free socialism and when a man like edison uses his intelligence for money people go off and talk slander.

[DeutscheRossiya]

@ACDC392333 Tesla was a very horrible person a traitor to his own country and very mean in reality,anyone who met him thought he was an urchin.

[deadguy718]

@BSNFabricating if he knew it would of lead to Justin Bieber he'd blow his brains out.

[kaleidoscopio2006]

why this recording sounds pretty good, and the brahms´s recording sounds that bad? they have been record with only one year of difference, a shame........

[edisonphonographs]

The recording of Brahams was recorded on a wax cylinder. Wax cylinders are very vulnerable to mildew. It sounds to me that the recordng of Brahams has a lot of mildew damage. This is also an early attempt to record on wax and the method was not very good yet. The recording in this video was recorded on a piece of tin foil. A tinfoil recording can only be played back a few times before the foil wears out.

Later cylinder records like the Edison Gold Moulded sound so much better and louder.

[saltburner2]

Edison's tinfoil phonograph came out in 1877, and it was developed by Bell and Tainter in the 1880s using wax coated cardboard cylinders. Edison's 'Improved Phonograph' of June 1888 used paraffine wax, and was used for both the London and Vienna cylinders of 1888-90. The original London cylinders were sent to New Jersey, and were newly transcribed in the 1990s. The Brahms cylinder of 1889 remained in private hands. All transfers derive from Bose's rather primitive 1931 acetate copy.

[Dogsledfan]

Amazing - Sullivan's voice actually sounds like I'd imagined it would. I don't care much for his light operas, but, his more serious works are top-notch. He knew that, in order to make a living as a composer, he'd have to write things that were readily accessible to the masses. Hoping all the while that his better music would one day receive its due as well. That day is here.

[auitane]

The opperetas are great--he wasn't just slumming around with Gilbert to pay the bills. Their plots are well-written (Gilbert was a great dramatist) and usually very funny, and the music shows a great grasp of melody and emotional expression.

[PipePuffer]

Thank you for making this wonderful piece of recorded music history available for all the world to hear.

[lochness11]

1888 !!!! This is truly amazing!! Recording musical history,in it's absolute infancy.

[oldcremona]

"terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record for ever."

Sullivan was clearly clairvoiant. If you doubt this, seach "Brittany Spears" or her contemporaries on YouTube.

[stevevandien]

WONDERFUL recorded history.

[gerardbedecarter]

I agree that Sir Arthur Sullivan wrote some of the most wonderful melodies and songs ever. They are in his comic operas. He was also a master of orchestration and of musical allusion. An ton Rubinstein recorded one word, "nyet' [he declined to play the piano for the Edison cylinder]. Tchaikovsky said a few words and whistled a few notes. He had a squeeky voice probably due to the recording process!!

[IgnatzKolisch]

The historical value of these two recordings is absolutely incalculable, especially the preservation of the voice of one of the Greatest (yes, GREATEST) composers who ever lived. Sullivan never gets his due from the so-called musical intelligentsia.

By the way, Anton Rubinstein and Pyotr Tchaikovsky's voices are also preserved, if you're interested and haven't heard them!!

[jozg44]

I can only agree wholeheartedly with what you say. I always find it bizarre that we fail to take seriously a composer who not only wrote over 20 light operas (most of them excellent), but who was also wrote the most successful grand opera of the day, a series of massively successful oratorios and cantatas as well as his hymns, songs, concert overtures, chamber music and his symphony. Luckily things seem to be changing with some excellent recordings of the non-theatre works coming out recently.

[d60944]

@IgnatzKolisch

The voices of Rubenstein and Tchaikowsky are "probably" preserved. What there is is extremely brief, almost inaudible, and the ID of the speakers relies on second-hand witness.

[michaelsmusicservice]

You can read a bit more about The Lost Chord and see some of the earliest organ arrangement of it at

michaelsmusicservice-dot-com/m­usic/Sullivan-Barrett.LostChor­d.html

It was originally written for voice and piano but was quickly adopted by many different instruments, including the cornet, which is heard here. It's one of my all-time favorites!

[christobell123]

oh my days, how old is this recording?

[d60944]

120 this year :-)

[MariktheChao]

@christobell123 123 years as of 2011