It sounds completely American. I would have presumed Wilde would have a hint (at the least) of an Irish accent seeing as he was of that origin. It doesn't even sound remotely 'British' in origin.
I could believe that it was him. As to the matter of his accent, supposedly it lost much of its "Irishness" during the many years that he spent in England. Even when he first arrived at Oxford, it was noticeable but not incredibly thick. It would be awesome to know for sure, though...
This is Oscar Wilde. He was reciting part V.I. Ballad of Reading Gaol into a phonograph during the Paris Expo 1900. It was stated by Montgomery Hyde. Recordings existed in the 1800s.
One would have thought that if this was a deliberate imposture, the reader would at least have got the words correct. Here there are departures from the printed version which perhaps only the poet - reciting from memory - would have made. In a genuine cylinder of Robert Browning made not long before his death he forgets the words of the poem, and exclaims: "I'm terribly sorry; I can't remember me own verses!"
@blunklaura Not a chance. I wouldn't give damn if Oscar Wilde sprang to life for the express purpose of endorsing the authenticity of this recording, there's just no way in hell he'd so badly misread his own poem in such a plodding, haplessly didactic tempo.
this is indeed wilde as he was asked to speak into a cylinder at the paris expo of 1900, he then went on to recite a passge from his ballad of reading goal, i believe the reason for his voice being so distorted here is simply that he was very weakend by this stage he died soon after, this sounds like a man who is suffering from a serious illness as wilde was at the time.
@doloreshaze1935 I cannot locate it at short notice; but I recall an article in Allen Koenigsberg's "Antique Phonograph Monthly", concerning the supposed Whitman recording; in which the same collector had offered the Wilde recording. The Whitman recording (also supposedly transferred onto acetate from wax cylinder) was analyzed, and found to have certain sound qualities inconsistent with an acoustic recording of the period..... So, this may be suspect as well.
@doloreshaze1935 Not a ghost voice, but not a real cylinder recording made during Wilde's lifetime either. The voice is clearly electrically recorded (by microphone) so the recording was made after 1925, probably MUCH later, and then electronically distorted and noise mixed in to make it sound "old". The "Whitman" and "O. Henry" recordings came from the same fraudulent source, all three exist only as 1950's tapes and probably were fabricated at that time. They are certainly NOT authentic.
@Lucius1958 I'm going to deny that this is Wilde on literary sense alone -we're to believe he'd no idea how to read his own poem?- but the (putative) Whitman recording sounds exactly as I'd expect Whitman to sound. What is the evidence that it's apocryphal?
@polymath7 As I mentioned above, the consensus of audio experts who listened to the 'Whitman' record, was that it contained too much bass for an acoustic recording of 1890 vintage....
@karlsalz hi thanks for comment, I have put one other short video about Oscar in Paris where I showed parts from Montgomery Hyde book about Oscar that he was in Paris expo and recorded his voice in 1900.
Wilde was released from jail in May 1897 and immediately left for France, where he died in November 1900.
There were plenty of "speaking" records made 1898-1899. They sold well. What market would this have been made for, though? Wilde had become an "unmentionable" in the UK.
Are there absolutely no video recordings of Wilde? I know that in the last years of the 19th century film'rolls' were introduced, so i'm just wondering about it. It would be so fascinating to see him move.
@MessiRK I found one video on youtube made by Edison, it is video about Fair Expo in Paris in 1900. Wilde was there also (I read in one book). When watching this video I noticed person in white suite slowly walking, looks amazingly like Oscar. I just edited video, and I'm going to put it on youtube.
Unfortunately, it has been shown that this extract of cylinder recorded at an exhibition of inventions, was not OFOFWW after all. It was first shown on the BBC. The undulation, intonation and syllabic stresses of Wilde's glorious vocals were well recorded in the written word. It was said of his voice, "the texture of brown velvet and played like a cello."
Oscar wilde did make a short recording when he was in Paris and he visited one of those international exhibitions 1899 or thereabouts. Maybe there are two recordings.
The British Institute of recorded sound proved that this was false years ago. Background hiss is a flat record (a "78"). Records in1900 were cylinders. Hiss & voice are different sound signatures. In 1900 speakers had to declaim into a horn. Intimate speech was impossible to record. The voice seems to be that of an actor. Dypthong pronunciation of "Reading Te-own" is remarkably like a mannerism of Robert Morley, who played Wilde on stage in the 1939 & later on film.
If it's not him reading, than WHO ELSE would be likely to make a wax cylinder recording of himself reading "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"? That seems to me the best reason for believing it may be him. It also seems to me that Wilde would have been fascinated by the idea of preserving for posterity the sound of his own voice, not to mention the fact that Walt Whitman also recorded himself reading from his own poetry, as Wilde may have known.
Could they know the truth? Salacious young youth As the air became evidently fresh Were they deluded? As the deal was concluded And their skin came to terms with his flesh Thus he hid there, behind Acted as inclined With a twist on the bees and the birds Would the boys in his stable Rejoice at the label Oscar Wilde, a bender of words.
1. He did not have a high pitched voice, in fact, nobody actually knows but if he had had a high pitched voice the Victorians would have eaten that up and spread it everywhere in Punch after they found out that he was gay.
2.Not sure about authenticity as the exhibition was either too close or by the time of his death.
3. He didn't have an Irish accent. He lost it in Oxford, but he continued to be a proud Irishman (his Mom was a political Irish activist)
hey there Wilde did indeed record the ballad, from what i understand the recording is in the archive of university college dublin. Apparently he had a rather high pitched voice. Perhaps to double check one could check out the definitive biography by Richard Ellman. It would be fascinating if the whole thing were made available. It's definitely not TS Eliot some of his recordings are pretty widely available. Have a good one
I doubt any one would have wanted to record Wilde by the time he had written 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol', Robert Ross barely managed to publish 'De Profundis' years later.
They did not publish "The Ballad" under his name at first, so most people would not know it was by Wilde. (It was published in 1898 under the name C.3.3.).
I cannot believe that this is actually his voice. Granted, he was educated at a prestigious college, but he would still have some kind of an Irish accent. Additionally, the man was like six and a half feet tall and must have had a deepish voice - that sounds like the voice of someone barely pushing 5'7".
I would love to hear a recording of the voice of Oscar Wilde, but unless he was deliberately trying to sound like someone else... I don't think this is him.
it is not his voice. it would not sound like this considering his irish heritage, there would be some hint of the Dubliner and there absolutely isn't. if anything, it sounds more like TS Eliot.
You seem to forget that Wilde came from an era where Irish ancenstry and accent hindered acceptance in british society, so Oscar would likely be able to 'switch off' his accent. Many notable speakers in parliament had an official voice, taught to them in finishing school.
The Duke of Wellington, much earlier, went to great lengths to hide his Irish roots, famously saying:
"If a dog is born in a stable that does not make it a horse".
This is a fake, I'm afraid, according to the British Sound Archive - and when it was broadcast on the BBC biography, it was accompanied by a deliberately vague caption that said it was 'believed' to be the voice of Oscar Wilde - it didn't specify by whom this was believed...
@interstellarmonkey Oh, don't break my heart! Boohoo - I so WANT it to be him. But if Vyvyan Holland's not convinced....and he should know...then maybe not. But then how old was Vyvyan Holland when he last heard his father speak?
@vermillion303 holland never heard wilde speaking. this is wilde as he died in 1900 ample time for him to have made use of the then new technology and record his voice. there is a recording of florence nightingale speaking from 1890.
ok let me write you how I found this voice. Record of his voice was demonstrated in one BBC documentary about Oscar Wilde, I just taped the voice, it is not from ghost. It was produced on old cylinder. I guess creators of documentary were considering this voice genuine.
I've read about this a little after first hearing it. I can't find a definitive real or fake answer. Most people are throwing "probably" before their answers...
For what its worth I see it this way: Some one once said - "If forced to chose between truth or legend - always print the legend." Therefore either way, whatever the truth is - it must be a genuine recording.
I had read that while on his American lecture tour he was asked by Edison to record something on his new invention.
Now perhaps this was a tale told to legitimate what i believe to be a fake, (I imagine him to have had a thicker, plummier voice based on physiognomy) but then perhaps he was instructed to enunciate in a very precise manner.
However, I believe the poem's recitation to be all wrong. It lacks all of the drama and melancholy that the words themselves demand.
I'm pretty sure this is the real thing. For one, it was on a BBC documentary, a documentaries, I think, are usually pretty reliable - at least, more reliable than Youtube. Also, in _Oscar Wilde_ by Frank Harris, Harris says Wilde had a expressive, charming tenor voice - which is what I hear on the recording. And I believe Harris on this more than any other Oscar scholar because Harris was a close friend of Wilde's for a long time and would know what his voice sounds like.
The recording, part of the British Library's sound archive was found to have been created in the 60's.The Library said the tape was a fake.Studying surface noise and background clicks of the recording supposedly made on a wax cylinder from which an acetate disc was copied Library experts Peter Copeland and Jonathan Vickers showed it was created at a speed incompatible with devices of the era.Such machines operated at 120 revolutions per minute.The Wilde recording suggests a 78rpm machine
They said they weren't entirely sure, that it was just likely to be a fake.
And even if it is, Wilde's own son said it was at first. Even if he changed his mind, this is ATLEAST giving us a GLIMPSE of what Oscar may have sounded like... And frankly that's good enough for me if it's as good as I'm gonna get.
1st heard this some 20 years back - i'm led to believe it is genuine - and his diction and speed are very much over emphasised to counteract problems of playback speed and distortion
Oscar Wilde on Oscar Wilde: "I thought I sounded good recording that." Sorry, had to do the meme first :P. Now, I thought that this was incredibly eerie, especially the fact that i'm watching this at 3 in the morning. . .
I really truly hope that this is in fact his, though I cannot say wether it is valid or hoax...Oscar Wilde was a very interesting man and it would seem to me that any evidence of the man behind the words would be something many people would find interesting! Must've been alot of work finding it!
but really no one can say whether it is or not, the accent's not heavily irish but i've heard before that he dropped the accent by force when he moved to study in Oxford because the Irish weren't given alot of respect
if any one can say that it definitively is or isn't him please let me know
It was the most eerie thing I've heard for a long time. I'm not certain, though, that it's real, but I want to believe it with everything I owns, because it would be so interesting. I've read that he had a marvellous voice, but that was just thoroughly eerie, with that broken sound. Couldn't catch many words, though.
I recorded this voice directly from one Oscar Wilde documentary. It was realy good documentary, loaded with interesting conversations with Merlin Holland and other people. I remember they showed Oscars voice playing on old cylinder.
This is so not Oscar. The narrator uses annoying voice inflections that make me want to hit something. It's The Ballad of Reading Gaol not an audition for a mall santa.
Well there's an odd story behind the recording. When Oscars son, Vyvyan Holland-Wilde, was asked to listen to the recording initially he said that it was his father, and then a few years later he said it wasn't Oscar.
There's a whole report on it by John Vickers, and Peter Copeland floating around the internet.
Yep, it's a little known fact. He was married for a short while, and then he started to become open about his sexuality. In fact he had two sons, one died fifteen years after Oscars death, and Vyvyan Holland-Wilde lived well into the 1960's.
Sorry for the late reply. I recorded this voice from biography documentary about Oscar Wilde. And yes, he had two sons, one of them died in WWl, other died in 1968. Great book: The son of Oscar Wilde from Vyvyian Holland.
Yes Oscar Wilde had two sons Vyvyan and Cyrill. They took the name of their mother(Holland) when OW was in jail.One of his grand sons (who is now over 55 years old) had a long interview in a french revue (I don't remember which one) and talked about that cylinder. He said that in the familly, people are parted wether it is OW's voice or not.I read years ago that the cylinder was bought by a french lady as the only reccording of OW's voice.That remains a mistery(sorry for my aproximative english)
His gay life started way before he got married. -_- His first intercourse with penetration wasn't until after he gotten married. Go read The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde
This is the voice of an Englishman. Obviously whoever made this didn't didn't know that Oscar Wilde was Irish. He was born and bred in my native Dublin, educated in Trinity College. His Father was one of Ireland's best surgeons who worked in the Eye and Ear Hospital in South Dublin.
Actually sweets...it's true Oscar Wilde was born in Ireland, but once he moved to England, he lost his Irish accent within a few months. Trust me...as a "wilde" fanatic (pardon the pun) I know this as a fact.
That would be the type of lie the English would spread about him :) It's not enough that I so often see on English television that they claim him as actually being English but to say that phhh...lies I tell you! He often spoke about being Irish and his Celtic blood. My favorite mention of his heritage is in De Profundis. I won't quote cause as 'wilde fanatic' you are sure to know it! He had an upper class Dublin accent which isn't very different from a south London one. Easily confused.
true or not, that's what it says in richard ellman's book (the definitive biography of wilde)--that wilde dropped his irish accent when he moved to london.
come now, what aristocratic, irishman would wish to retain an irish accent. he lost it during his oxford years i believe - i dont know if this is him, but the english accent fits
To those of questioning the authenticity of this recording, you will find it states quite clearly in Merlin Holland's (Oscar's grandson) book about his grandfather that the method used to make this recording was not available until quite a while after Oscar's death and the reason that people to this day believe it is authentic is that his father (Oscar's son Vyvyan) had confirmed it sounded like his voice but later after discovering it was a fake said however it was a close match.
Indeed the man who prosecuted Wilde for his homosexual activity was a staunchly Unionist and anti Catholic Ulster Scot, Edward Carson. Carson later became the first Prime minister of Northern Ireland after the Irish War of Independence.
Wilde, like some of the wealthier families in southern Ireland and all the men from the north specificaly Ulster and west Scotland at that time, and to some lesser extent now, were considered by themselves and their conteporaries as Israelites, sons of the lost tribe. These people were the wisest, who were poets and Bards.
Actually, Oscar Wilde considered himself an Irish nationalist. Indeed many artistic Irish people, of Saxon extration, thought likewise during the early 19th c. The prysberterian families in the North-east of Ireland were of Scottish extraction and did not share the same romantic idealism. Traditionally it was the Gaels, the original inhabitants of Ireland who were considered the bards and poets of Ireland. However due to the penal laws they were denied education until the mid Nineteenth century.
I'm sorry, But I was under the impression that Mr. Wilde was Irish. The person speaking here is clearly English and, therefore, not likely to be Mr. Wilde. Since he didn't leave Ireland until an adult his accent would have been very noticable yet I remain astonished by how many people forget this and expect him to sound English and portray him as such. He'd sound more like Dylan Moran than Richard Burton. I'm not convinced by this recording.
I mean, I know his accent does anglasise after living in England but to loose it altogether?
I hardly think he would be so careless. Think about anyone you know from another country who has lived in yours for a long time. They still have their accents, don't they. Unless it was a deliberate affectation his accent would have been there to some degree always.
Plus, the static is the wrong sort for that time. It's too clear. I don't think it's that old.
I want to hear the recording of the voice of Ugg-Uk, the first cro-magnon. Phonographs were a pretty recent innovation at that time, so the quality might be a little iffy
Being a huge fan of Oscar Wilde, I tend to think this is voice. Oscar Wilde's sons were very young when Oscar went to prison and he never saw them again. How could Holland remember his father's voice is beyond me! Very nice piece of history indeed!
Whether it is Oscar's voice is still a question. But I do want to point out that Edison's first working model of the phonograph was from 1877(!) and the Brahms cylinder, damaged but playable was from 1889. (He speaks [maybe] and plays, [yes].)
There are recordings of the voices of Tennyson and Browning (I think) as well as Sir Arthur Sullivan commenting on the phonograph. So Oscar and even Walt (Also on YouTube from 1890) may or may not have left recordings of their voices.
In Reading gaol by Reading town There is a pit of shame, And in it lies a wretched man Eaten by teeth of flame, In a burning winding-sheet he lies, And his grave has got no name. **And there, till Christ call forth the dead, In silence let him lie:** No need to waste the foolish tear, Or heave the windy sigh: The man had killed the thing he loved, And so he had to die.
Really? Why? I just said I wouldn t have got the lyrics right as English is not my mother tonguea and not every word of the recording is easily audible/understandable to me accustically.....
That's not unusual. I do hope you will be able to avoid stepping in it by employing your sense of sight, perhaps even smell? (Is that something Oscar Wilde might have responded with?)
If you are THAT full of shit, perhaps you should seek some professional help. Your particular problem is most likely too much time on your idle hands!
Your wit isn't anywhere near that of Oscar Wilde. The Bible is an elaborate work of fiction, and its main chacarter a total asshole. If you find all that inspiring for your "blasphemy", then you need to have your head examined.
It is because you reaped the sorrows of gluttony. If you do not atone for this sin, your excessive flesh will melt off you in the fiery pits of the lake of fire.
Jokaanan's comment above is probably correct. I too have read this article and although Montgomery Hyde believed this to be Wilde's voice (he submitted the original to, I think, the BBC, and he mentioned this recording to me in a letter) it very well may not be Oscar's true voice ! Alas, if only it were true!
Sadly, the recording apparently isn't Oscar Wilde. Even his son Vyvyan changed his mind after first agreeing that it was his father's voice. The recording was found by H.Montgomery Hyde in America in the 1960s, according to the BBC. If I was overly cynical I might think that it possibly generated a certain amount of publicity for Hyde before or after the publication of one of his many books about Wilde, though there's no real proof that anyone has attempted to defraud anyone. Pity it isn't him.
These lines are from the third and second to last verses of the poem. Thanks so much for posting this. Do you know for sure whether it's Oscar reading it?
this recording is almost impossible to find today. I recorded by some luck directly from tv, from documentary about Oscar Wilde. I really don't know where to find this voice again. About this voice there are many doubts and controversies, but I personally believe it is his voice.
I was reading that he lost his Irish accent when he went to Oxford University. I haven't read anything about whether he had a deep or light voice. So I guess it could be him.
it's not his voice. An article published in 1987 states, "The recording as it sounded could not have been made in 1900 for a number of complex technical reasons." (wish i could put the link in this comment...if you google "oscar wilde voice recording" it's the first link)
And, also, I have always believed it is not his voice, if it makes any difference.
wow. this is almost like listening to the recordings of Alessandro Moreschi...the last castrato not that Wilde reminds me of him...i just mean it's spooky to listen to a recording that more than a 100 years old..
It sounds completely American. I would have presumed Wilde would have a hint (at the least) of an Irish accent seeing as he was of that origin. It doesn't even sound remotely 'British' in origin.
darkieschmuckie 2 weeks ago
Go listen to the voice of a really great artist--Robert Browning!
krane121 3 months ago
I could believe that it was him. As to the matter of his accent, supposedly it lost much of its "Irishness" during the many years that he spent in England. Even when he first arrived at Oxford, it was noticeable but not incredibly thick. It would be awesome to know for sure, though...
RisaClowde 3 months ago
It would be great if it was really his voice
Lirico96 4 months ago
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This is Oscar Wilde. He was reciting part V.I. Ballad of Reading Gaol into a phonograph during the Paris Expo 1900. It was stated by Montgomery Hyde. Recordings existed in the 1800s.
yourfireinside 9 months ago
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yourfireinside 9 months ago
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yourfireinside 9 months ago
One would have thought that if this was a deliberate imposture, the reader would at least have got the words correct. Here there are departures from the printed version which perhaps only the poet - reciting from memory - would have made. In a genuine cylinder of Robert Browning made not long before his death he forgets the words of the poem, and exclaims: "I'm terribly sorry; I can't remember me own verses!"
saltburner2 10 months ago
Anyone find out if this is indeed Oscar Wilde?!?
blunklaura 11 months ago
@blunklaura Not a chance. I wouldn't give damn if Oscar Wilde sprang to life for the express purpose of endorsing the authenticity of this recording, there's just no way in hell he'd so badly misread his own poem in such a plodding, haplessly didactic tempo.
polymath7 11 months ago
this is indeed wilde as he was asked to speak into a cylinder at the paris expo of 1900, he then went on to recite a passge from his ballad of reading goal, i believe the reason for his voice being so distorted here is simply that he was very weakend by this stage he died soon after, this sounds like a man who is suffering from a serious illness as wilde was at the time.
hargohargo2 11 months ago
If I recall correctly, this recording came from the same 'collector' who came up with the spurious Walt Whitman recording......
Lucius1958 1 year ago
@Lucius1958 if you have some more info please write....but this is not some ghost voice, it suppose to be real.
doloreshaze1935 1 year ago
@doloreshaze1935 I cannot locate it at short notice; but I recall an article in Allen Koenigsberg's "Antique Phonograph Monthly", concerning the supposed Whitman recording; in which the same collector had offered the Wilde recording. The Whitman recording (also supposedly transferred onto acetate from wax cylinder) was analyzed, and found to have certain sound qualities inconsistent with an acoustic recording of the period..... So, this may be suspect as well.
Lucius1958 1 year ago
@doloreshaze1935 Not a ghost voice, but not a real cylinder recording made during Wilde's lifetime either. The voice is clearly electrically recorded (by microphone) so the recording was made after 1925, probably MUCH later, and then electronically distorted and noise mixed in to make it sound "old". The "Whitman" and "O. Henry" recordings came from the same fraudulent source, all three exist only as 1950's tapes and probably were fabricated at that time. They are certainly NOT authentic.
chrisz78 10 months ago
@Lucius1958 I'm going to deny that this is Wilde on literary sense alone -we're to believe he'd no idea how to read his own poem?- but the (putative) Whitman recording sounds exactly as I'd expect Whitman to sound. What is the evidence that it's apocryphal?
polymath7 11 months ago
@polymath7 As I mentioned above, the consensus of audio experts who listened to the 'Whitman' record, was that it contained too much bass for an acoustic recording of 1890 vintage....
Lucius1958 11 months ago
@Lucius1958 That's not very persuasive on its face. "Audio experts say it contained too much base" is so vague as to be useless. Thanks anyway.
polymath7 11 months ago
@Lucius1958 Nonsense. It was mentioned in the biography by Mongtomery Hyde.
ItchythaWookiee 8 months ago
you welcome ;)
karlsalz 1 year ago
it was recorded in 1898
karlsalz 1 year ago
@karlsalz hi thanks for comment, I have put one other short video about Oscar in Paris where I showed parts from Montgomery Hyde book about Oscar that he was in Paris expo and recorded his voice in 1900.
doloreshaze1935 1 year ago 2
he sounds like a poof an' all!
cardiffwilly 1 year ago
@cardiffwilly
But he was a poof with integrity.
herringfly 1 year ago
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newpoliticalvoices 1 year ago
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newpoliticalvoices 1 year ago
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newpoliticalvoices 1 year ago
The recording was confirmed as a fake by the British Library in 2000.
Internationale7 1 year ago 2
I would like to believe it was him.
LePrince1890 1 year ago 2
Wilde was released from jail in May 1897 and immediately left for France, where he died in November 1900.
There were plenty of "speaking" records made 1898-1899. They sold well. What market would this have been made for, though? Wilde had become an "unmentionable" in the UK.
AulicExclusiva 1 year ago 2
Are there absolutely no video recordings of Wilde? I know that in the last years of the 19th century film'rolls' were introduced, so i'm just wondering about it. It would be so fascinating to see him move.
MessiRK 1 year ago
@MessiRK I found one video on youtube made by Edison, it is video about Fair Expo in Paris in 1900. Wilde was there also (I read in one book). When watching this video I noticed person in white suite slowly walking, looks amazingly like Oscar. I just edited video, and I'm going to put it on youtube.
doloreshaze1935 1 year ago
@doloreshaze1935 I just went to your account looking for it, but could not find it... have you ut it up yet?
kyrastube 1 year ago
@MessiRK I will send you notification when I will put this video in a day or so
doloreshaze1935 1 year ago
sounds like John Merrick 'The Elephant Man'
Telfer81 1 year ago
Unfortunately, it has been shown that this extract of cylinder recorded at an exhibition of inventions, was not OFOFWW after all. It was first shown on the BBC. The undulation, intonation and syllabic stresses of Wilde's glorious vocals were well recorded in the written word. It was said of his voice, "the texture of brown velvet and played like a cello."
AEmylia24 1 year ago
if it is him...wow...x
rdgloveshouse 1 year ago
Oscar wilde did make a short recording when he was in Paris and he visited one of those international exhibitions 1899 or thereabouts. Maybe there are two recordings.
poussecafe3 2 years ago
The British Institute of recorded sound proved that this was false years ago. Background hiss is a flat record (a "78"). Records in1900 were cylinders. Hiss & voice are different sound signatures. In 1900 speakers had to declaim into a horn. Intimate speech was impossible to record. The voice seems to be that of an actor. Dypthong pronunciation of "Reading Te-own" is remarkably like a mannerism of Robert Morley, who played Wilde on stage in the 1939 & later on film.
petergf1558 2 years ago 4
If it's not him reading, than WHO ELSE would be likely to make a wax cylinder recording of himself reading "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"? That seems to me the best reason for believing it may be him. It also seems to me that Wilde would have been fascinated by the idea of preserving for posterity the sound of his own voice, not to mention the fact that Walt Whitman also recorded himself reading from his own poetry, as Wilde may have known.
niki7777777 2 years ago
mmmbeachlover 2 years ago
1. He did not have a high pitched voice, in fact, nobody actually knows but if he had had a high pitched voice the Victorians would have eaten that up and spread it everywhere in Punch after they found out that he was gay.
2.Not sure about authenticity as the exhibition was either too close or by the time of his death.
3. He didn't have an Irish accent. He lost it in Oxford, but he continued to be a proud Irishman (his Mom was a political Irish activist)
I wish it were true, though.
herappleness 2 years ago 2
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it's garbage
WillesdenHerald 2 years ago
hey there Wilde did indeed record the ballad, from what i understand the recording is in the archive of university college dublin. Apparently he had a rather high pitched voice. Perhaps to double check one could check out the definitive biography by Richard Ellman. It would be fascinating if the whole thing were made available. It's definitely not TS Eliot some of his recordings are pretty widely available. Have a good one
tibby3000 2 years ago
I have read Ellman's biography but it is generally agreed today after extensive modern analysis that this recording is a fake.
KallistiMusic 2 years ago
I doubt any one would have wanted to record Wilde by the time he had written 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol', Robert Ross barely managed to publish 'De Profundis' years later.
OrphicVideos 2 years ago 3
They did not publish "The Ballad" under his name at first, so most people would not know it was by Wilde. (It was published in 1898 under the name C.3.3.).
lapislazuli7 2 years ago
@lapislazuli7 - C.3.3. Oscars prison number. I have it tattooed on my arm.
buzzardbeatniks 1 year ago
I cannot believe that this is actually his voice. Granted, he was educated at a prestigious college, but he would still have some kind of an Irish accent. Additionally, the man was like six and a half feet tall and must have had a deepish voice - that sounds like the voice of someone barely pushing 5'7".
I would love to hear a recording of the voice of Oscar Wilde, but unless he was deliberately trying to sound like someone else... I don't think this is him.
yayforspooky 2 years ago
it is not his voice. it would not sound like this considering his irish heritage, there would be some hint of the Dubliner and there absolutely isn't. if anything, it sounds more like TS Eliot.
tiarasunset 2 years ago
Something you cannot know for sure.
You seem to forget that Wilde came from an era where Irish ancenstry and accent hindered acceptance in british society, so Oscar would likely be able to 'switch off' his accent. Many notable speakers in parliament had an official voice, taught to them in finishing school.
The Duke of Wellington, much earlier, went to great lengths to hide his Irish roots, famously saying:
"If a dog is born in a stable that does not make it a horse".
whatever...
rabmcnab1 2 years ago
he had a low voice
Heeey333 2 years ago
love this
OscarLoveWilde 2 years ago
This is a fake, I'm afraid, according to the British Sound Archive - and when it was broadcast on the BBC biography, it was accompanied by a deliberately vague caption that said it was 'believed' to be the voice of Oscar Wilde - it didn't specify by whom this was believed...
balbec1897 2 years ago
most likely not authentic; in addition to his own son's avowal that it couldn't be Wilde, the "analysis of the technical aspects enabled us to get beyond the existing debate and its reliance on memory to the internal evidence that the original recording could not have been a cylinder and could not have been recorded as early as 1900. Oscar Wilde died in that year: it could not be his voice on the recording." (© The British Library) heartbreaking i know.
interstellarmonkey 2 years ago 7
@interstellarmonkey Oh, don't break my heart! Boohoo - I so WANT it to be him. But if Vyvyan Holland's not convinced....and he should know...then maybe not. But then how old was Vyvyan Holland when he last heard his father speak?
vermillion303 1 year ago
@vermillion303 holland never heard wilde speaking. this is wilde as he died in 1900 ample time for him to have made use of the then new technology and record his voice. there is a recording of florence nightingale speaking from 1890.
hargohargo 1 year ago
@interstellarmonkey Apart from all that he was Irish and I don't hear a whisper of an Irish accent here.
FriedEggsWithChips 4 months ago in playlist FriedEggsWithChips's Favourited Videos
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interstellarmonkey 2 years ago
Thank you so much for posting this
Joselyn548 2 years ago
I listen to this everyday...thank you doloreshaze1935 for posting this!
preposterous3637 2 years ago
my five stars for oscar wilde like video me quebraste con oscar wilde te puse un video mìo mi poema mi imagen mi voz gracias besos cuenta conmigo
Oscar.Wilde MI ÌDOLO EL MEJOR DEL MUNDO...
escritoragaviota 2 years ago
ok let me write you how I found this voice. Record of his voice was demonstrated in one BBC documentary about Oscar Wilde, I just taped the voice, it is not from ghost. It was produced on old cylinder. I guess creators of documentary were considering this voice genuine.
doloreshaze1935 2 years ago
@escritoragaviota thank you!
doloreshaze1935 1 year ago
colorsandsounds
colorsandsounds
colorsandsounds
poetry writing love
Hendrixleft 2 years ago
I've read about this a little after first hearing it. I can't find a definitive real or fake answer. Most people are throwing "probably" before their answers...
For what its worth I see it this way: Some one once said - "If forced to chose between truth or legend - always print the legend." Therefore either way, whatever the truth is - it must be a genuine recording.
TomMonty81 2 years ago 4
Spoken like a true intellectual.
Mbk606 2 years ago
Thank you.
TomMonty81 2 years ago
I had read that while on his American lecture tour he was asked by Edison to record something on his new invention.
Now perhaps this was a tale told to legitimate what i believe to be a fake, (I imagine him to have had a thicker, plummier voice based on physiognomy) but then perhaps he was instructed to enunciate in a very precise manner.
However, I believe the poem's recitation to be all wrong. It lacks all of the drama and melancholy that the words themselves demand.
buggsoscar 2 years ago 3
I'm pretty sure this is the real thing. For one, it was on a BBC documentary, a documentaries, I think, are usually pretty reliable - at least, more reliable than Youtube. Also, in _Oscar Wilde_ by Frank Harris, Harris says Wilde had a expressive, charming tenor voice - which is what I hear on the recording. And I believe Harris on this more than any other Oscar scholar because Harris was a close friend of Wilde's for a long time and would know what his voice sounds like.
preposterous3637 2 years ago
The recording, part of the British Library's sound archive was found to have been created in the 60's.The Library said the tape was a fake.Studying surface noise and background clicks of the recording supposedly made on a wax cylinder from which an acetate disc was copied Library experts Peter Copeland and Jonathan Vickers showed it was created at a speed incompatible with devices of the era.Such machines operated at 120 revolutions per minute.The Wilde recording suggests a 78rpm machine
augustusdes 2 years ago
They said they weren't entirely sure, that it was just likely to be a fake.
And even if it is, Wilde's own son said it was at first. Even if he changed his mind, this is ATLEAST giving us a GLIMPSE of what Oscar may have sounded like... And frankly that's good enough for me if it's as good as I'm gonna get.
Duzell 2 years ago 4
simplemente genial
me siento mal
arguedas69 3 years ago
I thought this was definitively proved to be a hoax.
wonderfulkeithfloyd 3 years ago
1st heard this some 20 years back - i'm led to believe it is genuine - and his diction and speed are very much over emphasised to counteract problems of playback speed and distortion
8881rtj 3 years ago
Personally, I find it hard to believe that this is the voice of Oscar Wilde. It just sounds... "wrong"
CHRM1 3 years ago 2
Oscar Wilde on Oscar Wilde: "I thought I sounded good recording that." Sorry, had to do the meme first :P. Now, I thought that this was incredibly eerie, especially the fact that i'm watching this at 3 in the morning. . .
OberKommando77 3 years ago
I really truly hope that this is in fact his, though I cannot say wether it is valid or hoax...Oscar Wilde was a very interesting man and it would seem to me that any evidence of the man behind the words would be something many people would find interesting! Must've been alot of work finding it!
blahblahblah12030 3 years ago
i hope it's real, so much
but really no one can say whether it is or not, the accent's not heavily irish but i've heard before that he dropped the accent by force when he moved to study in Oxford because the Irish weren't given alot of respect
if any one can say that it definitively is or isn't him please let me know
barnskiano 3 years ago
It was the most eerie thing I've heard for a long time. I'm not certain, though, that it's real, but I want to believe it with everything I owns, because it would be so interesting. I've read that he had a marvellous voice, but that was just thoroughly eerie, with that broken sound. Couldn't catch many words, though.
ImeldaLumos 3 years ago 2
I recorded this voice directly from one Oscar Wilde documentary. It was realy good documentary, loaded with interesting conversations with Merlin Holland and other people. I remember they showed Oscars voice playing on old cylinder.
doloreshaze1935 3 years ago
@doloreshaze1935 is this the voice of oscar?
ratsratsrats100 1 year ago
@ratsratsrats100 I believe it is. Read coments here and you will se many different opinions about that. Thanks!
doloreshaze1935 1 year ago
This is so not Oscar. The narrator uses annoying voice inflections that make me want to hit something. It's The Ballad of Reading Gaol not an audition for a mall santa.
ameliaflame 3 years ago 11
@ameliaflame Well said.
polymath7 11 months ago
that's his voice??
BeatlesSuperstars 3 years ago
Most likely no. It could be, but it's been disputed since the record was found.
strylowskia90 3 years ago
The time slot fits. It's not out of the realm of possibility, folks.
I'd just wonder why someone would go through the trouble of carving a wax cylinder, reading a verse, just to say it's Wilde.
popartpill 3 years ago
Well there's an odd story behind the recording. When Oscars son, Vyvyan Holland-Wilde, was asked to listen to the recording initially he said that it was his father, and then a few years later he said it wasn't Oscar.
There's a whole report on it by John Vickers, and Peter Copeland floating around the internet.
strylowskia90 3 years ago
Wilde had a SON? I never knew that until just this moment.
I'd like to see that report.
popartpill 3 years ago
Yep, it's a little known fact. He was married for a short while, and then he started to become open about his sexuality. In fact he had two sons, one died fifteen years after Oscars death, and Vyvyan Holland-Wilde lived well into the 1960's.
strylowskia90 3 years ago
That's bizzare. Where on earth did you trace that? Biographies?
popartpill 3 years ago
Sorry for the late reply. I recorded this voice from biography documentary about Oscar Wilde. And yes, he had two sons, one of them died in WWl, other died in 1968. Great book: The son of Oscar Wilde from Vyvyian Holland.
doloreshaze1935 3 years ago
I've never heard anything like that at all.
Duzell 2 years ago
Yes Oscar Wilde had two sons Vyvyan and Cyrill. They took the name of their mother(Holland) when OW was in jail.One of his grand sons (who is now over 55 years old) had a long interview in a french revue (I don't remember which one) and talked about that cylinder. He said that in the familly, people are parted wether it is OW's voice or not.I read years ago that the cylinder was bought by a french lady as the only reccording of OW's voice.That remains a mistery(sorry for my aproximative english)
lillithangelofparis 3 years ago
I'm amazed people didn't know Wilde was married with children before he began his gay life
grai 2 years ago
His gay life started way before he got married. -_- His first intercourse with penetration wasn't until after he gotten married. Go read The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde
Duzell 2 years ago
I am sure there is no known recording of his voice - Richard Ellman states it in the definitive biography of Wilde...I think
colt1954 3 years ago
This is the voice of an Englishman. Obviously whoever made this didn't didn't know that Oscar Wilde was Irish. He was born and bred in my native Dublin, educated in Trinity College. His Father was one of Ireland's best surgeons who worked in the Eye and Ear Hospital in South Dublin.
bateman88 3 years ago
Actually sweets...it's true Oscar Wilde was born in Ireland, but once he moved to England, he lost his Irish accent within a few months. Trust me...as a "wilde" fanatic (pardon the pun) I know this as a fact.
Ivoryheart1313 3 years ago
That would be the type of lie the English would spread about him :) It's not enough that I so often see on English television that they claim him as actually being English but to say that phhh...lies I tell you! He often spoke about being Irish and his Celtic blood. My favorite mention of his heritage is in De Profundis. I won't quote cause as 'wilde fanatic' you are sure to know it! He had an upper class Dublin accent which isn't very different from a south London one. Easily confused.
bateman88 3 years ago
true or not, that's what it says in richard ellman's book (the definitive biography of wilde)--that wilde dropped his irish accent when he moved to london.
sporks811 3 years ago
come now, what aristocratic, irishman would wish to retain an irish accent. he lost it during his oxford years i believe - i dont know if this is him, but the english accent fits
jimmbo13 3 years ago
Yes! Thank you! I am not as insane as some may think. I have read many a biography on Oscar Wilde.
Ivoryheart1313 3 years ago
God you say? Then I have a rather long list of complaints for you.
celinebritgirl 3 years ago
The excerpt:
In Reading gaol by Reading town There is a pit of shame,
And in it lies a wretched man Eaten by teeth of flame,
In burning winding-sheet he lies, And his grave has got no name.
(He skips this part)
And there, till Christ call forth the dead, In silence let him lie:
(The continues here)
No need to waste the foolish tear, Or heave the windy sigh:
The man had killed the thing he loved, And so he had to die.
doof2008 3 years ago
Of course I don't think I'm anywhere near the god-like wit of The Great Oscar Wilde. The whole thing was just a crazy metaphor. :-)
I should have been more clear about my joke, lol.
TheEnigma411 3 years ago
it's a fake
joelmarvin 3 years ago
To those of questioning the authenticity of this recording, you will find it states quite clearly in Merlin Holland's (Oscar's grandson) book about his grandfather that the method used to make this recording was not available until quite a while after Oscar's death and the reason that people to this day believe it is authentic is that his father (Oscar's son Vyvyan) had confirmed it sounded like his voice but later after discovering it was a fake said however it was a close match.
tbonestimpy 3 years ago 3
this was written about my great great great great uncle or something like that, he was in prison with oscar wilde and was sentenced to death
TheStig91 3 years ago
Really??
HoneyKristin 2 years ago
yeah it is
TheStig91 2 years ago
Do you really think some imposter had memorized a stanza and decided to fool people..No.
Tis Oscar for I know the voice. Tis mine.
Zameta 3 years ago
.....I wish I could accept this as is voice but I can't....Sorry...Fake.
Germanicus00 3 years ago 3
No. This was on a biography I watched in school. Not fake.
xXCptnxSephyXx 3 years ago
Ohhh well if it was on a biography at your school it must be real... People couldn't possibly put anything fake in a biography.
nattt23 3 years ago
wow... this is great!!!!
viva oscar wilde!!!! que exito!!!
saracm017 3 years ago
I've been wanting to hear this (alleged) recording for almost 25 years! Thanks for sharing it with the world.
jamesjeffreypaul 3 years ago
Indeed the man who prosecuted Wilde for his homosexual activity was a staunchly Unionist and anti Catholic Ulster Scot, Edward Carson. Carson later became the first Prime minister of Northern Ireland after the Irish War of Independence.
surrealsan 3 years ago
...if this is really his voice...WOW! I think this is a divine thing to share with all the rest of us youtubers!! THANKS!!
beautiful0loser 3 years ago 2
Wilde, like some of the wealthier families in southern Ireland and all the men from the north specificaly Ulster and west Scotland at that time, and to some lesser extent now, were considered by themselves and their conteporaries as Israelites, sons of the lost tribe. These people were the wisest, who were poets and Bards.
theoriginaloutlaw 3 years ago
Actually, Oscar Wilde considered himself an Irish nationalist. Indeed many artistic Irish people, of Saxon extration, thought likewise during the early 19th c. The prysberterian families in the North-east of Ireland were of Scottish extraction and did not share the same romantic idealism. Traditionally it was the Gaels, the original inhabitants of Ireland who were considered the bards and poets of Ireland. However due to the penal laws they were denied education until the mid Nineteenth century.
surrealsan 3 years ago
Yes,it's a bit hard to make out but the words read out are:
In Reading gaol by Reading town There is a pit of shame,
And in it lies a wretched man Eaten by teeth of flame,
In a burning winding-sheet he lies, And his grave has got no name.
And there, till Christ call forth the dead, In silence let him lie:
No need to waste the foolish tear, Or heave the windy sigh:
The man had killed the thing he loved, And so he had to die.
frglee 3 years ago 4
creepy
yu1142 3 years ago
This has been generally accepted as Oscar Wilde's voice for many years. Even Stephen Fry thinks so. And if Stephen Fry says so, it must be right! ;)
vermillion303 3 years ago 7
I'm sorry, But I was under the impression that Mr. Wilde was Irish. The person speaking here is clearly English and, therefore, not likely to be Mr. Wilde. Since he didn't leave Ireland until an adult his accent would have been very noticable yet I remain astonished by how many people forget this and expect him to sound English and portray him as such. He'd sound more like Dylan Moran than Richard Burton. I'm not convinced by this recording.
MaskOfRed 3 years ago
I mean, I know his accent does anglasise after living in England but to loose it altogether?
I hardly think he would be so careless. Think about anyone you know from another country who has lived in yours for a long time. They still have their accents, don't they. Unless it was a deliberate affectation his accent would have been there to some degree always.
Plus, the static is the wrong sort for that time. It's too clear. I don't think it's that old.
MaskOfRed 3 years ago
I think I read that he went out of his way to lose it.
marauderthesn 3 years ago
I want to hear the recording of the voice of Ugg-Uk, the first cro-magnon. Phonographs were a pretty recent innovation at that time, so the quality might be a little iffy
breeeegs 3 years ago 2
He was a proud Irish nationalist. As was his mother- "Speranza of the nation" (The IRISH nation) THE WILDE'S WERE A PROUD IRISH FAMILY.
nattt23 3 years ago
Being a huge fan of Oscar Wilde, I tend to think this is voice. Oscar Wilde's sons were very young when Oscar went to prison and he never saw them again. How could Holland remember his father's voice is beyond me! Very nice piece of history indeed!
janicesoprano 3 years ago 2
Whether it is Oscar's voice is still a question. But I do want to point out that Edison's first working model of the phonograph was from 1877(!) and the Brahms cylinder, damaged but playable was from 1889. (He speaks [maybe] and plays, [yes].)
There are recordings of the voices of Tennyson and Browning (I think) as well as Sir Arthur Sullivan commenting on the phonograph. So Oscar and even Walt (Also on YouTube from 1890) may or may not have left recordings of their voices.
Eddy438 3 years ago
As I read before, Oscar visited Paris expo 1900, little before his death and he left there his voice on phonograph.
MASTERSWORDKING 3 years ago
JimSmitts 3 years ago 3
Thanks for posting the words - otherwise i would not have anderstood many words! :-)
Talulah1997 3 years ago
I can't help but to laugh ... what you said is too funny!!!
VictoriaTang 3 years ago
Really? Why? I just said I wouldn t have got the lyrics right as English is not my mother tonguea and not every word of the recording is easily audible/understandable to me accustically.....
Talulah1997 3 years ago
Because the recording is not as audible in my opinion, so I thought you said it in jest. No offence I hope?
brettishfan 3 years ago
No, don t worry! Thanks. :-)
Talulah1997 3 years ago
I know this is his real voice...I can feel it! Oscar used his time in jail to write such inspiring retrospective poetry..
JenJenEL 3 years ago 4
I cant hear shit godammit
mosmerlas 3 years ago
You can't hear shit?
That's not unusual. I do hope you will be able to avoid stepping in it by employing your sense of sight, perhaps even smell? (Is that something Oscar Wilde might have responded with?)
polkadotbox2 3 years ago
Good return polka..suma nos delito dunatra
mosmerlas 3 years ago
Dear Fellow Youtube members,
Trying to sound like The Great Oscar Wilde is committing a sacrilege equivalent to trying to sound like me.
Love, God ;)
TheEnigma411 3 years ago
Oscar Wilde is not a fictional character, but a real person. The same can not be said for God.
polkadotbox2 3 years ago 5
Oh no. You deny the existence of I, THE LORD? How dare you!
Ah well, I'll see you in judgment day, my dear child.
Meanwhile, find solace in the fact that I always forgive all my creations. Enjoy all the beauty I've created for you today.
--God
TheEnigma411 3 years ago
Get as life! This is getting stupid.
polkadotbox2 3 years ago
If you are THAT full of shit, perhaps you should seek some professional help. Your particular problem is most likely too much time on your idle hands!
Your wit isn't anywhere near that of Oscar Wilde. The Bible is an elaborate work of fiction, and its main chacarter a total asshole. If you find all that inspiring for your "blasphemy", then you need to have your head examined.
polkadotbox2 3 years ago
I was just playing around, I didn't know this would be taken literally. I don't believe in God neither and I agree with what you say about the Bible.
You're right, I was just bored and had a lot of time on my hands!
Sigh, I have a weird sense of humor and it was just a little joke I was thinking of. It didn't take much thought for me to dish out.
I apologize for making you frustrated.
If I was a real believer, I'd consider what I'm doing blasphemous.
TheEnigma411 3 years ago
What a relief! All we needed was one more delusional God-impersonator. Now I can take the garlic chains from my doors! (Just kidding!)
polkadotbox2 3 years ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
God how come I'm fat?
one quick fix please
barnskiano 3 years ago
It is because you reaped the sorrows of gluttony. If you do not atone for this sin, your excessive flesh will melt off you in the fiery pits of the lake of fire.
TheEnigma411 3 years ago
Jokaanan's comment above is probably correct. I too have read this article and although Montgomery Hyde believed this to be Wilde's voice (he submitted the original to, I think, the BBC, and he mentioned this recording to me in a letter) it very well may not be Oscar's true voice ! Alas, if only it were true!
cbarryblackburn 3 years ago
Sounds more like Barny Shaw. Fake.
Fronika 3 years ago
Sadly, the recording apparently isn't Oscar Wilde. Even his son Vyvyan changed his mind after first agreeing that it was his father's voice. The recording was found by H.Montgomery Hyde in America in the 1960s, according to the BBC. If I was overly cynical I might think that it possibly generated a certain amount of publicity for Hyde before or after the publication of one of his many books about Wilde, though there's no real proof that anyone has attempted to defraud anyone. Pity it isn't him.
hatman62 3 years ago
its a nice video
crissoly 3 years ago
that is AMAZING.
sporks811 3 years ago
These lines are from the third and second to last verses of the poem. Thanks so much for posting this. Do you know for sure whether it's Oscar reading it?
hytrr 3 years ago
this recording is almost impossible to find today. I recorded by some luck directly from tv, from documentary about Oscar Wilde. I really don't know where to find this voice again. About this voice there are many doubts and controversies, but I personally believe it is his voice.
doloreshaze1935 3 years ago
I was reading that he lost his Irish accent when he went to Oxford University. I haven't read anything about whether he had a deep or light voice. So I guess it could be him.
hytrr 3 years ago
it's not his voice. An article published in 1987 states, "The recording as it sounded could not have been made in 1900 for a number of complex technical reasons." (wish i could put the link in this comment...if you google "oscar wilde voice recording" it's the first link)
And, also, I have always believed it is not his voice, if it makes any difference.
Jokaanan 3 years ago
Wish the quality was better.
Lamnont 3 years ago
I always pegged him for having a deep , rich baritone voice.
skyecrafts 4 years ago 6
Even if this was Oscar Wilde, I would still not believe it...
TheRealPeteDoherty 4 years ago
Lolita!
benelock 4 years ago
Listen to how brilliantly he rolls his 'r's!
Even if it's not Wilde, which would be tragic, the reader is still fantastic.
Jonamon 4 years ago 3
How do you even understand anything?
blacktarn 3 years ago
wow. this is almost like listening to the recordings of Alessandro Moreschi...the last castrato not that Wilde reminds me of him...i just mean it's spooky to listen to a recording that more than a 100 years old..
chriskardos 4 years ago 2
he sounds a bit jovial..
superiourcowies 4 years ago
Whoever it was, supposedly he sounded pretty close to what Wilde sounded like. I still think that is cool.
AbeBSea 4 years ago
sorry, everyone. they now know for sure it is NOT the voice of the great oscar wilde. (look at my nick, i'm a real fan, and i'm sorry too ;)
oscarwildeee 4 years ago
When Vyvyan Holland first heard this recording, played to him by Montgomery Hyde, he said it was his father.
That's good enough for me.
barkatthemoon81 4 years ago 3
Thats true but he then said later he wasn't so sure..
Lauramwahmwah 4 years ago
Sorry guys, Oscar Wilde isn't English. Born in Dublin, I daresay he would've had a bit of an Irish accent.
letsplayburglars 4 years ago