The First Audio Files

George Gouraud at the Crystal Palace on June 29th 1888

I don't know how I ended up on the Edison National Historic website this morning but I came across some curious sounding files that just happen to also be the earliest known recorded music in existence. Wow! That's interesting. I thought I'd share.

Now, the quality is obviously pretty poor, considering this was the very first recording ever in the history of man, they had some bugs to work out. This one here is Sir August Manns conducted an orchestra of 500 and choir of over 4,000 performing Handel's Israel in Egypt to a crowd of 23,722 at the Crystal Palace in London. The recording was made on Friday, June 29th 1888 at 2 pm onto Thomas Edison's yellow paraffine cylinder run by George Gouraud over 100 yards away.



This one here is of a more traditional song structure for today, The Lost Chord played by unknown cornet player & pianist, and played at Arthur Sullivan's "phonograph party" where he recorded the speech that follows...



What Sullivan says:

" . . . For myself, I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the results of this evening's experiment -- 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 forever. But all the same, I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery."

Good thing Sullivan isn't alive to hear Nickelback.

These are the yellow paraffine cylinders.


I hear they're making a comeback.