Finding Lost Recording From the 1880s 128
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."'"
MP3 of recordings (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/audio-wangemann-1889-1890-european-recordings.htm
For thoses interested... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Bismarck Copyright Term Extension Act (Score:5, Informative)
But at least in Germany, about everyone has heard of Bismarck.
Please don't link to NY Times anymore (Score:2, Informative)
They require a log in now to read articles; please either link to an article in a different outlet or drop it.
Re:Just ten years later, there are better recordin (Score:3, Informative)
... so if you want to get a feeling of how Bismarks voice sounded, listen to one of the electric wire recordings of him, not this crappy recording.
I think some historians would like to know where you found those electric wire recordings of him, as the second paragraph of the article quite clearly states
"The cylinders, from 1889 and 1890, include the only known recording of the voice of the powerful chancellor Otto von Bismarck."
Re:Bismarck Copyright Term Extension Act (Score:4, Informative)
Can't tell if trolling or just stupid. The Bismarck was commissioned in August 1940 and sunk by a British squadron led by the HMS King George V after British torpedo bombers had crippled her, on 27 May 1941. So, yeah, World War II.
Re:Copyright from the past (Score:4, Informative)
Classical composers were paid for composing; as in "we need a new tune for next sunday's mass, and another completely different tune, which will likely never get played again in your lifetime, for the mass on sunday after that". Kinda like a carpenter gets paid to make a table, not every time someone uses that table. People back then did NOT listen to that music over and over and over again. It was written, it got played, something new was written. Totally different from today, and I'm pretty sure classical composers would be laughing at things like Mickey Mouse Copyright. Also, not few of that music was more or less dedicated to God, not to Mammon. Sure, they liked being well fed, who doesn't... but that's not why they wrote those pieces, that is simply not how they operated. It kinda shows in the music, too. The heart, it cannot be hidden.