Now here's a golden oldie...from the summer of 1888.
No...not 1988, 18-88.
It's a recording of an excerpt from Handel's "Israel In Egypt" and is considered to be the oldest known musical recording in existence.
You can not only hear it streaming, but you can download the MP3 permanently. Totally free. No credit cards, no "special offers" rip-offs, just free.
Right here:
http://www.archive.org/details/EDIS-SRP-0154-17
It actually has a sort of eerie beauty, in spite of the dominating surface noise and pitch changes of a totally mechanical recording (sans microphones or even electricity, just a big tin horn capturing 4,000 voices-an awful lot of people for one stage, I'd say-onto a cylinder that was basically made of candle wax on a cardboard tube.) But it was a start. And having survived almost 118 years, through wars, musty storage, the elements and the likely near-disasters of clumsy handlers, not a bad one. Sometimes, I've listened to it and wondered if August Manns (the conductor of the chorus) ever imagined a recording of his performance would still be in circulation almost 120 years later and possibly forever.
This is the oldest known MUSICAL recording in existance. The oldest known RECORDING in existance is from an experimental talking clock, circa 1878:
http://www.tinfoil.com/cm-0101.htm
Tinfoil.com is another site that collects ancient recordings.
In fact, Archive.org has TONS of public domain audio, video (including early silents and movies up into the 1930s) and books using the free LizardTech reader (they are photocopied page by page), all free and yours for the downloading. Lots and lots of rare early blues recordings, opera, jazz, spoken word, historic speeches and many other genres. Plus the largest Grateful Dead live performance archive on the net. Lots of new indie bands to check out too.
It's kind of like a cyber-library. With no due dates....
http://www.archive.org/
Enjoy!<P ID="signature">______________
"If I were in this business only for the business, I wouldn't be in this business." Samuel Goldwyn
[email protected]
</P>
No...not 1988, 18-88.
It's a recording of an excerpt from Handel's "Israel In Egypt" and is considered to be the oldest known musical recording in existence.
You can not only hear it streaming, but you can download the MP3 permanently. Totally free. No credit cards, no "special offers" rip-offs, just free.
Right here:
http://www.archive.org/details/EDIS-SRP-0154-17
It actually has a sort of eerie beauty, in spite of the dominating surface noise and pitch changes of a totally mechanical recording (sans microphones or even electricity, just a big tin horn capturing 4,000 voices-an awful lot of people for one stage, I'd say-onto a cylinder that was basically made of candle wax on a cardboard tube.) But it was a start. And having survived almost 118 years, through wars, musty storage, the elements and the likely near-disasters of clumsy handlers, not a bad one. Sometimes, I've listened to it and wondered if August Manns (the conductor of the chorus) ever imagined a recording of his performance would still be in circulation almost 120 years later and possibly forever.
This is the oldest known MUSICAL recording in existance. The oldest known RECORDING in existance is from an experimental talking clock, circa 1878:
http://www.tinfoil.com/cm-0101.htm
Tinfoil.com is another site that collects ancient recordings.
In fact, Archive.org has TONS of public domain audio, video (including early silents and movies up into the 1930s) and books using the free LizardTech reader (they are photocopied page by page), all free and yours for the downloading. Lots and lots of rare early blues recordings, opera, jazz, spoken word, historic speeches and many other genres. Plus the largest Grateful Dead live performance archive on the net. Lots of new indie bands to check out too.
It's kind of like a cyber-library. With no due dates....
http://www.archive.org/
Enjoy!<P ID="signature">______________
"If I were in this business only for the business, I wouldn't be in this business." Samuel Goldwyn
[email protected]
</P>