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January 31, 2012
Edison's Files Reveal the Only Known Voice Recording of Someone Born in the 18th Century
Sound historians Patrick Feaster and Stephan Puille have managed to pull the sound of Otto von Bismarck,the first chancellor of the German Empire, off of a century-old wax cylinder onto which it had been recorded on October 7, 1889. Additionally, they have also recovered audio from two cylinders holding the voice of German military strategist Helmuth von Moltke, who was nearly 90 at the time. According to Puille, "These are the only recordings of a person born in the eighteenth century which are still audible today." -- - Rebecca J. Rosen - Technology - The Atlantic
Posted by gerardvanderleun at January 31, 2012 5:08 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Moltke's voice? wow. wow.
Posted by: Erik from Seattle at January 31, 2012 6:15 PM
When von Moltke says that the phonograph allows someone now long dead to speak to the living... chills.
Bismarck actually sounded like a human and not an evil man whose master plan and kulturkampf caused the slaughter of millions over the course of the next hundred years, and may yet kill more.
Not that I'm bitter.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 1, 2012 12:33 PM