In 1957, a box of wax recording cylinders was discovered in the laboratory of Thomas Edison. Until last year, however, its contents remained a mystery. Now, a combination of digital conversion and historical research has identified them as a series of long-sought recordings made by Edison's assistant Adelbert Wangemann on a trip to Europe, during which he demonstrated Edison's newly-perfected phonograph to such luminaries as German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Prussian war hero Helmuth von Moltke, and Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The recordings, all of which can be found on the Thomas Edison National Historical Park site, capture the voice of von Moltke, as well as what is believed to be the first recording of a work by Chopin. Perhaps most importantly, they also provide the only recording of Otto von Bismarck's voice, in which he recites pieces from several songs, ending with advice to his son Herbert, who apparently heard the recording weeks later in Budapest. Bismarck historians had known of the cylinder, but assumed it had been destroyed after years of searching. Click through to the source links below to hear, in the words of von Moltke, "a man who has already rested long in the grave once again raise his voice and greet the present."
(it is scratchy)
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
Now how can I make fun of you if it's in a serious forum.
(It really is a cool find though. The audio is so scratchy I couldn't stand listening to it for more than a few seconds)
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
I always thought he 'd have a deep, booming voice.
But the scratchyness is extreme - maybe someone will run it through a sound editor and remove the scratching, sometime.
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay
Why would anyone expect him to have a 'booming voice' or ancient recording technology on crappy media to accurately reproduce it
It's kind of sad that so many people can find it 'unlistenable'.
Stark wrote:Why would anyone expect him to have a 'booming voice' or ancient recording technology on crappy media to accurately reproduce it
It's kind of sad that so many people can find it 'unlistenable'.
I'd say that any busy train station or airport would be worse, in terms of background noise. It just sounds like someone is constantly shaking a rainstick while he talks, which is annoying but not to difficult to ignore.
Stark wrote:Why would anyone expect him to have a 'booming voice' or ancient recording technology on crappy media to accurately reproduce it
It's kind of sad that so many people can find it 'unlistenable'.
I'd say that any busy train station or airport would be worse, in terms of background noise. It just sounds like someone is constantly shaking a rainstick while he talks, which is annoying but not to difficult to ignore.
Your mileage may vary, depending on your soundcard. My built-in card on the laptop gives me a very strong noise, with somebody whispering in the background. I have to turn it up to eleven so I can make out what he says. His speech is good to understand, it's just very, very silent.
And I always thought he might have a strong bass voice because of his looks in pictures.
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay
Darmalus wrote:I'd say that any busy train station or airport would be worse, in terms of background noise. It just sounds like someone is constantly shaking a rainstick while he talks, which is annoying but not to difficult to ignore.
Your mileage may vary, depending on your soundcard. My built-in card on the laptop gives me a very strong noise, with somebody whispering in the background. I have to turn it up to eleven so I can make out what he says. His speech is good to understand, it's just very, very silent.
Yeah, his voice seems fairly clear on my computer, it's just drowned out by the scratching noise.
"Siege warfare, French for spawn camp" WTYP podcast
It's so bad it wraps back around to awesome then back to bad again, then back to halfway between awesome and bad. Like if ed wood directed a godzilla movie - Duckie
