First sound recording

This page was last revised on 2009-11-11.

NB Full references to printed sources may be found at the foot of this page.

First sound recording

Jean-Marie Constant Duhamel (1797-1872) discovered that a pen attached to a tuning fork would record its vibrations on a piece of paper, when the fork was struck. Thomas Young (1773-1829), in 1806, applied Duhamel's apparatus to a rotating cylinder coated with wax. Neither, of course, constituted the recording of sound in air, and neither was capable of reproduction. [Morton (2004)]

A tuning fork, 1859

Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (1817-79) deposited this "phonautogram" with the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle in 1859. The First Sounds group believe it to be a record made by a tuning fork vibrating at 435 Hz, then just adopted as the official French reference pitch. This is the oldest recognizable sound yet reproduced and is presented here at successive stages of restoration. Though recorded in 1859, it was not possible to reproduce it until 2008.

The first sound recording, and the first of the human voice, that could be heard by contemporaries, was made by Thomas Edison (1847-1931), with his experimental recording of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in 1877. Edison announced his invention of the phonograph on 21 November 1877, and it was patented on 19 February 1878 as US Patent 200,521. NB The word "Halloo" may have been recorded as early as 18 July 1877, on an early paper model (the 'strip phonograph') derived from Edison's 1876 telegraph repeater. [Schoenherr's Recording Technology History, Koenigsberg's The First "Hello"]

The earliest surviving sound recording may have been Frank Lambert's lead cylinder recording for an experimental talking clock, 1878, but the evidence for its early date remains contentious.

Undisputed is the recording of an excerpt from Handel's Israel in Egypt made by Col. George Gouraud, foreign sales agent for Thomas Edison, on 29 June 1888, at the Crystal Palace, in London, on an Edison yellow paraffine cylinder. A note on the cylinder says "A chorus of 4000 voices recorded with phonograph over 100 yards away". [Edison National Historic Site object catalogue number: E-2440-20.]

First recording of the human voice

"Au Clair de la Lune", 1860

Scott recorded this on 9 April 1860, and deposited the results with the Académie des Sciences in 1861. The recording contains the first line of the second verse of this familiar song - "Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit" - and is the earliest audibly recognizable record of the human voice yet recovered. The singer was Scott himself. [First Sounds]

See above for the earliest surviving recordings of the human voice that could have been heard at the time. The Handel choir presumably included both male and female singers.

First recording of the female voice

The Handel choir, in the 1888 recording of Israel in Egypt, presumably included both male and female singers.

Earliest-born person whose voice was recorded

Speech by Lajos Kossuth, 1890

A speech by Lajos Kossuth (1802-94), the Hungarian patriot and leader of the 1848 revolution, was recorded on wax cylinders on 20 September 1890, at the age of 88. It seems generally accepted that this recording is of the earliest-born person whose voice can still be heard.

For a full account, and the text of the address, see Kossuth's speech on phonograph cylinders.

Earliest-born woman whose voice was recorded

A recording exists that has been attributed to Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Held by the National Sound Archives in London, very little of it is intelligible. On the basis of auditory information, the probability that this is a correct attribution is only 35%, though on the basis of documentary evidence of provenance it is put at 85%. [British Library Sound Archive Catalogue]

A strong contender may be Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), here recorded in 1890, in aid of the Light Brigade Relief Fund.

© 2009 Benjamin S. Beck

Return to Firsts contents page

If you know of any suitable examples, please contact me.

Return to website home page