A Musical "First" for the first

Posted at 9:21 AM on January 1, 2010 by Alison Young (1 Comments)
Filed under: Musician stories, Programs

Today's a day of musical firsts - first symphonies, first performances, first recordings.

Just a moment ago, I played a newer rendition of the first performance ever to be recorded. Though other recordings had been made a decade earlier, this is the only one still in existence.

A representative of Edison saved this moment - a Friday afternoon concert in June of 1888. Sir August Manns led an orchestra of 500 and a choir of over 4,000, in front of an audience of something like 23,722 in London's Crystal Palace.

Though the wax cylinder recording is ghostly, it is a "musical first!"

Happy New Year and thanks to MPR member Bill in La Crosse for alerting me to this recording.

Comments (1)

That's so incredible. I've always been amazed at Edison's ingenuity. Thanks for posting it.

Posted by Christy | January 1, 2010 1:23 PM