Today, knowing how to reproduce and preserve sound is a relative commonplace, whether the sound is music, a spoken voice, poetry or song. But historically speaking this knowledge is very recent. The period when the first steps in this domain were taken (the late 19th century) shows an extraordinary concentration of technology, experiment, and desire to preserve our heritage: it was a modern adventure that directly echoes the history of human civilisation. This selection prepared by Jean-Baptiste Mersiol allows us to hear the voices of Buffalo Bill and Gustave Eiffel, Sarah Bernhardt and Guillaume Apollinaire among others. This is the past, but these bygone times had sounds, and they were fixed and recorded for all eternity.
Patrick FRÉMEAUX

1860 : EDOUARD SCOTT DE MARTINVILLE – AU CLAIR DE LA LUNE • 1878 : THOMAS EDISON – PREMIER ENREGISTREMENT • 1889 : JOHANNES BRAHMS – DANSE HONGROISE N°1 • 1890 : FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE • 1890 : TCHAÏKOVSKY & ANTON RUBINSTEIN • 1898 : GUSTAVE EIFFEL – PARLE AUX ENFANTS • 1898 : BUFFALO BILL – LA QUESTION CUBAINE • 1900 : FANFARE – MARCHE (TITRE NON INDENTIFIÉ) • 1902 : ENRICO CARUSO – TU NON ME VUOI PIU BENE • 1902 : ENRICO CARUSO – CELESTE AÏDA • 1902 : GARDE RÉPUBLICAINE – RETRAITE AUX FLAMBEAUX • 1902 : SARAH BERNHARDT – LES VIEUX • 1902 : SARAH BERNHARDT – LA SAMARITAINE • 1903 : METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE – I PAGLIACERI • 1903 : LÉON XIII – AVE MARIA • 1904 : ALESSANDRO MORESCHI – LES LAMENTATIONS DE JÉRÉMIE • 1904 : MARÉ- CHAL – LES DEUX BEUBLETS • 1904 : MERCADIER – MAGDELEINE T’EN SOUVIENS TU ? • 1905 : GABIN – EN REVENANT DE LA REVUE • 1906 : ARISTIDE BRUANT – AU BOIS DE BOULOGNE • 1910 : MONTÉHUS – VOILÀ LES PRUSSIENS • 1913 : GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE – LE PONT MIRABEAU. BONUS : PREMIERS PAS DE LA STÉRÉO : BLUMLEIN – EXTRAITS SESSION EMI STUDIO 12 JANVIER 1934 • RICHARD WAGNER – LA CHEVAUCHÉE DES WALKYRIES • JOHANNES BRAHMS – DANSE HONGROISE N° 5 • SÉQUENCE JAZZ – NEW MAYFAIR ORCHESTRA • EXPÉRIMENTATIONS STÉRÉO LABORATOIRES BELL 1ER JUIN 1934.

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