Die vielleicht erste Tonaufnahme der Welt

Aufgenommen im April 1860 und so gut wie nicht verständlich, aber darum soll es ja gar nicht gehen. First Sounds hat die vielleicht erste Audioaufnahme der Zeitgeschichte, was man ja auch so genau nicht wissen kann, also schreibe ich mal bisher.

“Chi crederia che sotto forme umane e sotto queste pastorali spoglie fosse nascosto un Dio? Non mica un–[„Who would believe that under human form and under this pastoral garb there would be found a God? Not only a….“]. As of mid-May 2009, this phonautogram of the opening lines of Torquato Tasso‘s pastoral drama Aminta is the earliest audible record of recognizable human speech–at least, recognizable enough to follow if you already know the words. (The April 9, 1860 recording of Au Clair de la Lune appears to be earlier, but it is sung, not spoken.) Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville recorded it for the physicist Henri Victor Regnault, probably in April or May 1860, as a “study of the tonic accent,” so he was more interested in capturing the intonation than the words anyway. But there’s a mistake in the recorded recitation. “I was wrong,” Scott wrote at the bottom: “it should be umane forme.” By apologizing for reversing the word order, Scott indirectly identifies himself as the speaker.”

Und klingen tut das heute, 150 Jahre nach Entstehung, so:
[audio:http://reaktorplayer.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/1860-scott-torquato-tassos-aminta.mp3]
(via Binary Heap)