History

Top 5 Oldest Recorded Songs in The World

In collaboration with vinyl and music expert Jeroen Hamelink

Today we're used to prime quality recorded music that we can easily download or stream – although some still prefer playing vinyl records. Can you imagine a time without recorded music? There was, of course, and the first songs ever recorded might not sound too great by today's standards, but these recordings were incredibly important for modern music recordings. What songs do you think were the first to be recorded? Find out if you're right below where we list the 5 oldest recorded songs in the world.

5. The Last Castrato (1902)There have been more song recordings in between 1889 and 1902, but this one is worth noting: 'The Last Castrato' by Alesandro Moreschi. Castrati were male singers who were castrated before the age of 10 in order to maintain their soprano to contralto voice. Castration prevented the voice dropping as a result of puberty, but since the lungs developed normally this provided the man with the voice of a young boy and the lung power of an adult. Alesandro Moreschi is the only Castrati who ever recorded his singing, and the last to perform; castrating young boys was forbidden in Italy in 1870. His recordings from 1902 and 1904 in the Vatican for The Gramophone & Typewriter Company give us an idea of what castrati sounded like. 

4. Hungarian Dance No. 1 (1889)On 2nd December 1889, Johannes Brahms was recorded by Theo Wangemann – a representative of Thomas Edison. The recordings include measures 13-72 of Brahms’ own 'Hungarian Dance No. 1'. An important milestone in musical recording, however the quality of the recording is so poor due to noise it was long criticised as holding no musical value. Today’s techniques have revealed that in the recording, you can hear Brahms himself talking and playing the piano.

3. Romance Op. 50 (1889)The same representative of Thomas Edison, Theo Wangemann, supervised a recording session in Berlin on September 13th 1889 where Herr Krahmer (violin) and Herr Schmalfuß (piano) played Beethoven's 'Romance Op. 50'. It is believed to be the first recording of Beethoven’s work, recorded in a time when several people who had known Beethoven were still alive.

2. The Lost Chord (1888)There have been other voice - or even musical recordings in between 1860 and 1888, like a Thomas Edison tinfoil recording at a St. Louis museum demonstration and Edison reciting 'Mary had a Little Lamb'. But the next known song recording was in 1888, when Arthur Sullivan’s 'The Lost Chord' recording was presented at a press conference in London on behalf of the introduction of Edison’s perfected version of the phonograph. Arthur Sullivan composed 'The Lost Chord' at the side of the bed of his ill brother, who died a few days later.

1. Au Clair de la Lune (1860)This recording was discovered just a few years ago and it is believed to be the oldest recording of a human voice. 'Au Clair de la Lune' is actually a French folk song from the 18th century. A few lines of this song were sung by a woman and recorded on paper with a phonautograph in 1860 by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Before Edison, Scott de Martinville figured out how to make recording, but he couldn't work out how to play them back. Over 100 years later, in 2008, the recording was converted back to sound. Pretty amazing, although the recording is quite scratchy and a little haunting, as if the century old voice is struggling to be heard through time.

If you are an enthusiast for old recordings, take a look at Vinyl Record auction to find some vintage beauties for your collection.