A wax cylinder recording from Edison's "Perfected" Phonograph, used in a press conference that introduced the phonograph to London.
This is not the earliest known recording of music: However, the earliest recording is this: [1] - which is almost unlistenable, thanks to severe degradation.
This recording, however, is less than a month and a half after that one, and is actually quite a good performance, after a few seconds, the distortion clears, and the middle section is surprisingly good. Though it ends a bit abruptly, given the timescales, I think that it is astounding.
Appears in Arthur Sullivan, The Lost Chord, Phonograph cylinder.
Promoted Edison_cylinder_Lost_Chord.ogg --Filll (talk | wpc) 03:06, 13 August 2008 (UTC)