The Lost Chord

On October 5th, 1888, Sir Arthur Sullivan attended a "phonograph party" hosted by the Edison corporation; during the party, Sullivan was persuaded to make a phonograph of his voice. This phonograph (engraved upon a wax cylinder) was meant to serve as a sort of futuristic letter, similar to the e-mail we have today.

Earlier that same year, Sullivan allowed Edison to make a phonograph of his song, "The Lost Chord"; this, among other songs, was played at an international press conference to celebrate Edison's "invention". Surprisingly enough, the recording survived until the present day, and in much better condition than many other recordings (this one of Brahms, for instance).

In honor of Sullivan's graciousness toward his bastard of a host, I have decided to embed both the recording of "The Lost Chord" and the recording of his dinner speech; the text follows below:



"Dear Mr. Edison, if my friend Edmund Yates has been a little incoherent it is in consequence of the excellent dinner and good wines that he has drunk. Therefore I think you will excuse him. He has his lucid intervals. For myself, I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the result of this evening's experiments: astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record for ever. But all the same I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery. Arthur Sullivan."