A dinner with Sir Arthur Sullivan (rare 1888 recordings)

Recordings made at the very birth of recorded sound, by George Gouraud, Edison's representative in London, including recordings made at a dinner attended by Sir Arthur Sullivan on October 5th 1888. The video also features other historic sound recordings from 1888, 1907 and 1912, including recordings made by Savoyard Walter Passmore, as well as historic movies filmed in England and Ireland in 1888, 1896, 1898, 1900 and 1903,

[@robinaxeman]

What a privilege to hear the voice of the great Sir Arthur Sullivan.His music still is popular today.He was indeed a wonderful man.

[@BlackFlagHeathen]

I actually love how clear this is because it’s a genuine recording of how people talked back then. Even their inflections were different. Nowdays we consider how they spoke very quaint and fancy, but referring to your night as “a most interesting and agreeable evening” back then was like us saying “this was a bomb-ass night, bruh.” Just imagine our great great grandchildren digging up a recording of us talking and thinking about how old-fashioned we’ll sound to them. “Bruh?” “Lit?” Describing things as being “fire?” Talking about the latest iPhone?! Wow, this recording IS from 100+ years ago! And the crazy thing is, our descendants won’t have to dig to find recordings of us. It will all almost certainly be easily accessible to them, thanks to the internet- especially social media- being the best archive of modern life/history humanity has ever had. I’m rambling at this point but all this is just so interesting to think about for me.

[@edub9930]

In the future there won't be an electricity. All will be lost

[@par1gon1]

From Sir Arthur 1888 to my smartphone 2015!

[@mattkershino7553]

Edward Dagnes 2018

[@CaptainZucker01]

@@mattkershino7553 2021

[@mattkershino360]

@@CaptainZucker01 2023

[@mrscpc1918]

Appreciated still 2024

[@mrscpc1918]

Wonderful. Thanks so much for your efforts

[@zionweaver]

Thank You for uploading this video. I had read the comments by Sullivan about worrying about all the "hideous" music he feared would be recorded, but had never heard his voice untill now. simply amazing!

[@frisco21]

The audio is amazingly clear and easily-understood. For such an early recording, this is nothing short of astounding. Had Gouraud not intoned the actual date in the recording, I might not have believed it was made in 1888.

[@polymath7]

Indeed. There are recordings of Tennyson and Robert Browning from exactly this time that are nowhere near as intelligible.

[@briggslawson8941]

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[@alanraphael5895]

@Briggs Lawson Instablaster :)

[@briggslawson8941]

@Alan Raphael i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and im in the hacking process now. I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@briggslawson8941]

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[@ronsiedavie480]

Well this was fascinating. I actually remember my Dad wearing outfits like these dudes. Spats, and the bowlers hats. He was born late 1800's. My mum gave his top hat and tails to the local dramatic society. Love AS's middle parting and curly hair. ronsie

[@scoobysnacks1342]

ronsie davie your dad? dude how old are you im curious

[@jasonhurd4379]

@@scoobysnacks1342 I'm thinking if the father was born in 1899, it's conceivable the commenter could be in his seventies.

[@BlackFlagHeathen]

“October theeee... 5th, eighteen hundred and eighty eight.” Lol some things never change. Even back then people had to pause for a second and be like “Uuuuuh what day is it again...? Oh yeah.”

[@BrucesPhonograph]

A bit of technical information on the 1888 recordings made at Mr. Gouraud's house. The recording medium of which the cylinders were made was a very important element in the development of sound recording. These recordings were made on a D C motor driven phonograph developed by Mr. Edison after he had done an extensive amount of work on the electric lamp and its distribution system. The recording medium was wax, the formula of which consisted of ceresin or ozocerite and beeswax. This did not make as favorable a recording as the "wax" recording medium developed in the early "90's and known as brown wax. Brown wax cylinders were actually made of an insoluble soap. The 1880's wax cylinders really were made of wax and were white rather than brown. These are vary rare today and the recordings played here really are rare. On other sites on U-tube can be heard 1890's brown wax cylinders which have a sound somewhat different from that of the white wax cylinders of the 1880's which have a somewhat muffled sound. As ozocerite and cerasin are high molecular mineral waxes, white wax cylinders of the 1880's were probably less prone to be attacked by mold than are the 1890's brown wax cylinders.

[@artshifrin3053]

IT'S VERY GRATIFYING TO READ A SUPERBLY INFORMED COMMENT. THE 'RESTORATION' OF THE AUDIO FROM THE WAX CYLINDER PORTION IS SUPERB: MUCH MORE THAN 'MERE' ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION. I PRESUME THAT IT ENTAILED INTENSIVE DIGITAL PROCESSING.

[@mariaanthonytopofthetree7399]

Thanks, I listen to this over and over, the voice of Sir Arthur Sullivan, so old and rare, and now somehow right here by way of ones and zeros. Surreal!

[@ashtree8898]

Thank you so much, Jack Gibbons, for downloading this. I have just been mesmerised watching and listening. As a big Gilbert and Sullivan fan I am delighted to hear the voice of Sir Arthur Sullivan. It is beautifully put together and the vintage street scenes are just right. I shall return to this video when I need a bit of cheering up. Many thanks. 😊

[@danielgarbuzov3379]

I thank you very much for uploading this exceedingly rare recording, it was truly an honour to hear the voice of Sir Arthur Sullivan.

[@Isaac-mt9hx]

And to think that Franz Lizst died 2 years before this.

[@StephenPBrownConductor]

I do love the language and sentence structure used! Gouraud is so inspiring and motivating, and genuinely admiring of his guests. Oh for those glorious days of eloquence and innocence... Well, actually, I'd rather be here in the 21stC thanks.

[@gmmix]

Absolutely precious material, beginning to end. Fascinating to hear Sullivan's voice in 1888. All in all, this is a KZbin TREASURE! Thank you so much.

[@williamnethercott4364]

Thanks for posting! I'm delighted to have heard the voice of Arthur Sullivan.

[@wurlitzer3]

Don't know how I stumbled on this but it's historically fascinating and very well produced. I hope many more people see it.

[@philipogden]

I so wish my late friend could have heard this as he idolised him and G&S

[@tehaueter]

A fascinating, historical treasure of recorded sound...well preserved...thank you for sharing this valuable part of history....

[@richardherbert9320]

Magnificent archive! G&S enjoyed by all true Brits - I hope to keep this recording until I drop! BRITAIN must retain ALL it's heritage!

[@vcaus]

I can't thank you enough for putting this superb presentation together. I have heard Sullivan's speech before but not the dinner party recording in its entirety. The film footage and other recordings you included are rare and fascinating.

[@fabiansturman7404]

thanks for uploading, this was a joy to watch. I've never heard Sullivan's voice until now

[@wurlitzer895]

What a wonderfully fascinating and interesting upload. Many, many thanks for doing so. It's enchanting. But I had no idea AS was a 'Doctor of Law'? Now, that is intriguing!! Kindest regards, Peter A

[@illinoizrichy1]

man this is like having ones own time machine,, huh

[@oliverbrownlow5615]

That's precisely what every recording device is.

[@steelers6titles]

Great stuff. Bovril, Nestle, Lipton, and Grape-Nuts are all still around.

[@tylermcmann7846]

This video is amazing. I would like to thank the person who uploaded this.

[@jeanettefreeman6908]

glad to hear and see all this. glad too that my seeing this was accidental as I watched a rare production of the sorcerer, as I go to it tonight done by an amateur company. glad it's still alive!! and walter passmore singing put 'em on the list! love it!

[@StephenPBrownConductor]

LOL! "Terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever!"

[@justintai8725]

Was he joking? I'd like to think he had a wicked sense of humour.

[@immaggiethesenilegoldenret7918]

Stephen P Brown It came to pass. In fact, it’s happening NOW.

[@terencehewett5167]

G&S are works of genius.

[@reeller1]

Wonderful--thanks. I'd heard the Sullivan comments before, but not the rest. Great audio-visual context, too.

[@jgregveneklasen2657]

A really excellent montage, Jack, THANK YOU!!

[@djimiwreybigsby5263]

Thank you for this I had no idea So great to hear sir Arthur's actual voice 😊

[@gerardbedecarter]

Thanks for uploading these fascinating historical recordings.

[@oinkishlyme]

Thank you for uploading this! It is most wonderfully fascinating!

[@robertspringate1855]

This is fantastic. Thanks so much for posting.

[@JackGibbonsHQ]

Thank you. I've enjoyed your presentations too, including the care and research you give to the historical information in your notes and your careful choice of interesting historical photographs.

[@BlackFlagHeathen]

This recording must have been very well stored and preserved. It’s much clearer and cleaner sounding than most of the other recordings I’ve heard from this time period.

[@bob7872]

Very nice!! Great for anyone who likes old records! Nice films too!

[@frenchfriar]

I cant help but think how amazed Gauraud, Sullivan, and even Edison would be in 1888 to think that I would be listening to their voices in 2024, 136 years later. I do believe they'd be astonished, and I think Sullivan would be pleased to know his works are still performed and loved today.

[@gerardbedecarter]

Many thanks for your kind comments on my uploads and my comments that accompany them. I will hopefully be uploading further ones. G & S is very popular in [heartwave and bushfire ridden] Australia. We did their operas at school to a good level of artistic success [St Aloysius College, Milsons Point, Sydney].

[@calzonelli]

you know what is funny ? its that one day 100 years in the futur people will see all these comments just like us hearing these voices

[@samellicott383]

Priceless, thank you 👏👏👏👏

[@gerardbedecarter]

A fascinating presentation.

[@canman5060]

Priceless !

[@SunSign]

The laughter at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="408">6:48</a> is always chilling considering how old this is. Echoes from the past.

[@MrLilac]

Fascinating stuff, thanks for posting. Sullivan sounds almost exactly as I imagined. Along with Aleister Crowley's wax recordings it's an interesting window into the past.

[@MrRobster1234]

This was recorded in London right as Jack the Ripper was terrorizing the town.

[@steelers6titles]

Given the horse traffic, you can easily see how people, particularly ladies, had to be careful where they walked. The Thames was dirty, and stank; Dickens remarked on it. Thousands of chimneys emitting coal smoke made the air pretty bad, as well.

[@ThePHILIPOTTO]

This is so fascinating!

[@Magnetron33]

Very interesting! Thank You!

[@Musique3579]

Absolutely astonishing!

[@lws133]

can you imagine that you may be the first one that are sit on that diner and hearing music for the first time of youre life

[@JackSarfatti]

Nicely done.

[@elig57]

The way people talked to each other in the 1880's is so interesting. It's changed a lot in 130 years.

[@vallergy]

Very formal!

[@songsmith31a]

I think this was the case with people of a certain social class, the tones which can still be heard among existing members of old "landed" families and professions like the law. GB Shaw picked it as a theme for "Pygmalion", with Henry Higgins leading Eliza Doolittle to greater "expectations" via the change of her use of English. Updated superbly in the musical "My Fair Lady" (Lerner/Loewe)

[@WildwoodClaire1]

what a delightul recording!

[@kurtganzl4290]

Interesting compilation. The sung musical excerpts I think date from a little later than 1888. I wonder who put it together? And where the pieces of the jigsaw were found!

[@RS3DArchive]

Very nice upload.

[@KidIndigo1]

This is simply cool.

[@gemmasanchezcelaya]

tank you jack, is fantastic!

[@Moodymongul]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="804">13:24</a> - Historic note: Thomas Lipton, after starting a business running a shop (and then steadily expanding it to over 200 shops), started travelling the world looking for new items to stock in his store/s. One such item was tea! The brand name is commonly seen in shops today as 'Lipton Ice Tea' :)

[@brucehutchison3946]

Wish I'd have been there. Sounds like they had pretty good wine.

[@brucer9572]

Thank you! Thank you! I could not have made this up. If you gave me a million dollars and a million days, I could not have made this up. I remain grateful.

[@alskndlaskndal]

The song from the Yeoman was charming. Is that play still performed today? I wonder what Sullivan had in mind when he talked about "hideous music." Was it a self-deprecating remark about himself, or was he referring to someone else? This might have been the first "diss track"! :-)

[@Edkins460]

+Reluctant Dragon An interesting question! Yes, Yeomen is still performed today; I'm in a production currently!

[@JeVoudraisDire]

+R.D. Dragon He was concerned that he was not composing "serious" type music like grand opera and he was even offended when somebody told him that his best work was Mikado.

[@all1rog]

+R.D. Dragon No, I'm sure he did not mean his own music, but it was a remarkably prescient comment. The Yeoman is frequently performed around the world. Jack Point's song remains one of the most popular in the opera.

[@johannekjeldsen1043]

He was so right about all the hideous music that would be kept on record for ever.

[@littlemissmichele9254]

I loved that song too.

[@BartholomewSmutz]

Fascinating!

[@Amphy002]

I'm late to the party but this is delightful, and haunting.

[@tedcichanowicz9278]

astounding! Wonder if anyone has a recording of Gilbert's voice?

[@MrJonnerrs]

''...and terrified at the thought that some much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever" Some foresight there I believe, but fortunately it has preserved some of Sir Arthur's best works too,

[@Cool32216]

Anyways great video. This got me wondering how he was able to invent it and make it sound so well.

[@j.d.philipps288]

Cool32216 Edison was following on from earlier pioneers of recorded sound who had not developed the medium for retaining the analogue information. The "hill and dale" track which his phonograph stylus followed on the wax cylinders reproduced a more accurate sound with less distortion than the flat disc record system invented by Emile Berliner in 1887.

[@deanedge5988]

Simply marvellous - amongst other things a sight of the London of Oscar Wilde. Whom Gilbert despised.

[@Ranlac_the_Black]

A wonderfull litle Gem, splendid!

[@gibusmann7498]

Incredible

[@Khaledov10]

Amazing

[@taymur0804]

The Yeomen Of The Guard sounds very beautiful :)

[@Nhurm]

Wonderful! I sat rapt.

[@verdew8181]

So interesting!!!

[@williamschroder8470]

Surely the poster graphic shown at the introduction to "The Yeoman of the Guard" (<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="143">2:23</a>) is from Princess Ida? I see it labeled clearly, so the error is understandable. Peculiar, nonetheless...

[@way2muchNFO]

glad to know humor and fun and life amazing . always

[@Robbie1949]

If only it were possible to go back in time with a HD digital1080p movie camera of today and capture the sounds & sights of the past. I have the camera but the time machine eludes me. Sir Arthur Sullivan was right though, a lot of bad so called music has been put on disk forever, none so much as the popular "music" of today. I use the term music loosely for who could call the current rap, metal , screaming & what have you music.

[@arontimes5042]

+Robert Scott I'm pretty sure there were a lot of terrible rap, metal, screaming, and what have you music back in the day, but they have all been forgotten by now, in 2015. Someone once said that the reason why we think music in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, etc. are so good is because those eras are so long ago that we only remember the good things.

[@SkyVettel]

Fascinating upload, thank you so much. Could you please list the name of the first song? Thank you.

[@JackGibbonsHQ]

"Three little maids from school are we" from Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado.

[@SkyVettel]

Jack Gibbons What year?

[@SkyVettel]

Jack Gibbons Thank you (says over a year later...) :)

[@way2muchNFO]

fascinating

[@oldcremona]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="156">2:36</a> Jessie! Be still my aching heart!

[@hozonkai9967]

This was during the Jack the Ripper murders!

[@ximenapaola0]

ouch

[@peterzavon3012]

TRANSCRIPTION error. The piece is "The Yeomen of the Guard," not "Yeomen" not "Yeoman."

[@kodead108]

this sounds too preserved to be real

[@steinwaygrande9736]

It is 100 % real as my grandfather was a singer and had some recordings done on these old phonograph machines. Mine have been converted on CD with all the popping scratching and other back ground noises. We kept it as close to the real disc.

[@vesteel]

It was probably digitally restored

[@jackdanish15]

Cool so they had their voices recorded onto a phonograph record and sent it to Edison.

[@lilblade461]

What's the music at the beggining?

[@SunSign]

Perfect bathing theme.

[@steelers6titles]

I have a little list.

[@MrCuddlyable3]

The poster at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="145">2:25</a> has a peculiar history. It shows a scene from "Princess Ida" which was written across the arch and is now scratched out.

[@brandoncosta1848]

Your very good health!!!!

[@SunSign]

To your health! To your very good health, hip-hip, Hooray!

[@moreaulerence-ler2531]

Love this version of I have a song to sing O

[@LyttonAshcroft2001]

Listening to him talk about his fears of "hideous band music" (guess he didn't like marching band music that was popular with the youth at the time, some things never change), I can't help but wonder if we're overblowing our fears about AI in the 2020s.

[@cangjie12]

Isn't it amazing to hear music sung in straight tone, without the customary excessive vibrato that we always hear today? If only people today would realize that opera and classical music in general was, during the time they were first written, never meant to be played or sung with a constant wailing vibrato! Isn't it strange that historical singing is closer to today's popular music (in terms of having no vibrato and much less volume projection)? Yet people are so insistent that opera singing (or classical string playing) must have lots of vibrato.

[@Quintemental]

Beautifully observed. And so right too.

[@solowcello]

The all sing with vibrato--it is just faster and narrower than we are used to hearing now.

[@memento4515]

Watching 2019

[@charlieinson]

All interesting but please correct the title: it's "The Yeomen of the Guard" - plural.

[@JackGibbonsHQ]

Yes, apologies for the error, which crept into the video unnoticed!

[@a.rs.7616]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="220">3:40</a> that guy is wearing modern day flip-flops.

[@matthewlaurence3121]

No, they are traditional Japanese footwear that the samurais were known to wear. They are strapped to the soul, so they don't flip-flop. I know not whether the modern equivalent was inspired by them?

[@a.rs.7616]

They look like flip-flops though.

[@planetx1595]

Matthew Laurence I think Japanese sandles are called a Geta.

[@reezzeybob9907]

Can anyone identify the song at the beginning of the video? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

[@JackGibbonsHQ]

It's "Three little maids from school" from The Mikado

[@reezzeybob9907]

@@JackGibbonsHQ Thanks!

[@ThyGeekGoddessMuze]

Ooooh! 1888, huh? Pings a lot.

[@sirphineasluciusambercromb9114]

I was in this film

[@SaimAli-eq1yn]

Good

[@justaguy1451]

Sir Arthur"s voice? Oh wheely?