Can you believe that this is a Live recording from 1903?!

This is one of the most precious early live Operatic performance recording; The Opening Scene excerpt from Act 2 of Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci". Recorded Live by Lionel Mapleson at Metropolitan Opera House, New York. Recorded on a two minute Wax cylinder on January 30th, 1903(!)
The recording is mostly with chorus, but the famous Italian baritone, Antonio Scotti, can be heard clearly on some passages.
Now, can you believe that this is a LIVE performance, from 1903, recorded on a primitive Wax cylinder? I couldn't believe it even after I listened this over and over.
I didn't do any filtering job or any sound modification on this one. This audio came directly from a tape copy of lacquer disc transcriptions made by William H. Seltsam of IRCC with a collaboration of New York public Library in 1941. Later transfers made in the 1960s and 1980s doesn't sound much vivid and clear as this one.

[@Cybop-xd9mm]

Amazing. We get to hear this 113 years later.

[@howtogetreal]

117 now

[@owenmorrissey2177]

And still 117

[@gunnarthefeisty]

well, sure! You can start collecting these early recordings pretty easily.

[@rayray9776]

Now 118, going to 119 years in less than a month!

[@BobMadickman]

121! 😊

[@Donjcollin]

This was recorded 11 days before my father, Robinson Collin, was born in Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland.

[@VOMITQUEEN]

Wow. How old are you?

[@dgsta8914]

Christ, How old are you man?

[@Donjcollin]

71

[@Donjcollin]

71

[@malcolmmorin]

I call BS. Everyone knows the internet is only inhabited with people under 25. :) But seriously, it's not common to be coming across people who are literally in their seventies browsing on KZbin and typing coherently.

[@thenorthamericanphonograph1039]

The "fart" sound is a lift, in cylinder recording, if a sound has too much db and too fast an attack, it will push the stylus with enough force to eject it from the surface of the blank momentarily and then the stylus touches down again. The recording head Mapleson used was a Bettini recorder, many had aluminum recording diaphragms under tension, this gave good sensitivity and response. I have recorded personally over 1000 wax cylinders, and can tell you they are able to record down to at least 100, and sometimes as low as 60 cycles, and as high as 8,000 sometimes 10,000 cycles, in contrast to acoustical, lateral 78 gramophone records with a 200-3000 cps range. This cylinder actually has pretty low surface noise. It is best to not alter the sound in any way when transcribing cylinders to modern media, as the frequency is altered as well as the dynamic range.

[@matthewpalmer9820]

Shawn Borri so what you're saying, is that it's a fart

[@pugg5ter542]

Matthew Palmer I think he is

[@luvmyrecords]

@@matthewpalmer9820 BWAH! 🤣

[@luvmyrecords]

That is pretty fascinating. As to the frequency range, just as an example, I have heard some Harry Lauder cylinders here on KZbin, and the sound of his voice on them is much closer to the one on his electrical recordings than the discs. With your explanation, now it makes sense!

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

so the stylus farted

[@gmmix]

Astonishing capture of vocal art from a recording machine so far away and above the singers' positions. That he heated the cylinders before proceeding to record surely helped Mapleson get as much sound as is evidenced.

[@matthewrichards88]

It always fascinated me. He really put some thought into the recordings and it's remarkable. Apparently he used a Betini recorder ,(they were one of the most sensitive recorders for the Edison phonograph)

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

im 125 born 1899 feb 17th but no government will recognize my age cuz of a lack of birth records

[@ga1actic_muffin]

True sounds of ghosts. Every voice you hear right now are the voices of long deceased persons.

[@michaelpaulo7530]

vulkein We all die someday

[@michaelpaulo7530]

vulkein We all die someday

[@kingbadger318]

+vulkein Someday, we all die.

[@ga1actic_muffin]

+kingbadger i dont believe you

[@bingola45]

+vulkein Wow! Just like Buddy Holly!

[@Shinx990]

Technology is amazing. I mean, I'm listening to an opera that was filmed 10 months before my great-grandma was born, and yet here I am now, listening to it.

[@danielcarneiro5483]

this was filmed 4 days after my great grandpa was born

[@vivalacarlo]

I was just thinking this, my great grandpa was born 1903 as well

[@danielcarneiro5483]

@@vivalacarlo mine was too when this was filmed he was 4 days old when this was recorded.

[@RRaquello]

My grandfather was alive, but he couldn't afford tickets to the Metropolitan Opera, even though he was living not too far from the opera house (only a few stops on the subway, which also opened in 1903). He was only 7 years old, so the opera didn't interest him. He was more into John McGraw's NY Giants.

[@eblackadder3]

Recorded, not filmed.

[@dgmelvin]

A terrific version of this. I have a copy of one of the later ones and this one is so much better. Thanks for posting it!

[@jacobcschick01]

i still prefer the studio version myself

[@PurpleNerd1000]

Studio versions are always better.

[@BlackFlagHeathen]

My childhood home was built in 1901. I wonder what sort of people were living in it at the very moment of this recording.

[@vesteel]

The conductor is Philippe Flon. The same night Donizetti's La fille du régiment was performed after the Pagliacci performance.

[@transformingArt]

It appears Mapleson stopped his recording activity in mid-1903 ; there are numerous suggestions about the reason, but it is most likely that the extensive rebuilding of the stage area in the summer of 1903 to accommodate the production of Wagner's Parsifal, have destroyed Mapleson's vantage point for his recording. Too bad we don't have any live recordings of Caruso. Anyway, Albert Alvarez took the role of Canio in this recording.

[@danielcarneiro5483]

thanks for sharing this cool recording. One of my great grandfathers was 4 days old when this was recorded. He was born in January 26 1903

[@zriter59escritor33]

One of the best Mapleson cylinders. A great record of live operatic performance

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

im 125 born 1899 feb 17th but no government will recognize my age cuz of a lack of birth records

[@jksteven1]

Amazing since most recordings were made in tight little studios with horns into which musicians and singers bellowed. Some instruments were not used because they were too soft. This recording was amazing in that it attempted to capture the live sound from the stage as it was performed. I wish someone had done this regularly despite the weaknesses of the recording. It is truly amazing....much more so than experimental recordings from the mid 1800's. A little 2 channel phasing of the single track could give the illusion of stereo and wow! A step back in time for sure! Thanks for this treat!

[@esroberto1]

Yeah, the first attempts at picking up an entire orchestra for commercial recording wasn't until 1917! I just wish they had realized our sense of directionality was as important to sound reproduction as our sense of depth is to photographs. They had stereoscopic pictures in the 1830's. Even Viewmasters were around as early as 1919! To have just one Caruso record in stereo... *sigh*

[@The1920sDandy]

Adding fake stereo effects usually makes the recording sound quite artificial and isn't exactly an improvement. It's better to transfer the original recording and restore it to it's best.

[@jksteven1]

I refer to taking two mono channels and giving a very slight phasing of the two, offsetting one by like 5%. It will give not a stereo sound so much as a fuller sound, not detectable like stereo that has been artificially created. It no longer sounds as if it is coming from the middle of your head.:)

[@The1920sDandy]

Oh, ok. I'm not a sound engineer so I cannot give an opinion on this technique, but as a listener I'm a supporter of non modified sound :) It's more genuine to my ears.

[@jksteven1]

Basically I agree with you. Some You Tubers like to take applications like AUDACITY and eliminate clicks and noise without regard to the distortions that makes in the original sound. Some older recordings have been so tampered-with they sound like you are hearing the recording through 20 feet of garden hose. I opt for natural sound as well. So, we are not at odds. :)

[@TheRustedGarage]

Wow, this video has been on KZbin for 100 years

[@yurimeyrowitz6788]

Yes... the "tube" part refers to the recording cylinder used... I believe that in one model, they used farm animals to power the equipment, in this case, a female sheep, ergo... this was a product of Ewe-Tube

[@VRnamek]

can you imagine 100 years from now someone unearthing such pearls of wisdom from KZbin comments?

[@2idiot2animate28]

Obviously This Has not been for 100 + years on youtube But Yeah.... Someday it will

[@plant5875]

@@2idiot2animate28 this man

[@egsuk3034]

@@2idiot2animate28 no shit Sherlock

[@capitolemiproducer]

It's a bootleg. Someone hide the recorder underneath their coat

[@RecordCollector96]

capitolemiproducer How would you know that?

[@jamdav-rm3nd]

capitolemiproducer lmao piracy is a crime

[@tamumalone5456]

capitolemiproducer 😅😅😅

[@j.ag.3537]

-_- he have the permission to put the bg horn

[@solinus7131]

@@j.ag.3537 he was joking.

[@nozmoking1]

Amazing - the fidelity and accuracy of the recording was purely a function of the design of the diaphragm, and the meticulous calculations and lever ratios needed to transfer the sound to accurate movement of the cutting needle. Then, the reverse - to create enough energy to move the diaphragm sufficiently and produce enough audible sound pressure without distorting or damaging the delicate groove on the wax cylinder was an incredible feat of engineering. Thanks for posting this.

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

no live music was only good option back than thiis is trash ..... i love old records but anything predating the 30ss is trash wax cylinders suck

[@katomiccomics202]

This is really giving me heavy chills for some reason.

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

im 125 born 1899 feb 17th but no government will recognize my age cuz of a lack of birth records

[@RedStingBlogs]

I love the crackling sounds of the record! So fascinating!!

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

im 125 born 1899 feb 17th but no government will recognize my age cuz of a lack of birth records

[@monkeydigs6696]

My great grandfather was born in 1903, it's pretty crazy being able to hear this.

[@saltburner2]

My parents were both born in 1903!

[@monkeydigs6696]

@@saltburner2 How old are you?

[@kelvinsurname7051]

​@@monkeydigs6696I assume in their 80's or 90's.

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

@@kelvinsurname7051 why they using modern slang like burner as their account name u know a burner account

[@GamesAndMoar]

I can believe it.

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

im 125 born 1899 feb 17th but no government will recognize my age cuz of a lack of birth records

[@pandemonicpixie]

Somehow I'm imagining how everyone felt, being present, experiencing the performance. That feeling is timeless.

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

im 125 born 1899 feb 17th but no government will recognize my age cuz of a lack of birth records

[@thatchineseguymemegroup5833]

​ok bro@@TheBeatMakersGuild

[@rafaelaguilar3380]

Min 1:29 ¡You can ear sound like a... ¿fart? This is a wonderful recording of opera.

[@RadioParanormaliumPL]

Congratulations, you've discovered an earliest recording of a human fart!

[@53lyric1]

Was that you?

[@gayhomelesswithpinknails4424]

@@RadioParanormaliumPL 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@RadioParanormaliumPL]

@@gayhomelesswithpinknails4424 fuck, man, thanks for digging this up. Just read what I wrote two years ago and can't stop laughing. Shit... earliest recording of a human fart... this is fuckin' crazy... hahahaha

[@brendonbrito2694]

Maybe someone had gas 🤣🤣

[@RTJJstudios]

Lionel was my great great (?great) grandfather, absolutely insane hearing this.

[@dennismiddlebrooks7027]

There may have been people in that audience who recalled when Jefferson, Adams, Jackson and Madison were alive and I am sure there were some Civil War veterans as well.

[@albanybeardguy]

The acoustics of the old Met probably aided the recording. I also wonder if, in the days before microphones, the signers and musicians might have done things louder?

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

no they didn't

[@JohnCornerMusic]

Man it's awesome u keep records of stuff like this AWESOME!!!😃

[@zriter59escritor33]

Mapleson here had suspended his huge horn above the stage. Thus he achieved much more clarity than he did when his machine was in or near the prompter's box.

[@AndYetAnotherView]

Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, University of California at Santa Barbara enables you to download mp3s of historic wax cylinder recordings: cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/

[@liberte5847]

OUTSTANDING RECORDING EVER! BRAVO and MERCI BEAUCOUP! Emmanuel from Paris

[@stevevandien310]

The best Mapleson cylinders, like this one, are amazingly clear.

[@Perrosiutico]

The clearest cylinders we have today are the ones that were played the least. The most popular ones, like the ones of Jean de Reszke and the Queen's caballeta from Huguenots, were played until they were quite worn out. Wax cylinders played with steel needles deteriorated rather quickly.

[@marvinwatkins8889]

Alas, I do fear I cannot attend the opera this night, for my white tie and tales are being clean by one of the footmen and I have no spare at this time. Please give my regrets to my good friends at Downton

[@5Beaky]

neat...Hard to imagine those voices are from over a hundred years ago

[@HickoryJ]

my great gran was born two months and thirty days after this recording was made. I remember her, she had a light southern accent and a lot of old plates in her home. I'm only 19, she died at 101 years old when I was 5

[@danielcarneiro5483]

one of my Great Grandfathers was born 4 days before this recording was made (he was born 26 January 1903 and the recording is from 30 January) he died in 1975. All of my Great Grandparents died before i was born

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

@@danielcarneiro5483 k gangster we get it u got alot of dead homiiez from the hood ogs always die

[@DollFace1536]

Wow this is so amazing!!!

[@CustomsByOrangeH]

Such artistic nuance to the fart sound expertly captured at 1:31 You just don't get subtlety like that anymore in post-WWI opera

[@RedVynil]

Yes, I can! It's the only kind of recordings they could make back then! Electronic turntables, magnetophones (tape recorders) and microphones weren't invented for quite some time, yet. In order to make multiple copies, they'd put a number of record cutters in a room WITH the performers and the recording horns and do one performance of the piece. Once it was done, they'd put fresh blanks on the cutters and perform the entire piece all over again. They might perform the same piece dozens of times in a week to get a few hundred or thousand copies of the record cut

[@RedVynil]

@@garynilsson416 You COULD say that but, only technically! The ONLY way you could reproduce it in stereo is to get two copies of the same record from the exact same performance and see to it that one was cut from the left side of the room and the other from the right and then you'd have to play them both at the exact same time.

[@judyjones5089]

Wow, no mics? amazing! Are there any surviving photos of this performance? My grandma was 17 at the time of this recording.

[@RedVynil]

@@judyjones5089 Like they show in the picture, the performers would play into a huge cone, at the other end was a rubber diaphragm with a cutting needle attached to it and the sound going into the cone would vibrate the diaphragm accordingly which would cause the needle to move around the same way cutting those vibrations into the wax blank. There might be pictures but, I guess you'd have to search archives from that era to find any. Dad's mother would've been 23, mom's wouldn't be born for another 7 years.

[@smadaf]

Poulsen invented his wire recorder in 1898. A magnetic wire recording of Emperor Franz Joseph made in 1900 survives. Edison described magnetic sound recording in his British phonograph patent of 1877.

[@RedVynil]

@@smadaf Interesting! Thanks! I didn't know they had wire recorders back then. Seems to me they could've just made a wire recording of a performance and made loads of copies of that onto records instead of making the band play the same thing dozens of times a day.

[@gerardbedecarter]

Most interesting.

[@Ettoredipugnar]

130 yrs ago amazing

[@Will-lc4sm]

This is beautiful

[@ClamperDrew]

Yes. Yes, I can.

[@ferociousgumby]

How many cylinders to record the whole thing?! I agree, this is amazing, very vibrant sound quality. The voices have real resonance. But it's over too soon!

[@gunnarthefeisty]

I'd imagine quite a few- with Bettini's recording device you could fit 2:30 or so onto a cylinder, IIRC.

[@johnb6723]

Probably about 100 sides.

[@Borriaudio]

Very awesome fidelity! I actually make metallic soap cylinder master blanks (about 12,000 of them) and I have recorded at live performances and you do find a surprising range when you take the recordings and review them under quieter circumstances! I am sure the Opera was hot and close, and that contributed to the good recording as well as the live acoustics of those old halls.

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

how would i go about digitizing a cylinder has to be a better way then just recording it with a digital mic or even old 1920s shellac records

[@MsLupo1]

great to hear,thank you

[@iannogueira1848]

beautiful

[@pleonic]

Incredible.

[@judahsmall3023]

This was recorded when actors Bob Hope and Johannes Heesters were born. Bob Hope died in 2003 at the age of 100 from pneumonia, and he had this since 2001. Johannes Heesters died in 2011 at the age of 108 from a stroke.

[@robcat2075]

Since this was posted, audio processing has been developed that can remove the wow and flutter that frequently afflicts these old recordings. It would be interesting to hear the result of that.

[@speirsgameingwithkevatwood7199]

yea i was there i saw it live with my eyes in 504 years old my boy i been trew this

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

yee gee no cap fr im 125 born 1899 feb 17th but no government will recognize my age cuz of a lack of birth records

[@bogdankoretzky9160]

Effing amazing quality.

[@Edwin48100]

120 years ago! 1903 to 2023!

[@Cayres18]

The First recording piano, november, 1889.

[@karenmusic8136]

how neat~~~~

[@annabel6998]

Amazing!

[@chhinderpalsingh2119]

yes, it may be believed, surely..

[@HammadiVlog]

Wonderful

[@bernadettepotenti9879]

Didn't sound too bad considering the age

[@thomasrexdale3706]

of course this is the real thing--Mapelson recorded for several years getting the only recordings we have of Jean DeReszke and many others---the problem with us hearing them in 2014 is that he played them over and over for his friends family etc. until the grooves were almost totally worn out--however today it is possible thru modern digital technology to recover much of what was lost--Yale U. was going to do this some 25 plus years ago but i guess it never happened, Why?

[@samnicholson5051]

This could pass for shortwave radio broadcast

[@JozefSterkens]

Incroyable!!!!!!

[@horseandcart5978]

They were hard up for entertainment back then

[@yaboimaxwell9031]

I can believe it. I can believe that there were some in 1861 or so.

[@dennman6]

Wow, that bass drum has amazing presence! Never heard such low notes from as old a cylinder as this. I believe I've heard some of the later transfers, as they sound pretty crappy compared to this track. Are those 1941 transfers complete & available in this century? Commercial release I should think would be embraced by lovers of historical opera recordings.

[@steelers6titles]

Fidelity is no doubt as good as could be obtained live at the time. The Met's acoustics helped, no doubt. A big acoustic recording horn, perhaps positioned at the center of the stage. Electronic amplification of an audio signal was still several decades in the future.

[@Discrimination_is_not_a_right]

Sounds like it. Back then, all recordings were live.

[@michaelpreston233]

Is it live or Memorex.

[@Melissa0774]

I wonder where exactly they placed the recording apparatus? And I wonder if anyone back then ever experimented with what we would now call multi track or stereo recording, by having several different recording apparatuses going at the same time in different spots and then playing back all the recordings on multiple phonographs at the same time. It would've been expensive and required a coordinated group effort to do something like that, but I wonder if anyone ever tried it as an experiment?

[@garymattscheck9066]

Recorded with a Bettini recorder.

[@BobDylansNumber1Fan]

Makes you think what will we be listening to in 110 years, still some shite like today I bet.

[@roland-qg3dh]

The sad thing is most of the Mapleson cylinders were played to near disintegration. If only they had been preserved in pristine condition.

[@thechuckjosechannel.2702]

All the voices we hear are from people born in the days of Horse and buggy.

[@maxpower252]

Yes, I can.

[@Fablins-kt9ti]

Pity there are no Mahler conducting recordings

[@othmanfarasin3904]

☺

[@AMQ11]

Sad that there are so many stupid comments from ignorant juveniles. A wonderful piece of history.

[@radionicpowers5938]

Illustration from 1898 Artwork by Harry Grant Dart

[@BigDaveMcConnell]

There are some recordings of Caruso. Search a little farther. I found some one time.

[@RollaArtis]

I think the original wax recordings were like this - very good, but the quality deteriorated every time they were played. Sonic limitations meant that vocal music (and bells) came out particularly well but instrumental music not.

[@judyjones5089]

I wonder how many were in that excellent choir, and how they had to position themselves for the balanced harmony to be picked up by the acoustic mic. What was the piece they were singing? Sounded like an aria.

[@thechuckjosechannel.2702]

The start of Act II from "Pagliacci" by Leoncavallo.

[@eblackadder3]

​@@thechuckjosechannel.2702Act 1.

[@Musique3579]

Wonder if he was using a Bettini recorder to be able to do that well?

[@LarryWaldbillig]

Musique3579 That was exactly my thought too. Bettinis had the spider diaphragm and they were very sensitive. The detail and presence were far advanced for their time.

[@Musique3579]

Larry Waldbillig The recorders offered by Edison to the average person in my opinion were "fun things" for the people without giving the Edison secret away for the professional recordings. I have seen photos however and what Edison was using actually looked more like something Columbia would be using. If indeed Mapleson was using a "for fun Edison 2 minute recorder," then he truly got astonishing results especially considering the distance he was recording from. Hence, my hunch is he had something superior with a spider and larger diaphragm to capture sound.

[@classicalduck]

+Musique3579 Yes. The booklet notes to the LP release, by the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Public Library, of the Mapleson Cylinders (as they are called) specify that the Met's Librarian, Lionel Mapleson, was using a Bettini reproducer which was the gift of a friend.

[@Musique3579]

+Matthew B. Tepper Well, no wonder Mapleson was doing so well. TG that he had a Bettini to record with. Thank you so much for letting me know of this.

[@cmclean6475]

I had thought that some of the IRCC discs' sounds were better even than what R & H's archives have? Is the poster saying ths one comes from the archive collection?

[@matthewtorok-smith1967]

Before WWI and before my Great Grandma was born!

[@corbse2059]

I truly wish someone recorded one of Cohans shows.

[@FJMLAM]

is that historic or what!

[@Denavencian_Televisio]

Awesome, I can definitely believe it. Did they use a cylinder to record it?

[@digidoridvideos3672]

Yes they did.

[@Denavencian_Televisio]

@@digidoridvideos3672 Cool, thank you!

[@digidoridvideos3672]

@@Denavencian_Televisio Your welcome!

[@Denavencian_Televisio]

@@digidoridvideos3672 😊

[@canman5060]

Was it the premier performance of l Pagliacci ?

[@Perrosiutico]

No. The premier of "Pagliacci" was May 21, 1892 at the Teatro del Verme in Milan, Italy, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, a decade before this performance at the Met. There was no recording of the first performance.

[@rareblues78daddy]

LOL! Being a musician, I knew it was a bass drum... but also being a musician, upon replaying it, I laughed because it does sound like a fart. Oh, musicians.... We're able to appreciate things on so many different levels.

[@StevexOwnz]

But you have to appreciate the music from the early 20th century recording (or beyond that: 19th Century and below) or else we would never have music such as today existed.

[@Kennephone]

This is a copy of a copy made in 1941, I wonder if the original cylinder still exists today.

[@mrrocket299h2]

Lol My grandmother wasn’t even born yet. I think

[@ComradeMorlac]

@TheOrderoftheOwl xDDD this was epic

[@ifrasaeed9059]

he was probably using a wax recorder

[@novideoman7712]

Description: "on a primitive wax cylinder" so, but for 1906 it is still surprisingly clear

[@thechannelofeverything2615]

@@novideoman7712 This recording is used as a secret Boom with using bombs stuff etc.

[@emokaddi]

no sweat :D

[@chastenor]

Caruso made his debut at the Met in late 1903. How close are we hear to hearing his voice? Plus, do we know who was the tenor (Canio) at this performance?

[@eblackadder3]

Caruso never appeared on any Mapleson recordings.

[@eblackadder3]

The lyrics don't sound correct to me. Where the chorus is supposed to sing "Evviva, Il principe sei de pagliacci", it sounds like something else. I can't imagine it would be sung in a language other than the original Italian.

[@mustafatheconqueror9832]

118 year ago

[@TheBeatMakersGuild]

im 125 born 1899 feb 17th but no government will recognize my age cuz of a lack of birth records

[@alankuntz6494]

[@ferociousgumby]

The title is Pagliacci - there's no I

[@eblackadder3]

Actually it is I pagliacci.

[@bsherman8236]

So when the album coming out

[@phj2023]

I'm scared

[@thechannelofeverything2615]

if you say that ww1 was made in that year you would be half-wrong. it started 11 years later.