First Sounds
Celebrating a Sesquicentennial
Friday April 9th marked the 150th anniversary of the recording of Au Clair de la Lune by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville – the earliest audibly recognizable record of the human voice yet recovered.
To commemorate this landmark achievement we've prepared fresh new facsimiles of Scott’s manuscripts taken directly from our scans of the documents. We’re also pleased to present The Phonautographic Manuscripts of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, in which Patrick Feaster transcribes and translates every one of Scott’s handwritten pages pertaining to sound recording identified so far – including the notations and inscriptions on every known phonautogram.
Together, these documents trace the inception, development, and maturation of Scott’s phonautographic work in Scott’s own words.
- Principes de Phonautographie (1857)
- This sealed packet, deposited by Scott at the Académie des sciences de l’Institut de France in January 1857, contains his first account of the phonautograph as well as his proofs of concept from 1853 or 1854 – the earliest surviving phonautograms.
- Brevet d’Invention (1857) and Certificat d’Addition (1859)
- These patent applications contain two phonautograms and Scott’s only surviving drawings of his phonautographs.
- M. Scott’s Procedures for the Graphic Fixation of the Voice (1857)
- Erroneously reported lost for many years, here is the complete Scott dossier preserved by the Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale – the society of prominent men who worked with Scott in 1857 to develop practical applications for his invention. Included is acoustician and society member Jules Lissajous’ fascinating assessment of the phonautograph’s capabilities.
- Fixation et Transcription du Chant (1860)
- Scott inscribed this extraordinary album of phonautograms – made in March and April 1860 – to Henri Victor Regnault from “his devoted and grateful servant and student.” This is the inaugural publication of this hand-sewn album, identified by First Sounds among Regnault’s papers at the Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France.
- Inscription automatique des sons de l’air au moyen d’une Oreille artificielle (1861)
- Scott presented these materials to the Académie des Sciences de l’Institut de France in 1861 to reestablish the priority of his invention. Among the smoke-covered pages is the now iconic Au Clair de la Lune from April 9th, 1860 – recorded 150 years ago this year.
Learn More about First Sounds
Gearwire asked David Giovannoni about First Sounds between sessions at the fall Audio Engineering Society convention in New York.
About First Sounds
First Sounds is an informal collaborative of audio historians, recording engineers, sound archivists, scientists, other individuals, and organizations who aim to make mankind's earliest sound recordings available to all people for all time. Read more »
Learn more about what First Sounds has achieved:
- First Sounds' research featured on page 1 of the March 27 New York Times
- Listen to the World's Oldest sound
- First Sounds featured on March 27 edition of NPR's All Things Considered
- Read press release about international debut of Scott phonautograms