The National Recording Registry

[Zeeba Neighba]

Well, a new year and my listening up to my recent Stones listening has been quite aimless. But I've had some ideas for some topics recently and you may see them over the year. Recently, I came upon this list of the sound recordings that have been selected to the National Recording Registry established by act of Congress through the creation of the National Recording Preservation Board (appointed by the Library of Congress)

Each year since 2002 a number of sound recordings have been selected so that currently there are 500 selections - many songs or albums but many historical speeches or recordings. I thought, given my love of history and especially music's place in history, that it might be interesting to go through these. Some are short and some quite lengthy but all seem interested (even though most of the songs/albums are quite well known). When short - like individual songs or speeches - going to post their youtube videos here.
I will go in order of selection, so we'll get the first 50 selections of 2002 presented chronologically then go to the next year's selections

I realize this is quite an unusual series but if you're interested, follow along, check out the youtube's, and post your thoughts. If not, feel free to pass the thread over.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The earliest selection presented in the 2002 list are three early phonograph recordings from the late 1880s.
Edison first presented his phonograph in 1877 with his first recording on tinfoil around a grooved cylinder. Edison did not apparently pay too much attention until contemporaries like Alexander Graham Bell with Chichester Bell and Charles Tainter made some improvements with the "graphophone".

Some of the earliest recordings (and the first selected for the National Recording Registry are three Edison cylinders - obviously very grainy. Rick will start twitching over their recording quality Still, recordings from 130 years ago - damn!

Around the World on a Phonograph (October 1888) - Edison's voice

The Pattison Waltz (1889) - New York soprano Effie Stewart singing a lot of La's

Fifth Regimen March (1889)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Zeeb, I’m with you on this journey. I was aware of the list but never checked it out.

Great project!

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

This is interesting. I have to admit I bailed half way through the Pattison Waltz. (I give it )

What fascinates me is the thought process of an inventor. Understanding sound is a vibration, figuring out how to conduct and amplify that vibration, finally figuring out how to store the sound wave so it's reproduceable. The imagination reels. Maybe that's a biography I should look into.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

This is interesting. I have to admit I bailed half way through the Pattison Waltz. (I give it )

What fascinates me is the thought process of an inventor. Understanding sound is a vibration, figuring out how to conduct and amplify that vibration, finally figuring out how to store the sound wave so it's reproduceable. The imagination reels. Maybe that's a biography I should look into.

And it was done twice. Once for analog media, and then for digital.

 

[Nickyboy]

And it was done twice. Once for analog media, and then for digital.

You just doubled OUT's homework.

 

[axolotl]

You just doubled OUT's homework.

If he spends more time in Cuteness Overload, the dogs will eventually chew up his homework.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

#2) Passamaquoddy Field Recordings by Jesse Walter Fewkes (1890)

Fewkes was a Massachusetts native and anthropologist/ethnologist who wanted to test Edison's phonograph in the field to present to his university colleagues in Boston prior to taking a trip to the Southwest where he would record the Zuni and Hopi tribes. These recordings of the Passamaquoddy people are the first recordings of an indigenous people in this country. As one might guess from the "quoddy' in their name (as in West Quoddy Head, the contiguous U.S. easternmost point), the Passamaquoddy people are centered in Maine and New Brunswick and still have about 3500 enrolled members

No cool youtubes of Fewkes 31 (of the original 35) wax cylinders recorded but the audio recordings are here on a site honoring the heritage of the people. These collect songs, stories and language of the Passamaquoddy (like the words for numbers and days of the week). I went through the majority - the recordings are obviously grainy (as one might imagine all recordings of the 19th century not to mention field recordings) and sometimes one has a time even distinguishing Fewkes' english (most be his Bah-ston accent ) from the language of the native Americans. Still, check out one or two (the "Story of the Raccoon" and the "Passamquoddy story" on the site's second page are among the clearest).

Main site:
http://passamaquoddypeople.com/collection/1890-passamaquoddy-phonograph-recordings

"Story of the Raccoon"
http://passamaquoddypeople.com/digital-heritage/part-2-story-raccoon

"Passamaquoddy Story"
http://passamaquoddypeople.com/digital-heritage/passamaquoddy-story

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

#3) "Stars and Stripes Forever" - 1897 Berliner Gramophone recording

The U.S.'s National March, "The Stars and Stripes Forever", was written by John Philip Sousa on Christmas Day,1896 and was such a success that it was adopted as our national march only a year later

Interesting Wiki quote about it's place in old theater and circus settings:

Historically, in show business and particularly in theater and the circus, this piece is called "the Disaster March". In the early 20th century, when it was common for theaters and circuses to have house bands, this march was a traditional code signaling a life-threatening emergency. It subtly notified personnel of emergency situations and ideally allowed them to organize the audience's exit without causing the chaos and panic that an overt declaration might

Of course, many probably know the parody lyrics "Be Kind to Your Web Footed Friends" which came about in the 1954, popularized by Mitch Miller on his sing-along show of the early 60s.

Henry Higgins (no, not from My Fair Lady ) conducts the Sousa Band in the recording.

Here's a site with three recordings - this early recording then ones by Vladimir Horowitz then by Fiedler and the Boston Pops (clearer versions if you're feeling patriotic)

http://thelistenersclub.com/2017/07/03/the-stars-and-stripes-forever-three-historic-recordings/

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

You just doubled OUT's homework.

There goes my three day weekend.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

#4) The "Mapleson Cylinders" (The Metropolitan Opera)

Albert Albertson in El Cid

Johanna Gadski sings Wagner

Tosca (1903)

Lillian Nordica - Gotterdammerung

Included some youtubes presenting recordings of The Metropolita Opera in the early 20th century (1900-1903). Like so many of these early Registry entries, the recording quality is grainy and the songs sound distant with a great deal of noise. Still listened to these and a number of other recordings by Lionel Mapleson.

More interesting than the recordings themselves is the story of Lionel Mapleson (and the article below is fascinating). Lionel was the son of the Covent Garden Opera House music librarian, and Lionel would be the music librarian of the Metropolitan Opera House for 48 years.

In 1900 Mapleson purchased a Model A Edison cylinder phonograph and was enthralled by the sounds it produced. A friend realized Mapleson’s excitement and soon presented a gift of a Bettini recorder and reproducer.

Obsessed by the new recording technology, Mapleson got permission from the Met and began recording recording Met artists over the next three years. These recordings ended abruptly in 1904 for unclear reasons (complaints from artists? restrictions by Met management? loss of interest?)
If not for an International Record Collector Club secretary finding out about them and seeking out Mapleson, they might never have come to light (many were later released on 78 rpm).
So, Lionel Mapleson - the first bootlegger

http://myinwood.net/35328/

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

5) Scott Joplin - Ragtime Piano Rolls

Elite Syncopations
The Entertainer

To listen to Joplin's piano rolls, I chose my two compilations. Though music played from piano rolls is often criticized as lacking emotion and nuance, the upside (especially in a series like this) is that this is how Joplin intended the music to be played (most of these were faithfully recreated from Joplin's scores as, I believe, only six of his own solo rolls survive. These ragtime pieces are outstanding and pieces like "Maple League Rag" and others remain timeless (and are interesting to jazz lovers as a clear precursor). As many of these pieces are familiar, it's interesting to see the variation of other interpreters (most famously Marvin Hamlisch with The Sting).

"The Maple Leaf Rag"

"The Entertainer" (youtube says piano at Scott Joplin House)