Bismarck speaks

[Sheilbh]

I wish this had been around to record Dickens

Tennyson has a Lincolnshire accent.  There must be a recording of Hardy out there somewhere...

[Razgovory]

I wonder if the quality was better when it was newer.


I believe that a high pitched voice was considered an asset in those days, since it carried much further.  We are used to low soft, and even gravely voices like Clint Eastwood, due to films, television and radio.  In the 19th century a loud high pitched voice was required to be heard over a crowd of 10,000 on a hot July day.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Right, but mind that Bismarck probably wasn't much for giving speeches. He may have spoken to the assembled Bundesrat or Reichstag on occasion, but Bismarck wasn't a politician in the modern sense. Under the Prussian and later Imperial constitutions, the Chancellor was appointed by the King (later Emperor), and was only really accountable to him.

Unlike in say, the UK, where the Prime Minister is also technically appointed by the monarch, in imperial Germany and in Prussia before it the Chancellor did not have to hold any sort of majority the legislature, and did not even have to have legislative support. For long portions of Bismarck's era he was actually at odds with the legislature, for many years the legislature refused to approve a budget so Bismarck essentially just continued government operations by collecting revenues and spending the money necessary, without a legal budget.

[OttoVonBismarck]

So essentially Bismarck is analogous to English politicians of the 17th and earlier centuries (guys like Thomas Cromwell etc) who held great power but it was entirely based on maintaining favor with the King.

[Oexmelin]

At some point during the Bismarck recording, he quotes La Marseillaise (in French)!

[Siege]

Somehow I read the thread title as Britney Spears.

[Zanza]

So essentially Bismarck is analogous to English politicians of the 17th and earlier centuries (guys like Thomas Cromwell etc) who held great power but it was entirely based on maintaining favor with the King.

"It's not easy to be emperor under this chancellor." - Wilhelm I

[Solmyr]

I read about this some days ago. Pretty amazing stuff. I had read that Bismarck had a relatively high pitched voice that didn't fit his stature well, so I was pretty curious about that.

There's also a recording (made secretly) of Hitler's private meeting with Finland's marshal Mannerheim. Hitler's "normal" voice is very calm and quiet, completely unlike his speeches.

[Syt]

I read about this some days ago. Pretty amazing stuff. I had read that Bismarck had a relatively high pitched voice that didn't fit his stature well, so I was pretty curious about that.

There's also a recording (made secretly) of Hitler's private meeting with Finland's marshal Mannerheim. Hitler's "normal" voice is very calm and quiet, completely unlike his speeches.

Yes, Hitler was otherwise adamant that no recordings of him talking in private. IIRC, they used the Mannerheim recordings as a baseline for Bruno Ganz in the Downfall movie.

[jimmy olsen]

I read about this some days ago. Pretty amazing stuff. I had read that Bismarck had a relatively high pitched voice that didn't fit his stature well, so I was pretty curious about that.

There's also a recording (made secretly) of Hitler's private meeting with Finland's marshal Mannerheim. Hitler's "normal" voice is very calm and quiet, completely unlike his speeches.

Interesting, does there happen to be video of this online?

[sbr]

I read about this some days ago. Pretty amazing stuff. I had read that Bismarck had a relatively high pitched voice that didn't fit his stature well, so I was pretty curious about that.

There's also a recording (made secretly) of Hitler's private meeting with Finland's marshal Mannerheim. Hitler's "normal" voice is very calm and quiet, completely unlike his speeches.

Interesting, does there happen to be video of this online?

I think it is an audio recording, not a video.

[Caliga]

Correct.  It was made secretly by (IIRC) Finnish security services.

[Solmyr]

Actually it was made by a sound technician for Yle (Finnish broadcasting company), who left a microphone on a shelf in the train car where Hitler and Mannerheim talked. It was Mannerheim's birthday on June 4th, 1942, when Hitler made a surprise visit to Finland.

The recording can be heard here: http://yle.fi/elavaarkisto/artikkelit/hitlerin_salaa_tallennettu_keskustelu_suomessa_3906.html#media=3913
It starts with Hitler's speech, then there's Mannerheim replying, then the rest is some general chat between the two.

[The Brain]

Much fewer Ricans on the Finnish recording.

[Martim Silva]

Together with Bismarck, it was also discovered a voice recording of Von Moltke: the oldest known man whose voice was recorded (born 1800).

He is impressive. First, he mistakes the name of the phonograph and calls it a 'telephone' (!). Then, he says it is a great invention because it allows a man 'to speak beyond the grave to the future'.

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/mediacenter/videos/wissen/historisches-tondokument-helmuth-karl-bernhard-von-moltke-kreisau-21-oktober-1889/6132858.html