http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16826464
Direct link
http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/audio-wangemann-1889-1890-european-recordings.htm
I heard "Hail Satan" and "Kill all the Polacks"
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.
Quote from: Syt on February 04, 2012, 12:04:05 PM
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.
Same with TR.
I wish there wasn't a Puerto Rican in the room shaking some maracas while Bismarck was trying to speak. :(
Quote from: Caliga on February 04, 2012, 12:30:57 PM
I wish there wasn't a Puerto Rican in the room shaking some maracas while Bismarck was trying to speak. :(
tainted. :(
That was interesting, I'd never heard a recording of Bismarck before...never even knew one existed. T.R. there is a good amount of vocals out there for because his presidency itself and his later very major third party campaign in 1912 happened when sound and video recordings were the norm, but Bismarck's life just barely overlapped the development of those technologies.
I've (unsurprisingly) read a lot of biographies and such on Bismarck, but you don't often hear a lot about his speaking ability. Unlike Teddy, Otto only had to keep one person on his side, so he had no need of oratory ability.
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on February 04, 2012, 01:03:48 PM
That was interesting, I'd never heard a recording of Bismarck before...never even knew one existed.
This seems to be the only one so far.
Quote from: Caliga on February 04, 2012, 12:30:57 PM
I wish there wasn't a Puerto Rican in the room shaking some maracas while Bismarck was trying to speak. :(
:P
I read something about Caesar raising the pitch of his voice so it would carry farther.
I'm still shocked that I spelled 'Bismarck' correctly.
:o
There's been a few of these which are just incredible (and difficult) to hear. I think there's ones of Gladstone and Tennyson, for example.
Quote from: Sheilbh on February 04, 2012, 02:09:28 PM
:o
There's been a few of these which are just incredible (and difficult) to hear. I think there's ones of Gladstone and Tennyson, for example.
You'll like this site:
http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/
These were made in October 1889, so theoretically we could have had a recording with Hitler's voice. That would have been awesome.
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on February 04, 2012, 01:03:48 PM
I've (unsurprisingly) read a lot of biographies and such on Bismarck, but you don't often hear a lot about his speaking ability.
Yeah, I think the only historian that comes to mind that I've read regarding his voice was Massie, who wrote that Bismarck had a high-pitched voice that didn't fit his appearance.
From the recording, it didn't sound all that bad. Wasn't a Prussian husky growl you'd expect from looking at his likeness, but it wasn't Mickey Mouse either.
Maybe we sort of get the politicians we deserve, hence all of the Teflon slick lookalikes, with bland accents, invariable mouthing the most bland of statements ?
I heard recently that HG Wells had a high-pitched Sowf London accent, so couldn't possibly be portrayed in that way, as he won't be taken seriously by a modern audience. :hmm:
I wish this had been around to record Dickens :(
Tennyson has a Lincolnshire accent. There must be a recording of Hardy out there somewhere...
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.
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.
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.
At some point during the Bismarck recording, he quotes La Marseillaise (in French)!
Somehow I read the thread title as Britney Spears.
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on February 04, 2012, 04:49:29 PM
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
Quote from: Syt on February 04, 2012, 12:04:05 PM
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.
Quote from: Solmyr on February 05, 2012, 02:38:26 PM
Quote from: Syt on February 04, 2012, 12:04:05 PM
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.
Quote from: Solmyr on February 05, 2012, 02:38:26 PM
Quote from: Syt on February 04, 2012, 12:04:05 PM
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?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 05, 2012, 11:19:04 PM
Quote from: Solmyr on February 05, 2012, 02:38:26 PM
Quote from: Syt on February 04, 2012, 12:04:05 PM
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.
Correct. It was made secretly by (IIRC) Finnish security services.
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.
Much fewer Ricans on the Finnish recording.
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