Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville
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Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (25 April 1817 – 26 April 1879) was a French printer and bookseller who lived in Paris. He invented the earliest known sound recording device, the phonautograph, which was patented on March 25, 1857, as French patent #17,897/31,470.
Au clair de la lune
An excerpt from the song “Au clair de la lune”, originally recorded as a phonautogram on paper. As of May 2009, this is believed to be the oldest recognizable recording of a human voice in existence. According to the remasterers, the lyrics sung are the first lines of the second stanza "Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit" (Under the moonlight, Pierrot replied). It has also been reported that the recording contains the beginning of the song, "Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot..." (Under the moonlight, my friend Pierrot...).
See also
- Charles Cros and the Paleophone
