The 1888 Crystal Palace recordings

Detail of wax cylinders from the ILN engraving Box of wax cylinders from the ILN engraving

Cylinder 1

There are three cylinders remaining from the performance on the afternoon of Friday 29th June 1888.

To hear the recordings, click on this icon .

To hear the same passage transcribed from a vocal score, click MIDI.

Complete , (MIDI) this cylinder lasts 2 minutes 27 seconds. It consists of the opening two choruses from Part Two of the oratorio, Nos 17 ("Moses, and the children of Israel") and 18 ("I will sing unto the Lord") in Novello's score.

The recording starts at bar 12 of No 17 on the second half of the word "Moses":

[Mo]ses, and the children of Israel sung unto the Lord and spake saying:

The orchestra is very largely inaudible throughout No 17 until the closing bars when the pedal notes of the organ can be heard.

No 17 starts with the clear line from altos and tenors, sung at a very steady speed:

I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed

At this point a loud swishing starts approximately twice a second, this is later joined by a clicking and this continues until the end of the recording gradually cutting out the music. The florid semiquaver line of:

gloriously

comes through the heavy background noise quite clearly. The recording becomes inaudible around bar 18 and appears to end at bar 21.

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