The World of Pioneer Recording Artists

Curator's Note

I am one of very few people in the world to hold the distinction of regularly consuming, and enjoying, the music of artists who have long since passed on from this mortal plain, whose music ceases to leave this earth and allows their voices, music and names to continue living amongst us. On the 21st of October 1889, Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (the only person to have been born in the 18th century whose voice we can still hear), said that "the Phonograph makes it possible for a man who has already rested long in the grave once again to raise his voice and greet the present." Never since has such a beautiful sentiment been so accurately spoken, and this technology is something we take for granted now, but I appreciate the beauty in this fact which so many nowadays are not even aware of. This love for antique cylinders, and the voices of those who have gone before us, has brought me to write biographies for many of the artists I love, with as much of the information as is still available to us. 

This page will be particularly personal, discussing what I know about them, what draws me to them, and many other things, whereas the individual biographies (accessed by clicking on the attached photographs of each artist) will be purely informational, describing their lives as best as one can possibly do. 

No references are included on this page, they can be found on each biography.

Header image: A Columbia Recording session, The Phonoscope (1898). Image sourced via Public Domain.

Every effort has been made to trace the original creators of archival media; where unknown, items are credited by era and source.