For the first time, 21st-century audiences are able to hear the voice of Otto von Bismarck, one of the 19th century's most important figures.
The National Park Service announced this week that the German chancellor's voice has been identified among those found on a dozen recorded wax cylinders, each more than 120 years old, that were once stored near Thomas Edison's cot in his West Orange, N.J., lab. They include music and dignitaries, including the voice of the only person born in the 18th century believed to be available on a recording.
The trove includes Bismarck's voice reciting songs and imploring his son to live morally and eat and drink in moderation, and Helmuth von Moltke, the longtime chief of staff for the Prussian army reciting lines from Shakespeare and other literature.
Comparably, this would be like finding voice recordings of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. |