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Clip description
Dame Nellie Melba’s early recording of 'Chant Vénitien’, a song composed by Herman Bemberg, who accompanies her in this recording. It was made for the Gramophone Company in London on 20 October 1904.
Curator’s notes
The recording process at that time was quite simple. The musicians stood in front of a horn which was mechanically connected to a needle which cut a spiral groove in a wax blank. From the wax master more copies could be made which could then be used to press numerous discs for sale. Recording through a horn in this direct, mechanical way was limited in both the frequency and dynamic range recorded onto the disc. Melba’s voice had a tonal quality which was well suited to the medium and this was one of the reasons for her immediate recording success.
These were the very early days of the record industry, with cylinders and discs fighting it out for market dominance. Having a star such as Melba recording for them was a great advantage for the Gramophone Company. The recordings that she and Enrico Caruso made in these early days did much to convince the general public that recorded music was the home entertainment medium of the future. The records paved the way for the recording industry to follow.
