First Recording of Music

Date: August 14, 1888 • Location: London, United Kingdom

One of the first recordings of music, of Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord", was played at a press conference in London to introduce Thomas Edison's phonograph.

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. His works include 24 operas, 11 major orchestral works, ten choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord".