Voices of the Past

[Peter1953]

Dear friends,

Very well possible that you have discussed this before, or that you think this is not a subject for the Forum. However, I'm so curious what you think of the following. Who else can I ask but you?

If you google "voices of the past brahms" you will find an item on youtube on Johannes Brahms "His Voice & Piano Arrangement, 1889". Is Brahms introducing himself, or is someone else doing it? What I think I hear is someone (Brahms himself?) saying: ".... I am Doctor Brahms, Johannes Brahms" and then the piano starts (hardly to identify). It sounds like a voice of a ghost (I've never heard a ghost before...). What is it? Did Brahms introduce himself as a Doctor?
And there is more on youtube. You can listen to voices of other composers, like Tchaikovsky and Anton Rubinstein. Only one sentence, or just a few words.
By the way, there is a recording of Joseph Joachim, playing the first Hungarian Dance by Brahms. And there is more, by Saint-Saëns, Grieg, and others.

But hearing the voice of Brahms, if it's genuine, is quite exciting.

I don't know what to think about all this. What is your opinion? Is it real?

Peter

[JimL]

Yes, Peter that is a genuine Edison cylinder of Brahms himself.  Or so I've been informed.

[TerraEpon]

The Tchaikovsky one is pretty well known too, though there's debates about just WHO is speaking on them.

As for piano recordings, there's also Debussy, as well as one of my favorite unsungs, Chaminade.

[Peter1953]

The "Voice of Brahms" kept me puzzled. A recent comment written by "tobik26" makes sense. The voice says: "Haus von Herr Doctor Fellinger, bei mir Doctor Brahms, Johannes Brahms". I think this answers the question. It's the voice of Dr. Richard Fellinger, speaking german and not english. A website seems to confirm the solution, see http://www.hecherpiano.com/brahmsfluegel_d.html

Nevertheless these old recordings of voices and music are interesting enough, I think.