Cylinder of the Month

See also the Cylinders of the Month Archive.

For September 1997...

This month: Pioneer recording artist and clarinetist William Tuson performs Heart Bowed Down.

Heart Bowed Down

Company	Edison's National Phonograph Company
Cylinder #	8455
Category	Clarinet solo
Title	Heart Bowed Down
Performed by	William Tuson
Circa	1904
Announcement	"Clarinet solo, Heart Bowed Down, aria from the Bohemian Girl, played by William Tuson, Edison record."

Most people, when asked to envisage a pioneering recording artist, would probably not come up with a clarinetist. But why not? The clarinet, like the cornet, produced a loud and relatively simple sound that was perfect for recording on the early phonographs. Clarinetist William Tuson's name appears frequently, beginning in 1889, in the earliest extant phonograph recording logs from Edison's Laboratory, recording dozens of clarinet solos for Edison up through the mid-1900's.

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