Historedia
Episode 2 of 2

Recording of Au Clair de la Lune

When
April 9, 1860
Where
Paris
Part of
Scott de Martinville's Phonautograph Recording

Scott de Martinville recorded the folk song "Au clair de la lune," creating the earliest known intelligible recording of the human voice.

On April 9, 1860, Scott recorded himself singing the beginning of "Au clair de la lune" on a phonautograph. This recording is the earliest recognizable record of the human voice and music, captured in Paris.

Sources

  1. Au clair de la lune Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03
  2. Phonautograph Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05
  3. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-07

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.