# Do any recordings exist of the Telharmonium?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-recordings-exist-of-the-telharmonium/475524>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 3, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-recordings-exist-of-the-telharmonium/475524 "2008-12-03T17:12:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-recordings-exist-of-the-telharmonium/475524/1 "2008-12-03T17:12:56Z")

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Thaddeus Cahill’s Telharmonium, invented in the late 1890’s, is considered to be the world’s first synthesiser. Do any recordings of the device exist?

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**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-recordings-exist-of-the-telharmonium/475524/2 "2008-12-03T17:15:56Z")

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A review of [Magic Music from The Telharmonium](http://www.keyboardmuseum.org/pre60/1800/review.html) from 1995 says that no known recording exists. Is it possible to make an educated guess as to how it sounded?

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**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-recordings-exist-of-the-telharmonium/475524/3 "2008-12-10T18:44:49Z")

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I’m going to bump this once, just in case someone with an interest in dynamophones/telharmonia happens upon it.