Anna Bahr-Mildenburg: A New Voice Type at the Dawn of Early Recording

Using the example of Anna Bahr-Mildenburg (1872–1947) and her one sound recording it is shown that professional singers were already making different uses of recording technology starting around 1900, well before the supposed hey-day of the medium. One of the main areas explored in this article is the extent of Bahr-Mildenburg’s experiential knowledge with sound recording and how and why that knowledge changed over time. In addition, alterations made to the singer’s voice and the influence sound recording technology had on the reception of that voice are also discussed. The article concludes that the body and the voice are closely related to the history of technology, so much so that their respective discourses are understood to be deeply connected to one another.