Aliens in This World--Free Opera
Include the following, and a great deal more. Some very interesting materials here.
Handel:
"Hallelujah Chorus" from The Messiah by Handel. 1916.
Excerpt from Israel in Egypt by Handel. 1888. (The earliest known recorded music in existence.)
Herbert:
"Star Light, Star Bright" from Wizard of the Nile by Victor Herbert. Sung by J.W. Myers. 1896.
Leoncavallo:
"Mattinata" by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, the first song composed especially for the gramophone. Sung by Caruso and accompanied by Leoncavallo.
Speaking of e-music, you may be interested in "Wolfram Tones". Or not - I can see how a musically-inclined person would shudder at it. http://tones.wolfram.com. Ed Pegg demonstrated it at a recent guitar festival here in Champaign (http://walltowallguitar.com/) and reported that kids loved it.
Dear Bill,
What is so very lovely about this site is that it shows the necessity of composers and of humanity in general. While some lovely sounds do occasionally emerge from this, overall it tends toward the discordant and disharmonious. The "classical music" more often sounds like the modern classical than the polyphony of the Baroque.
But this is a fascinating and marvelous site and I encourage everyone to go and give it a try.
shalom,
Steven