Which specific French folk song was captured in the oldest surviving sound recording from April 9, 1860?
Answer
"Au clair de la lune"
The most significant artifact surviving from Scott’s experiments is a recording made on April 9, 1860. This recording features the initial few seconds of an unidentified woman singing the French folk song titled "Au clair de la lune." Although Scott never achieved playback, this specific recording was successfully converted back into audible sound in 2008 through modern digital scanning methods, making it the oldest known recording of the human voice.

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