Spain's "Himno de Riego" (Riego's Anthem)

Used by the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War of 1931-1939, "Himno de Riego", written during the 19th century, had been a popular patriotic song since it was written, including at the outbreak of the war. The anthem was named after Rafael de Riego, a general during the first Spanish Civil War (1820-1823). The anthem was also used briefly at the conclusion of that war (from April 7, 1822 to 1823 on the restoration of the monarchy.) The words were written by Evaristo de San Miguel, a Spanish noble, military man and historian. The music was composed by Francisco Guerta.

The anthem was subsequently banned by Franco, who led the campaign against the republican forces in the civil war and who led the country following their defeat.

The postal card above features the score of Riego's Anthem

Composers on Stamps- Wage Rudolf Soepratman

Wage Rudolf Supratman (Wage Roedolf Soepratman or commonly known as W.R. Supratman) was born on March 9, 1903 in Jakarta and died on August 17, 1938 due to sickness in Surabaya, East Java.

He was an Indonesian songwriter. He wrote and composed the national anthem of Indonesia, "Indonesia Raya" in 1927 and officially adopted in 1949. The song 'Indonesia Raya' was performed for the first time on October 28, 1928, at the closing ceremony of Youth Congress II held in Indonesia.

His father named Senen, was a sergeant in the 8th Battalion. Under the tutelage of his brother in-laws, WM Van Eldik (Sastromihardjo), he had learnt to pluck the guitar and fiddle the violin. In 1914 he went to Makassar to study Dutch at the Normaalschool, a night school. His education was financed by Willem Van Eldik. and he stayed there for three years. After finishing his education, he bacame a teacher in Angka and got his Klein Ambtenaar certificate two years later.

He formed a jazz group called Black and White and played with the band until 1924., after which he went to Surabaya and Bandung to become a newspaper correspondent of "Kaoem Moeda". On October 28, 1928, he performed as violinist, during the Second Youngster Congress with his composition "Indonesia Raya", a song that confessed one fatherland, one nation, one Indonesia.

Aside from Indonesia Raya, some of his other songs include: Bendera kita merah putih, Matahari Terbit Ibu Kita Kartini and Mars Kepandoen Bangsa Indonesia.

His death on August 17, 1938, was exactly seven years before the proclamation of the Indonesian independence.

The stamp above is a set of three stamps featuring Performing Arts (Soepratman, Music) issued in 1997.

The United States "Hail Columbia!"

Until 1931, there was no officially proclaimed anthem of the United States, however, the song "Hail Columbia!" was used quite often in the capacity of a national anthem. Other songs which were prominently used during the 19th century for a national anthem was "The Star Spangled Banner", and, to a slightly lesser extent, "Yankee Doodle" and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", which has the same tune as the British national anthem.

Written by Joseph Hopkinson for the inauguration of the United States' first president, George Washington, it was most popular in the first half of the 19th century, culminating with Lincoln's presidency. The music was composed by Philip Phile. By the start of the 20th century, it had fallen out of favour, and in 1931 "The Star Spangled Banner" became the first officially proclaimed national anthem of the United States. "Hail Columbia!" is used today in the United States as an entrance song for the Vice President (much like "Hail to the Chief" is for the President.)

The postal card above shows the score and lyrics of United States first anthem, "Hail Columbia"

The National Anthem of New Zealand

New Zealand holds a unique position in the world in that it has two national anthems of equal standing - "God Defend New Zealand" (Maori-Aotearoa) and "God Save The Queen". The other country with this distinction is Denmark, where the royal and national anthems have equal status. "God Defend New Zealand" was adopted as national hymn in 1940 and as co-national anthem in 1977. "God Save the Queen" was adopted when New Zealand became an British colony in 1840.

"God Defend New Zealand" was written by Irish-born poet and New Zealand citizen Thomas Bracken in 1870, and the music composed by John Joseph Woods as a result of a newspaper contest in 1876. (Woods actually composed the music in one sitting, starting as soon as he read about the contest and not resting until he was finished.) Gaining popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, it was adopted as New Zealand's national song in 1940 (New Zealand's centennial year), but "God Save the Queen" remained the sole national anthem. A petition in 1976 prompted the government to seek royal assent to make "God Defend New Zealand" as a national anthem on equal status with "God Save the Queen". This was signed into law by the Queen on November 21, 1977.

The Māori words, translated numerous times, were officially translated by Thomas Henry Smith. They were made to fit the melody, as such, they don't translate exactly to the English lyrics.

God Save the Queen was adopted as New Zealand's official anthem since 1840, when she became a British colony. The second verse, which is in a more militaristic vein, and the third verse, have been replaced in New Zealand with a "Commonwealth verse", usually used when more than one stanza is needed. Despite being declared an "official anthem" by the New Zealand government, along with "God Defend New Zealand", "God Save the Queen" is rarely sung in the country, "God Defend New Zealand" is more common.

The postal card above features the score of the New Zealand anthem

Gastroenterology on Stamps

Gastroenterology is the medical sub-specialty concerned with the function and disorders of the stomach,intestines, liver and related organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

Very few stamps related to Gastroenterology events had been issued. The majority are presented here. The World Congress of Gastroenterology (WCOG) is held every four years event under the auspices of the World Organisation of Gastroenterology (OMGE). Since its inaugural conference in 1958 in Washington, D.C.,

WCOG has become the leading quadrennial gathering of the world's digestive disease physicians. The previous World Congresses where special stamps were issued for the event include- 1974 in Mexico City, Mexico; 1986, Sao Palo, Brazil; and Bangkok,Thailand in 2002, which is the first World Congress of Gastroenterology ever hosted in Asia.

During the International Congress of Gastroenterology held in Rome in 1988, special stamps were also issued. Two years before the event, Dr. Aldo Torsoli, then President of the Congress, proposed that working team committees be assigned to address medical issues not easily resolved by usual scientific inquiry or review. Continued support led to a series of functional gastrointestinal working teams between 1991 and 1994 that first developed guidelines for the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome- The Rome Criteria.

Other Gastroenterological events which issued stamps include: The First Bolivian-Japanese Gastroenterology Conference in La Paz, 1992, The 4th Asian Pacific Congress in Manila, Philippines, 1972 and the First Uruguayan Proctology Congress in Montevideo, 1965- one of the first GI event to issue a stamp.

This Philippine stamp had two colors- ultramarine and multicolored in 20 cents denomination, 12.5 x 13 perforation. The heliographer was Setelepaino, Finland.

Click here to go to series 2 on Gastroenterology on stamps.

The National Anthem of Upper Silesia (Oberschlesien)

Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Lower Silesia is to the northwest. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of (chronologically) Greater Moravia, Bohemia, Poland, Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Prussia, and later of unified German Reich. It is currently split between Poland (Opole and Silesian Voivodeships) and the Czech Republic (Czech Silesia, or the Silesian-Moravian Region).

Upper Silesia is situated in the Silesian highlands, between the upper Oder and upper Vistula rivers. The total population of the Upper Silesian Industry Area is 3,487,000. Opole Silesia, Cieszyn Silesia, and Austrian Silesia are historical parts of Upper Silesia. The territory of Opole Silesia composes much of Opole Voivodeship.

At the time of Svatopluk I and King Arnulf of Carinthia in the ninth century, Silesia was a part of Greater Moravia; after its destruction in the early tenth century, it was conquered by Bohemia. A number of earlier inhabitants of Silesia, the Silingi, remained in the region and they concentrated around the Zobten mountain and in a settlement named Niempsch (derived from a Slavic name for Germans).

Upper Silesia was soon conquered by the newly installed dukes of the Polans and for several hundred years was part of Poland. This arrangement fell apart and, during the re-establishment of Poland under Casimir the Great, all of Silesia was specifically excluded as non-Polish land. In 1335 it came back under the rule of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Many towns were destroyed by the Mongols at the Battle of Legnica but were later rebuilt. By the 1300s, the influx of settlers into Upper Silesia stopped because of the plague. Latin, Czech and German language were used in the towns and cities and only in the 1550s (during the Protestant Reformation) did records with Polish names start to appear. The Roman Catholic Holy Roman Emperors of the Habsburg dynasty forcibly reintroduced Catholicism, led by the Jesuits.

Lower Silesia and most of Upper Silesia became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742 during the First Silesian War. A small part remained within the Habsburg-ruled Bohemian Crown as the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, colloquially called Austrian Silesia. In the 19th century, Upper Silesia became an industrial area taking advantage of its plentiful coal and iron ore.

In 1919, after World War I, the eastern part (with a majority of ethnic Poles) came under Polish rule as the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship, while the mostly German-speaking western part remained part of the German Reich as the Province of Upper Silesia. From 1919-1921 three Silesian Uprisings occurred among the Polish-speaking populace of Upper Silesia; the Battle of Annaberg was fought in the region in 1921. In the Upper Silesia plebiscite, a majority of 60% voted against merging with Poland, with clear lines dividing Polish and German communities. The exact border, the maintenance of cross-border railway traffic and other necessary co-operations, as well as equal rights for all inhabitants in both parts of Upper Silesia, were all fixed by the German-Polish Accord on East Silesia, signed in Geneva on May 15, 1922. On June 20, Germany ceded, de facto, the eastern parts of Upper Silesia, becoming part of the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship of Poland.

After 1945, almost all of Upper Silesia that was not ceded to Poland in 1922 was transferred to this state. A majority of the German-speaking population was expelled in accordance with the decision of the victorious Allied powers at their 1945 meeting at Potsdam. This expulsion program also included German speaking inhabitants of Lower Silesia, eastern Pomerania, Gdańsk (Danzig), and East Prussia. These German expellees were transported to the present day Germany (including the former East Germany), and they were replaced with Poles, many from former Polish provinces taken over by the USSR in the east. A good many German-speaking Upper Silesians were relocated in Bavaria. A small part of Upper Silesia stayed as part of Czechoslovakia as Czech Silesia.

The expulsions of German-speakers did not totally eliminate the presence of a population that considered itself German. Upper Silesia, in 1945, had a considerable number of Roman Catholic mixed bilingual inhabitants that spoke both German and Polish dialects, and their Polish linguistic skills were solid enough for them to be allowed to remain in the area. With the fall of communism and Poland joining the European Union, there were enough of these remaining in Upper Silesia to allow for the recognition of a German minority by the Polish government.

The postcard above features the cartooned score of the anthem of Upper Silesia. Below is the back of the postal card with stamps.

The Swiss Palm

The Swiss Psalm is the national anthem of Switzerland. It was composed in 1841, by Alberich Zwyssig (1808-1854). Since then it has been frequently sung at patriotic events. The Federal Council declined however on numerous occasions to accept the psalm as the official anthem. This was because the council wanted the people to express their say on what they wanted as a national anthem.

From 1961 to 1981 it provisionally replaced Rufst Du, mein Vaterland ("When You call, my Country", French O Monts indépendants; Italian Ci chiami o patria, Romansh E clomas, tger paeis) the anthem by Johann Rudolf Wyss (1743-1818) which was set to the melody of God Save the Queen. Finally on April 1, 1981 the Swiss Psalm was declared the official Swiss national anthem.

Until the end of the 19th Century, there was no Swiss national anthem. The German-language patriotic song Rufst du, mein Vaterland (French O Monts indépendants, Italian Ci chiami o patria, Romansh E clomas, tger paeis), composed in 1811 by Johann Rudolf Wyss (1743-1818), was the first national anthem, used until 1961.

The setting of the hymn to the British tune of God Save the Queen led to embarrassing situations when both countries' anthems were played. Therefore it was replaced with another tune in 1961. After a trial period of three years the Swiss tune was adopted indefinitely in 1965. The statute could not be challenged until ten years later but did not totally exclude the possibility of an ultimate change.

A competition was set up in 1979 to search for a successor to the anthem. Despite many submissions, none of the others seemed to express the Swiss sentiment. The Swiss anthem finally got its definitive statutory status in April 1981, the Federal Council maintaining that it was purely a Swiss song suitably dignified and solemn.

The postal card above shows the Swiss Palm in French.

Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1992)

From 1944 until its break-up in 1992, the Soviet Union adopted a new anthem "Gimn Sovetskogo Soyuza" (Hymn of the Soviet Union). It has since been readopted as the official anthem of Russia, but with new words to reflect its new democratic nature.

In 1936 Stalin decided a change in national anthem was needed, believing the lyrics of the "Internationale" spoke of work that was yet to be done by the workers of the world; Stalin, however, believed that the worker's ultimate goal has been achieved. (Also that "The Internationale" was written by non-Russians was an issue for him.) This task was delayed by the outbreak of World War II, however, during the heat of the war in 1942, money was set aside to create a new anthem. On June, 18, 1943 the deputy prime minister of the USSR Marshal Kliment Voroshilov and Party's Secretary Alexander Shcherbakov for about two hours had been instructing about 20 soviet poets and composers what anthem they should create: “Its lyrics must live decades at least, and maybe, and even for sure, hundreds years. Its music must be easy to understand, expressive, plain for Russians as well as for Kalmyks. People will sing in both in joy and in misfortune."

Two war reporters Captain Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (also a popular children's author) and Major Gabriel Ureklyan (being an Armenian he used the name “El-Reghistan”) were not invited to visit Voroshiliv’s lecture about future anthem. One night El-Reghistan in his sleep saw himself with his friend Sergey Mikhalkov writing these words of anthem: “The noble union of free peoples / Great Russia has welded for ever!” In early morning he came in a great hurry to Sergey and they finished the first stanza together.

On September, 20 they were called into the Kremlin. Then the text was corrected by Stalin (who has written poetry in his youth). The fist variant of text, officially adopted on September 26, had only two stanzas and a refrain, different from the one that was eventually approved for use. But after the meeting with Foreign Ministers of the countries of the Anti-Hitler coalition in Mo scow, at night on September 27 Stalin by phone asked Mikhalkov to write the third, “militant” stanza. After the text was ready work was begun on the music. Mikhalkov and Reghistan considered that the music must be created by the composers S.S. Prokofiev and D.D. Shostakovich. But, on November 4 Stalin again telephoned to Mikhalkov and told him to write new “reserve” refrain in Alexandr Alexandrov's hymn meter: “Keep present stanzas and in new chorus emphasize that our country is soviet and socialist”. Alexandrov's melody was already in use as the anthem of the Bolshevik party, and Stalin perhaps had in mind to use this melody as the anthem, holding the contest so that lyrics could be written that matched the tune.

Some of the failed entrants of the competition went on to write anthems of the various republics, like Tikhon Khrennikov (whose entry became the anthem of the Russian region of Omsk, with new lyrics); Boris Alexandrov (son of the winning composer), whose entry became the anthem of the Transdneiester Republic; Pavel Tychina, who later wrote the lyrics for the Ukrainian SSR anthem; Samed Vurgun, who later wrote the Azerbaijan SSR anthem lyrics; and the composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who was advised by Stalin to collaborate with Aram Khachaturyan (another failed entrant, and the composer of the Armenia SSR anthem), their joint venture was "The Song of the Red Army".

Also, from the period of 1944-1955, most Soviet republics adopted their own anthems (links are below). Only Russia didn’t get its own anthem, however party authorities chose the lyrics of Stepan Shchipachev as the basis for further work and the famous composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote music “Hymn of the RSFSR”, yet it was never adopted. After the death of Stalin in 1953 (as his name appeared in the lyrics of the anthem at the time), it was proposed to create a new anthem for the nation, but this never came about. Instead, it was performed without words until 1976, when, before a hockey matchup between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia in Montreal, Canada, the local anthem singer in Montreal, Roger Doucet, found a copy of the old lyrics and requested the Russian Department at the Université de Montréal "fix them up" so he would have lyrics to sing. The Soviet government officially adopted Doucet's words (without recognition to Doucet or the Université de Montréal) in 1977, which were used until the Soviet Union ceased to exist in the early 1990s.

A unique property of the Soviet anthem is how many languages there are official versions of. It was the wish of the government to have the lyrics known not only all across the USSR, where dozens of different languages are spoken, but all across the world.

Hymn of Imperial Russia click here and click here (composer)

Patriotic Song of Russia click here

Hymn of the Russian Federation click here

The postcard above shows the composer of the Hymn of the Soviet Union, Alexandr Vasilievich Alexandrov. Below is Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov, the lyricist.

Music Philately- Microphones on Stamps

A microphone colloquially called a mic or mike is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1876, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, karaoke systems, hearing aids, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, FRS radios, megaphones, in radio and television broadcasting and in computers for recording voice, speech recognition, VoIP, and for non-acoustic purposes such as ultrasonic checking or knock sensors.

Most microphones today use electromagnetic induction (dynamic microphone), capacitance change (condenser microphone), piezoelectric generation, or light modulation to produce an electrical voltage signal from mechanical vibration.

The sensitive transducer element of a microphone is called its element or capsule. A complete microphone also includes a housing, some means of bringing the signal from the element to other equipment, and often an electronic circuit to adapt the output of the capsule to the equipment being driven. Microphones are referred to by their transducer principle, such as condenser, dynamic, etc., and by their directional characteristics. Sometimes other characteristics such as diaphragm size, intended use or orientation of the principal sound input to the principal axis (end- or side-address) of the microphone are used to describe the microphone.

Musicians on Stamp- Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 [O.S. 21 March] – 28 July 1750) was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he did not introduce new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.

Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, the English and French Suites, the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, the Cello Suites, more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now regarded as the supreme composer of the Baroque, and as one of the greatest of all time.

The stamp above was issued by China (a set of four composers featuring Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and Bach) on August 2010.

"Le retour des Princes Français à Paris"

During the Bourbon restoration period, there were two quasi-official anthems in use at the time. The "popular" anthem was "Le retour des Princes Français à Paris", whose melody, composed by François-Henri Castil-Blaze, was a well-known piece of music at the time caleld "Vive Henri IV!" (the lyrics of the original song were mentioned in Tolstoi's work "War and Peace" and the melody also appears at the end of Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty" ballet). The royal anthem was "Où peut-on être mieux qu'au sein de sa famille" ("Where can we feel better than in our familly"), with words by Jean-François Marmontel and music by André Modeste Grétry (from his musical "Lucile"), used in the presence of the royal family. The anthem was in use from 1815 to 1830.

François-Henri-Joseph Blaze, known as Castil-Blaze (1 December 1784 – 11 December 1857), was a French musicologist, music critic, composer, and music editor.

Blaze was born and grew up in Cavaillon. He went to Paris to study law, but also to learn music, at the Conservatoire de Paris. After having passed several more years in Vaucluse (southeastern France), Castil-Blaze moved back to Paris.

A large part of his activities consisted of adapting French and foreign opera for different stages in French provinces. In these cases, Castil-Blaze adapted the libretto as well as the music. This arranging work was highly criticized, but Castil-Blaze claimed that this permitted part of the public to become familiar with opera.

Castil-Blaze is mostly known as a music critic. Beginning 7 December 1820, he published Musical Chronicles in the Journal des débats. In these irregularly-published chronicles (about 30 per year), Castil-Blaze seemed to take certain liberties. Most of the chronicles criticized the lyric works, but other were dedicated to thoughts about music, to composers' necrologies (Weber in 1826, Beethoven in 1828), or to concert reviews. Castil-Blaze wrote for the Journal des Débats until 1832, when he joined le Constitutionnel; he also collaborated in Fétis's Revue musicale (Paris, 1827), as well as other periodicals or reviews. He is without a doubt, in France, the first music critic to have studied music.

He is the author of various books and articles on the theory of music, music history, and the history of the theater. He started a series of three works dedicated to three great lyric theaters of Paris: Opéra National de Paris, the Comédie-Italienne, and the Opéra-Comique. He was only able to finish and publish the first two before his death; the third remains in manuscript and is at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Today, these works arouse the interest of historians, but also their distrust, because they contain numerous anecdotes that cannot always be verified.

As a composer, Castil-Blaze mostly made arrangements, but he was also the author of several original works, particularly of sacred music, of which there are two high masses. Finally, he worked as an editor, first for his own literary and musical works, but he was not limited to this: he was among the editors of the works of Beethoven. He died in Paris in 1857.

Next: French anthem in use (1830-1848)

The postcard above shows the bust of Francois Castil-Blaze, the anthem composer.

Music Philately- Compact Disc (CD's) on Stamps

A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it also allowed the preservation of other types of data. Audio CDs have been commercially available since October 1982. In 2010, they remain the standard physical storage medium for audio. Standard CDs have a diameter of 120 mm and can hold up to 80 minutes of uncompressed audio (700 MB of data). The Mini CD has various diameters ranging from 60 to 80 mm; they are sometimes used for CD singles or device drivers, storing up to 24 minutes of audio.

The technology was eventually adapted and expanded to encompass data storage CD-ROM, write-once audio and data storage CD-R, rewritable media CD-RW, Video Compact Discs (VCD), Super Video Compact Discs (SVCD), PhotoCD, PictureCD, CD-i, and Enhanced CD. CD-ROMs and CD-Rs remain widely used technologies in the computer industry. The CD and its extensions are successful: in 2004, worldwide sales of CD audio, CD-ROM, and CD-R reached about 30 billion discs. By 2007, 200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide.

The Compact Disc is a spin-off of Laserdisc technology. Sony first publicly demonstrated an optical digital audio disc in September 1976. In September 1978, they demonstrated an optical digital audio disc with a 150 minute playing time, and with specifications of 44,056 Hz sampling rate, 16-bit linear resolution, cross-interleaved error correction code, that were similar to those of the Compact Disc introduced in 1982. Technical details of Sony's digital audio disc were presented during the 62nd AES Convention, held on March 13–16, 1979, in Brussels.[2] On March 8, 1979 Philips publicly demonstrated a prototype of an optical digital audio disc at a press conference called "Philips Introduce Compact Disc" in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Later in 1979, Sony and Philips Consumer Electronics (Philips) set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new digital audio disc. Led by Kees Schouhamer Immink and Toshitada Doi, the research pushed forward laser and optical disc technology that began independently by Philips and Sony in 1977 and 1975, respectively. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the taskforce produced the Red Book, the Compact Disc standard. Philips contributed the general manufacturing process, based on video Laserdisc technology. Philips also contributed eight-to-fourteen modulation (EFM), which offers both a long playing time and a high resilience against disc defects such as scratches and fingerprints, while Sony contributed the error-correction method, CIRC. The Compact Disc Story, told by a former member of the taskforce, gives background information on the many technical decisions made, including the choice of the sampling frequency, playing time, and disc diameter. The taskforce consisted of around four to eight persons, though according to Philips, the Compact Disc was thus "invented collectively by a large group of people working as a team."

The first test CD was pressed in Hannover, Germany, by the Polydor Pressing Operations plant in 1981. The disc contained a recording of Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie (in English language, An Alpine Symphony), played by the Berlin Philharmonic and conducted by Herbert von Karajan. The first public demonstration was on the BBC television program Tomorrow's World when The Bee Gees' album Living Eyes (1981) was played. In August 1982 the real pressing was ready to begin in the new factory, not far from the place where Emil Berliner had produced his first gramophone record 93 years earlier. By now, Deutsche Grammophon, Berliner's company and the publisher of the Strauss recording, had become a part of PolyGram. The first CD to be manufactured at the new factory was The Visitors (1981) by ABBA.[10] The first album to be released on CD was Billy Joel's 52nd Street, that reached the market alongside Sony's CD player CDP-101 on October 1, 1982 in Japan. Early the following year on March 2, 1983 CD players and discs (16 titles from CBS Records) were released in the United States and other markets. This event is often seen as the "Big Bang" of the digital audio revolution. The new audio disc was enthusiastically received, especially in the early-adopting classical music and audiophile communities and its handling quality received particular praise. As the price of players gradually came down, the CD began to gain popularity in the larger popular and rock music markets. The first artist to sell a million copies on CD was Dire Straits, with its 1985 album Brothers in Arms. The first major artist to have his entire catalogue converted to CD was David Bowie, whose 15 studio albums were made available by RCA Records in February 1985, along with four Greatest Hits albums. In 1988, 400 million CDs were manufactured by 50 pressing plants around the world.

The CD was planned to be the successor of the gramophone record for playing music, rather than primarily as a data storage medium. From its origins as a musical format, CDs have grown to encompass other applications. In June 1985, the computer readable CD-ROM (read-only memory) and, in 1990, CD-Recordable were introduced, also developed by both Sony and Philips. The CD's compact format has largely replaced the audio cassette player in new automobile applications, and recordable CDs are an alternative to tape for recording music and copying music albums without defects introduced in compression used in other digital recording methods. Other newer video formats such as DVD and Blu-ray have used the same form factor as CDs, and video players can usually play audio CDs as well. With the advent of the MP3 in the 2000s, the sales of CDs has dropped in seven out of the last eight years. In 2008, large label CD sales dropped 20%, although independent and DIY music sales may be tracking better according to figures released March 30, 2009.