Other mechanical musical instruments.

Carillons

When the first carillons arrived in the towers of the prosperous, yet economical, Netherlands it turned out very soon that the hiring of a carillon player was a costly thing.
Moreover, the labour circumstances inside the cold and windy towers were far from ideal.
The solution to this problem was the automatic tower carillon. To every bell one or more hammers were fastened, that were attached to a number of keys by means of iron cables. The keys were lifted by iron nudges which were screwed onto a big iron barrel.

On the turning around of this barrel the carillon would play automatically; mostly before the tolling of the hours, and sometimes a short piece every quarter of an hour.

Many tower carillons in the Netherlands are still being played automatically in this way.

Pianos

1. Barrel pianos.

Soon after the invention of the piano the first mechanical pianos evolved. Early in the 19th century the barrel pianos came into fashion. Most of them were built in Italy, Spain and France. Small models could be carried around and were widely used by street musicians. In that form they can still be heard and seen in several places like Greece, Turkey, Italy, but also on several Caribean islands like the Netherlands Antilles.

Small barrel piano of Italian make. The strings are in the flat part above, the barrel is in the bottom. (coll. Weiss-Stauffacher)

Bigger models were sometimes placed on a cart and were used in the same way as barrel organs. Many of these pano crankers were of Italian origin.

Mick & Mike with their barrel piano; not in Europe but in New York, 1930's. The typical cart for the piano is also used   in Italy and Spain.

2. Book pianos.

The big wooden barrel with steel pins carrying the music pattern only allows 8 to 10                                                                                             melodies of limited duration. This disadvantage led to the invention of pianos which were played by series wooden planks (Antiphonel, Debain, 1846), piles of thick cardboard slabs (Cartonium, Testé, 1861) and zigzag folded cardboard strips (Fourneaux 1884). In this way musical pieces of unlimited length could be played. Book pianos were mostly used indoors.

Pianista Gavioli. This machine is a so-called push-up player. The device was placed in front of any normal piano. Mechanical "fingers" stroke the piano keys. (from a Gavioli-catalog. The man handling the crank is Ludovico Gavioli).

3. Pianolas and reproduction pianos.

About 1900 the Welte firm of Freiburg, Germany, started the produvtion of pianos played by paper rolls. These could easily and cheaply be made in large quantities. Soon others followed, and when the Aeolian factory in the USA started mass production of these instruments this type of piano rapidly grew very popular. The name "pianola", one of the very popular brands, later became a general name for all types of roll-playing pianos.

Two types emerged: the normal pianola, which was played by pumping vacuum with two foot-operated bellows and with a kind of dashboard with handles for tempo and expression, and the more expensive reproduction models. These instruments had extra holes in the tracker bar for expression, and piano rolls were "recorded"by the most famous pianists of the era. When they were well-maintained, these pianos gave a much better effect than the by then still rather primitive gramaphones.


Welte reproduction piano (sc. red Welte). At the bottom the four vacuum bellows and the electric motor, at the top the roll frame and the two rows of bellows which moved the piano keys. The piano can also be played by hand. (coll. Weiss-Stauffacher)

Zithers.

There are only a few examples of automatic zithers. This may be the result of the fact that zithers must be easy to carry and of light weight. When that became possible the popularity of the zither was already waning. The best known mechanical zither was the Triola.

To the right: Triola zither, playing paper rolls. Only the melody strings were played; the player had to play the bass and accompaniment strings (left) himself. The numbers of the chords were printed on the rolls.

The first banjos had a pneumatical system; later models worked by means of electricity (solenoids). Encores were not sold at that time; they were placed in American saloons and bars for a share in the revenues. The adventure did not last long: early in the 20th century the company was liquidated. Many banjos were restored recently from the conserved parts.

to the right: Top part of an Encore banjo. The roll frame is placed in the bottom part. Four metal fingers pluck the strings. Is is amazing that the thin metal strings lasted rather long!

Harmoniums, accordions and organettes.

All these instruments sound by blowing air across a metal reed that can vibrate freely through a narrow slit. The thickness, wideness and length decide pitch and timbre. These reeds don't need resonators, so they can easily be built into small and portable instruments.

1. Accordions.

Accordions were very popular, espacially in France and Italy, although Hohner in Germany also made automatic accordions. The portable types were used by many street musicians.


Mechanical accordion, brand Tanzbär, made in Germany. The paper roll is clearly visible. De roll was spooled forward and back with the pinching handle in the left lid; all reeds are in the left part. (coll. Weiss-Stauffacher)

Bigger automatic accordions were mainly built in France. With percussion added they were placed in many restaurants and smaller dance halls. Some styles had more than one, or a double accordion: complete small bands!

Automatic accordion by Seyboldt, with percussion. The mechanism is placed in the lower chest. Both dides have a piano keyboard, so the musical effect is that of two accordions!  (coll. Weiss-Stauffacher)

Harmoniums and reed organettes.

Barrel harmoniums were, like dito pianos en organs, built from about 1850. They were used for street music, but small types were also used in the living rooms of well-to-do families.

Guitharmonie by Gavioli, Paris around 1870. Although it looks like an automatic guitar,  it is in fact a reed organ! The barrel is underneath the semicircular lid, the reeds and bellows are in the guitar-shaped chest.  (from a Gavioli catalog)

After1890 small reed instruments were produced in large quantities in Germany, later in the USA as well. Because of the quantities and the way of production these instruments were relatively cheap and could be found in many houses of the European and American middle classes. The paper or cardboard rolls, discs or strips could be produced at low cost and were predecessors of the later grammophone records.

Manopan organette, made in Germany. Most German organettes were built in Leipzig and near surroundings. The endless cardboard strips varied in length with the length of the musical piece.


Ariosa organette with the lid removed. The keys and reeds are in the rear compartiment, the bellows and air reservoir in the front. Cardboard discs woth holes were placed on the central wooden spindle. A real predecessor of the later grammophone.

Music boxes

Music boxes have more to do with tower carillons that it seems at first sight. As early as the 17th century the first attempts were made to build miniature carillons indoors. Most of these instruments played bells that were nested in a row, in combination with a normal clockwork.

Miniature carillon with bells in an English  clockwork, beginning 18th century (coll. museum van Speelklok tot Pierement, Utrecht)

However beautiful these miniature carillons were, they were still rather big and, above all, expensive. This changed when Antoine Favre made a revolutionary invention in 1796: instead of bells and hammers he made use of steel teeth, that were plucked directly by the pins of a metal barrel. Now the miniatures could be made so small that they could fit into a (large) pocket watch!


20-teeth music work, built into a pocket watch.  The pins are mounted upon a flat disc. called plateau. The whole watch is not bigger than 3 inches! (coll. Weiss-Stauffacher)

Favres invention was soon widely adopted. Music boxes were made in every thinkable size. After the invention of the single comb (the steel plate out of which the teeth are fraised) a mass production evolved. Musical boxes were made with multiple combs, more than one barrel, automatic barrel changers, etc. They were built into all kinds of objects: from simple or elaborately carved boxes to chairs, sewing boxes, cigar stands, home bars, children's toys, Christmas tree stands untill toilet lids (sic!).
Also popular were glass covers or paintings with moving scenes, with or without   clocks. Beautiful and ugly, art and kitsch, everything could be (and actually was!) provided with a musical device.

Art? Swiss music box with bells added. It is interesting to observe that music boxes were in fact invented to replace those bells!  (coll. Weiss-Stauffacher)

Kitsch? Maria statue with holy water basin, candle holder and a little music box inside the glass foot (probably sold in Lourdes). 

In the last decade of the 19th century a new invention was done: the so-called star wheel. A row of these special formed wheels could pluck the teeth of one or more music combs. The wheels were turned by the projections on a disc made of steel or zinc. This was the birth of the disc music box.

Like music for organettes and pianos these discs could be made in mass and for modest prices. While most cylinder music boxes were made in Switzerland and France, most disc music boxes were made in Germany: indeed, in Leipzig and sussoundings, just like the organettes. Later on, many disc music boxes were made in the USA, by German immigrants who had learned the craft in Leipzig.

Disc music boxes were also made in every size.  Larger models were used in restaurants, bars, and in waiting rooms of railway stations. They would play for money, like the later juke-boxes, or they were combined with chocolate or sweeties vendors.

disc music box from the Kalliope factory, made in Gohlis near Leipzig. This is a rather simple modell; it is turned by hand. Most disc music boxes played by a spring motor (coll. Weiss-Stauffacher)

Organs

The first records of mechanic organs date from the early Renaissance. Several Italian villas had so-called "water organs" installed, driven by a deflected brook.
Around 1600 clockworks were made in combination with series of organ pipes and meant for indoor use. The musical aspects of these instruments was by then of minor importance than the moving  representations which were built in.
They were unique pieces built for kings, who used them to impress their collegues abroad.

Shaftesbury-clockwork with organ, 1787. These organ clocks were clearly not made for the man in the street!  They were not made in production lines. Everything was custom- made. (coll. museum StP, Utrecht)

In the 19th century more and more organ clocks were built in Germany, in the Black Forest. These organ clocks were called "Flötenuhr"and tens of thousands of them were built by quite some makers.

Innards of a Schwarzwald Flötenuhr. The pipes are placed behind the barrel.  The big face (covering the whole organ) is left out. Typical for Black Forest clocks is the use of wood for many parts. Clockworks from other countries were usually made out of (more) brass.

The history of hand-cranked organs started with the bird organ, called Serinette in French. These rather primitive instruments were made from the end of the 17th century in Mirecourt, France. They were used to learn canary birds to sing certain songs. For larger birds other models were made: Pionnes for blackbirds and Perroquettes for parrots. Larger street organs may have evolved from these instruments.

Young woman with bird organ. In the cage is a canary which is being trained to whistle French songs. Bird organs were made almost without changes from about 1700 tot 1900  (fragment of the gravure "the happy Canary" by R. Gaillard)

From the end of the 18th century more and more street organs appeared in the streets of European cities. They were mainly used to attract the attention of the public; combinated with a peepshow, marmot cage or as an accompaniment of acrobats or conjurers. Children were often used for these jobs. At that time education was not compulsary yet!

Street music in Rotterdam, 1817: one boy cranks a small organ, while the other shows his box with marmot to some ladies. Fragment of the lithograph "de Poffertjeskraam" by P. Langendijk.

Everywhere in Europe, but mainly in Germany, the street organ was used to accompany street singers. The barrels of these organs only allowed short melodies (about 1 minute), so they made songs with many verses and refrains; the barrel was turned around as many times as the songs would last. These songs. called "Moritaten" in German, were accompanied by pictures painted on sheets of linen, not unlike modern comics. They were most often rather realistic, with much blood, severed limbs, girls dying in childbirth after having been seduced, and more.

Dutch Moritat,  1843. "Terrible murder committed to five persons in North Brabant"

London, Notes & queries, 2nd February 1856:

"There are now in the London streets many French organs very remarkable very remarkable for the singular and novel character of their flutes and viol di gambas. Some also for their horns and trumpets. I see that the invention is claimed by an Italian, and patented by a Parisian. Can you or any of your readers inform me if our new English organs have any of these tones, so new to English ears? and if so, where are the organs in which I may find them? The flutes are of great merit, and some so exceedingly well done, that the approach to the flute blown by the human mouth is most extraordinary."

These appreciating words were referring to a new style of street organs that were made in Paris and Modena (Italy) from about 1850 on. The inventor and builder Ludovico Gavioli was responsible for these remarkable improvements of the street organ. He and his descendants were would remain the leading manufacturors of mechanical organs in France.

Gavioli street organ built in 1863. The flutes to which the English article refers are under the bottom of the instrument. The original barrels play the latest "hits" of the era: music by Offenbach and Verdi.  (coll. J van Oost)

When more and more fairground attractions were steam-driven after 1880 the owners began to order ever bigger organs to attract more visitors. After the invention of the book-operated organs big mechanical organs were of more interest for use in dance halls, because the repertoire could easily be extended with the latest melodies. Here the history starts of the typical Dutch street organs, that would develop in quite another way than street music in other European countries.