Carl Frei (4 April 1884 – 10 May 1967) was a German

organ builder Organ building is the profession of designing, building, restoring and maintaining pipe organs. The organ builder usually receives a commission to design an organ with a particular disposition of stops, manuals, and actions, creates a de ...

, composer and music arranger who founded a company that manufactured

fairground Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs. Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to: Places Canada * Fairground, Ontario, a community United States * Fairground, St. Louis, a neighb ...

and

street organ A street organ (french: orgue de rue or ''orgue de barbarie''; german: Straßenorgel) played by an organ grinder is a French-German automatic mechanical pneumatic organ designed to be mobile enough to play its music in the street. The two most com ...

s. Born in

Schiltach Schiltach is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the eastern Black Forest, on the river Kinzig, 20 km south of Freudenstadt. Geography Schiltach lies on the eastern side of the Black Fores ...

in the Black Forest, Frei studied music in his early years. Aged nine, he was studying

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howev ...

and counterpoint at the

Waldkirch Waldkirch is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located 15 kilometers northeast of Freiburg im Breisgau. While the English translation of its name is ''Forest Church'', it is known as the "town of mechanical organs", where fairground organs ...

academy of music. From age 14 on, well-known musical instrument factories such as Bruder,

Gavioli Gavioli & Cie were a Franco– Italian organ builder company that manufactured fairground organs in both Italy and later France. History Gavioli was founded in 1806 in Cavezzo, Italy, by Giacomo Gavioli (1786–1875). Giacamo's hobby was the de ...

Mortier {{otheruses Mortier was an organ manufacturer from Antwerp, Belgium that made dance organs and orchestrions. History The company was founded by Theophile Mortier (1855–1944). Mortier started in 1898 as a vending agent for the Parisian organ ...

and DeVreese were employing him in Waldkirch and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Frei had to leave Belgium and he made his way to

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to repair what were popularly known as

Dutch street organ A street organ (french: orgue de rue or ''orgue de barbarie''; german: Straßenorgel) played by an organ grinder is a French-German automatic mechanical pneumatic organ designed to be mobile enough to play its music in the street. The two most co ...

s, but were actually built in almost every mainland European country except the Netherlands, which was where they were most populous. Pre World War I, street organs were hand cranked and easily portable, but fell out of tune and repair due to the undulations of the cobbled Dutch streets. Frei started maintaining organs, but noticed that many owners wanted something louder (thanks to the increased street noise made by early cars), and distinct (thanks to the wider availability of the record player). Frei began to make his own organs from 1920, with a number of innovations. Firstly he devised a new organ register called the "bourdon céleste," which replaced the high-maintenance clarinets and vox humana's with two rows of stopped pipes with very bright intonation, one row tuned slightly sharp to the other. Besides rebuilding older organs, Carl Frei started building new ones according to this concept. Into these he incorporated an amplified violin section by adding a violin-celeste stop, which was also tuned to this floating sound temperament. He also introduced the "undamaris" stop in the counter melody section while in the large (72 and 90 keys) organs they were incorporating stops with names like "bifoon I" (in melody) and "bifoon II" (in the countermelody). The biggest street version of these organs, with 90 keys, were true "castles of the street;" while the "Carl Frei Traveling Concert Organ" was considered to be the largest traveling fair organ in the world, with 112 keys. Forced to leave the Netherlands after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Frei returned to Waldkirch and the business continued, together with son Carl Frei Jnr, until the death of Carl Frei Jnr. in 1997. Carl Frei sr. died in Waldkirch in 1967, 83 years old.

Gallery

File:Draaiorgel-de-lekkerkerker.jpg, ''Lekkerkerker'' barrel organ, built by Carl Frei in 1926. (90 keys) File:Draaiorgel-de-bloemenmeid.jpg, ''Bloemenmeid'' barrel organ (Flower Girl), originally built as

cylinder organ. File:Antique Amsterdam Street Organ.jpg, Antique Amsterdam Street Organ at

Holland, Michigan Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River (formerly known locally as the Black R ...

, Windmill Island. File:Museum für Musikautomaten, Seewen 02 10 (bright).jpg, Fair organ by ''Karl Frei & Sohn, Waldkirch'', exhibited at Museum für Musikautomaten, Seewen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frei, Carl 1884 births 1967 deaths People from Rottweil (district) Dutch pipe organ builders Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Germany People from Breda Place of birth missing

Gallery

See also

References