Orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a

music roll A music roll () is a storage medium used to operate a mechanical musical instrument. They are used for the player piano, mechanical organ, electronic carillon and various types of orchestrion. The vast majority of music rolls are made of paper. ...

and less commonly

book music A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

. The sound is usually produced by pipes, though they will be voiced differently from those found in a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, as well as percussion instruments. Many orchestrions contain a

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

as well. At the Musical Museum in

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

, examples may be seen and heard of several of the instrument types described below. It is confused by some with the steam-powered

calliope In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; ) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses". Mythology Calliope had two famous sons, OrpheusH ...

, which was also used to produce music on period

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

s. It used

steam whistle A steam whistle is a device used to produce sound in the form of a whistle using live steam, which creates, projects, and amplifies its sound by acting as a vibrating system. Operation The whistle consists of the following main parts, as s ...

s rather than

organ pipe An organ pipe is a sound-producing element of the pipe organ that resonator, resonates at a specific Pitch (music), pitch when pressurized air (commonly referred to as ''wind'') is driven through it. Each pipe is tuned to a note of the musical ...

s to produce its principal sounds. See also the similar

fairground organ A fairground organ is a musical organ covering the wind and percussive sections of an orchestra. Originating in Paris, France, these organs were designed for use in commercial fairground settings to provide loud music to accompany rides and a ...

Types

The name "orchestrion" has also been applied to several

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

Chamber organ

A chamber organ, designed by

Georg Joseph Vogler Georg Joseph Vogler, also known as Abbé Vogler (15 June 1749 – 6 May 1814), was a German composer, organist, teacher and theorist. In a long and colorful career extending over many more nations and decades than was usual at the time, Vogler e ...

(''Abbé Vogler'') in 1790, incorporated 900 pipes, 3 manuals of 63 keys each and 39 pedals in a space of .

Pianoforte with organ pipe

pianoforte A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temp ...

with

s attached, invented by Tomáš Antonín Kunz (1756–1830) of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in 1791. This orchestrion comprised two manuals of 65 keys and 25 pedals, all of which could be used either independently or coupled. There were 21 stops, 230 strings and 360 pipes which produced 105 different combinations. The

bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtig ...

were worked either by hand or by machinery.

Player piano

The

player piano A player piano is a self-playing piano with a pneumatic or electromechanical mechanism that operates the piano action using perforated paper or metallic rolls. Modern versions use MIDI. The player piano gained popularity as mass-produced home ...

automatically played by means of revolving cylinders, and was invented in 1851 by F. T. Kaufmann of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. It comprised a complete wind orchestra, with the addition of kettle-drums,

side drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often ...

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

and

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

Panharmonicon

The panharmonicon is the earliest known automatic orchestrion. It was invented in 1805 by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

composed '' Wellington's Victory'' (or ''Battle Symphony'') in 1813 specifically for it. Friedrich Wilhelm Kaufmann copied this automatic playing machine in 1808 and his family produced orchestrions from that time on. One of Mälzel's panharmonicons was sent to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in 1811 and was exhibited there and then in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and other cities. Mälzel was also on tour (with interruptions) with this instrument in the United States from 7 February 1826 until he died in 1838. In 1817 Flight & Robson in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

built a similar automatic instrument called

Apollonicon The Apollonicon was a self-acting barrel organ, built by the English organ builders Flight & Robson in London and presented to the public the first time in 1817. Said to have been the biggest barrel and finger organ ever built, it was an automatic ...

and in 1823 William M. Goodrich copied Mälzel's panharmonicon in

, United States.

Welte

Michael Welte & Sons of

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and

manufactured orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, from 1832 until 1932. In 1883, Emil Welte (1841-1923), the eldest son of Michael, who had emigrated to the United States in 1865, patented the paper roll method (), the model of the later

piano roll A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. Piano rolls, like other music rolls, are continuous rolls of paper with holes punched into them. These perforations represent note contro ...

Welte Philharmonic Organ

From 1911 organs branded Welte Philharmonic-Organ were produced. The largest philharmonic organ ever built is at the Salomons Estate of the Markerstudy Group.''WELTE restored''. Royal Academy of Music, 2011 This instrument was built in 1914 for Sir David Lionel Salomons to play not only rolls for the organ but also for his Welte Orchestrion No. 10 from about 1900, which he traded in for the organ. One of these organs can also be seen in the Scotty's Castle museum in Death Valley, where it is played regularly during museum tours. An organ built for HMHS ''Britannic'' never made its way to Belfast due to the outbreak of the First World War. It can currently be heard playing in the Swiss National Museum in Seewen.Christoph E. Hänggi: Die Britannic-Orgel im Museum für Musikautomaten Seewen So. Festschrift zur Einweihung der Welte-Philharmonie-Orgel; Sammlung Heinrich Weiss-Stauffacher. Hrsg.: Museum für Musikautomaten Seewen SO. Seewen: Museum für Musikautomaten, 2007.

In popular culture

* An unnamed orchestrion appeared as a secondary character in Disney's ''

Herbie Rides Again ''Herbie Rides Again'' is a 1974 American comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson from a screenplay by Bill Walsh, based on a story by Gordon Buford. The film is the second installment in the ''Herbie'' film series and the sequel to ''The L ...

'' (1974). * The Pendragon is an orchestrion essential to the plot of '' Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva'' (2009).

References

* Herbert Jüttemann: ''Orchestrien aus dem Schwarzwald'': Instrumente, Firmen und Fertigungsprogramme. Bergkirchen, 2004. (Orchestrions From The

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

). * Q. David Bowers: ''Encyclopedia of automatic musical instruments: Cylinder music boxes, disc music boxes, piano players and player pianos... Incl. a dictionary of automatic musical instrument terms''. Vestal, N. Y., the Vestal Press, 1988. * * Q. David. Bowers: ''Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments''. . Lanham, Maryland, USA, Vestal Press, 1972. * W. J. G. Ord-Hume: ''The Musical Box: A Guide for Collectors''. . Atglen, Pennsylvania, USA, Schiffer Publishing, 1995. * W. J. G. Ord-Hume: ''Barrel organ, the story of the mechanical organ and its repair'', South Brunswick, Barnes, 1978. * W. J. G. Ord-Hume: ''The musical box: a guide for collectors, including a guide to values'', Atglen, Pennsylvania, USA, Schiffer Publishing. . * W. J. G. Ord-Hume: ''Clockwork Music — An illustr. history of mechanical musical instruments from the musical box to the pianola, from automation lady virginal players to orchestrion'', London, Allen and Unwin, 1973. . * Arthur A. Reblitz: ''The Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments''. . Woodsville, New Hampshire, USA, Mechanical Music Press, 2001. * Arthur A. Reblitz: ''Treasures of Mechanical Music''. . New York, the Vestal Press, 1981. * Stanley Sadie (Ed. ): ''Musical Box''. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. . MacMillan, 1980. Vol. 12. P. 814. * Smithsonian Institution: ''History of Music Machines''. . New York, Drake Publishers, 1975.

External links

www.mechanicalmusicalpress.comOriginal orchestrion catalog viewsPat Metheny's Orchestrion Project
{{Authority control Mechanical musical instruments Pipe organ