Hans Luedtke

Patent drawing GB 413,483, accepted 19.07.1934

Hans Luedtke (d.1973)

Biography

Organist, musicologist and inventor Hans Luedtke developed special Oskalyd extended organs* and keyboards that could be used with any desired tone system. Rounded edge hexagonal shaped keys were to be arranged like honeycombs in such a way that intervals would be represented by unique vectors (i.e. a Generalized Keyboard). He mentioned tunings with semi-, third-, and quartertones, methods for playing special glissandos, electronic switching between tunings or registers during performances, and he also outlined a notation system analogous to the keyboards and a direct opto-electric recording system.

(*) Unusual sounds coming from Oskalyd op. 2113 installed in 1926 at Odessa, Ukraine: Große Trommel, Kleine Trommel, Gong, Tamburin, Holzblock, Retgen, große Kirchenglocke, kleine Kirchenglocke, brechendes Glas, Schlittenglöckchen, Turmuhr, Lokomotivenpfeife, Donner, Vogel 1, Vogel 2, Kuckuck, Telephon, Automobil, Jazz (ref. orgelforum post)

Patents

• DE 388,209 Walcker-Luedtke-Hammer Oskalyd Orgelbau. Vorrichtung zum Erhoehen der Klangwirkung von Tasteninstrumenten, Orgeln u. dgl. 1924.01.19
• DE 403,152 Walcker-Luedtke-Hammer Oskalyd Orgelbau. Tasteninstrument, Orgel o. dgl. (GB 218,252, CH 108,096, DK 34,686) 1924.10.09
• DE 630,202 H. Luedtke. Orgelartiges Musikinstrument. (US 1,919,849, GB 390,574) 1936.05.27
• DE 604,495 H. Luedtke. Tastatur fuer Zwecke der Klangausloesung, der Klangaufzeichnung und fuer Registrierzwecke, insbesondere bei orgelartigen Instrumenten. (US 2,003,894, GB 413,483, FR 756,638) 1934.10.23
• DE 630,202 H. Luedtke. Orgelartiges Musikinstrument. (US 1,919,849, GB 390,574) 1936.05.27
• DE 639,272 H. Luedtke. Ausbildung eines Tastenfeldes, insbesondere fuer Musikinstrumente. (US 2,061,364, GB 459,900)1936.12.02
• DE 749,198 P. H. Luedtke. Tastatur fuer Handharmoniken. 1944.11.17

Writing

• Seb. Bachs Choralvorspiele. (1918) BachJb xv, 1-96.
• Zur Entstehung des Orgelbüchleins (1717). (1919) BachJb xvi, 62-66
• Das Oskalyd (1926) Musik und Maschine 8-9, 385-387
• Portativ-Positiv-Kleinorgel nach Changie-Prinzip (1938) DIBZ 39 p. 117 (ref .[1])

External Links

• Walcker Orgelbau
• Kino-orgeln Karl Heinz Dettke, 1998
• Contraption_IPP_71512 Trimpin
• NMM 3587 Grand piano with turkish music by Anton Martin Thÿm, Vienna, ca. 1815, National Music Museum
• arcana & incunabula Brian Mclaren. tuning digest post
• The Clavette Harold Fortuin
• Keyboards Starr Labs
• Quartertones console organ Clark Panaccione
• The Basics of Generalized Keyboards Graham Breed
• The general keyboard in the age of MIDI John S. Allen
• Wilson Archives Kraig Grady

Bibliography

• An Elementary Treatise on Musical Intervals and Temperament Robert Halford Macdowall Bosanquet. MacMillan & Co., London, 1876.
• The Bosanquetian 7-rank keyboard after Poole and Brown Erv Wilson Xenharmonikôn Volume 1 (Spring 1974)
• The Generalized Keyboard Scalatron George Secor. Xenharmonikôn Volume 3 (Spring 1975)
• History and Principles of Microtonal keyboard Design. Douglas Keislar. CCRMA Stanford Univ. Dept. Music, Rep. Nr. STAN-M-45. 04.1988

See also

• Prepared Piano
• Turkish music (style)
• Microtonal music
• Keyboard instrument