Aeoline (musical instrument)

Aeoline is the name of several musical instruments which the Jew's harp modeled by beating reeds use that produce sounds in two wind directions. Aeoline is also the name for organ parts with free-swinging, penetrating tongues that have a very delicate sound. The instrument maker Johann Caspar Schlimbach was the first to build a transverse hammer grand piano with Aeoline in 1810 , the idea and previous attempts as well as the naming come from Bernhard Eschenbach , who was already building a somewhat larger claväoline in 1812. In the Museum of Musical Instruments Berlin such an instrument is issued. ( Cat.-No. 5321 “Querhammerflügel with Aeoline, Johann Caspar Schlimbach, Königsofen, around 1815”).

A very detailed report on the claveoline, which was built by Eschenbach himself, can be found in 1815 in the weekly newspaper for art and craft industry in the Kingdom of Bavaria .

In 1820 "The writer ... had the opportunity to see and hear several of these instruments ..."

His report on the invention:

“With the help of the skilled instrument maker there, Mr. Schlimmbach, the first instrument of this kind has now been created, which the inventor, as he said, named after the instruction of the word violin, aeoline. Unselfishly, he now shared his invention with some other artists, namely Mr. Voit in Schweinfurt, who then built several such instruments, called them Aeolodikon , and made a trip to Frankfurt with one of them several years ago. "

- Musical newspaper of July 26, 1820

“Indeed, the aforementioned Mr. Schlimmbach already built an organ in which several registers with the aeolodicon are attached ... "

The name Aeoline was subsequently used for other instruments with reed plates:

Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann , also an instrument maker, called his early little physharmonicas aeolines. These instruments were made around 1829.
Certain harmonica precursors were also called aeolines.
From 1820 several variants were developed under the name Aeolodicon .
The wind accordion was also called aeoline with keys .
For the psallic melodicon see under punched tongues .
The Jew's Harp was still called the Aeoline around 1829. Anemochord and aeolian harp are associated with it.

literature

Sibyl Marcuse : Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary. A complete, authoritative encyclopedia of instruments throughout the world. Country Life Limited, London 1966, p. 5f, sv "Aeoline"

Web links

Pictures of the Aeoline

Individual evidence

^ Bernhard Eschenbach: Klaväolin . In: Weekly display for art and craft industry in the Kingdom of Bavaria . Volume 1, October 28, 1815, pp. 227-234 ( Wikisource ).
↑ ^a ^b Musikalische Zeitung , No. 30, July 26, 1820 ( Google Book in the Google Book Search).
↑ Illustration The pictures come from a German school for Aeoline, which was published in 1830 by I. Willis and Co., who produced them and exported them to London. The illustration shows how rudimentary the instruments were: essentially they are only single reed plates or a plate with a group of reeds that have been combined into chords or scales. There is also a chromatic model that has small covers (keys) for the semitones and where the tones extend over 1½ octaves. The unknown author of this brochure writes that the instruments were first brought to London in 1827. 32 different models are listed.
↑ Wilhelm Weber lists this as an independent instrument. "As z. B. the aeolian harp, the aeoline, the anemochord u. the like, and that reed whistles should be considered at all ”. Caecilia , Volume 11. S. Sons, 1829, p. 182 ( online in the Google book search).

[1] Bernhard Eschenbach: Klaväolin . In: Weekly display for art and craft industry in the Kingdom of Bavaria . Volume 1, October 28, 1815, pp. 227-234 ( Wikisource ).

[MZ30_1820-2] Musikalische Zeitung , No. 30, July 26, 1820 ( Google Book in the Google Book Search).

[3] Illustration The pictures come from a German school for Aeoline, which was published in 1830 by I. Willis and Co., who produced them and exported them to London. The illustration shows how rudimentary the instruments were: essentially they are only single reed plates or a plate with a group of reeds that have been combined into chords or scales. There is also a chromatic model that has small covers (keys) for the semitones and where the tones extend over 1½ octaves. The unknown author of this brochure writes that the instruments were first brought to London in 1827. 32 different models are listed.

[4] Wilhelm Weber lists this as an independent instrument. "As z. B. the aeolian harp, the aeoline, the anemochord u. the like, and that reed whistles should be considered at all ”. Caecilia , Volume 11. S. Sons, 1829, p. 182 ( online in the Google book search).