Bernhard Eschenbach

Bernhard Eschenbach (* 1767 in Königshofen ; † 1852 ) was a German civil servant, piano player and instrument maker.

In addition to his work as a rent official in Königshofen, he invented the Aeoline , a direct forerunner of the harmonium . Together with his cousin Johann Caspar Schlimbach (1777–1861), who had learned organ and piano making in Vienna, he made such an instrument in Königshofen around 1810.

The reed plates with their tongues (springs) were made like jew's harps at that time . The frame and tongue were made of steel. The frame was U-shaped and the steel tongue was attached to the frame in the same way as is still done with the jaw harp today. The reed plates were glued directly into the sound chamber of the wind chamber with pitch and beeswax. Suggestions also came from the anemochord or the aeolian harp . A detailed report on the Klaväoline (also Clavaeoline ), which was built by Eschenbach himself, can be found in 1815 in the weekly Anzeiger für Kunst- und Gewerbefleiß. Another report on the invention can be found in the Musikalische Zeitung No. 30 of July 26, 1820.

There is such an instrument in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin ( cat. No. 5321 “ Querhammerflügel with Aeoline, Johann Caspar Schlimbach, Königsofen, around 1815”).

There are also similar patents in Vienna in 1821, for example Anton Haeckl and Friedrich Sturm in Suhl. Carl Friedrich Voit was already building comparable instruments before 1820 and called them aeolodicon . Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann built similar instruments at least from 1828, who also called them first aeoline and later the physharmonica .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ An attempt at a historical-statistical description of the city and former fortress Königshofen and the royal district court district Königshofen. Published by JW Rost, Würzburg 1832, supplement VI Something of remarkable men who were born in the city of Königshofen. P. 220. Full text in Google Book Search
2. ↑ Joachim Heinrich Jäck (Hrsg.): Most important moments of life of all royal. Bavarian civil and military servants of this century. 6th issue, Augsburg 1819, p. 29: “Eschenbach, Bernard, from d. Würzburgische, 1805/11 baier. Invoice commissioner, administrator of the rent office in Schweinfurt, 1814/19 rent clerk at Königshofen, married to a Mezker daughter from Schweinfurt, has several children and is a skilled piano player. 1) Klaväolin, in Munich. Art dance 15, 21. 2) Via the Real pressure resolution device. Even. 17, 4, 48. “ Bavarica, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
3. ↑ The inventor of the harmonium - Bayer. In: The harmonium. 9, 1911, p. 89.
4. ↑ Bernhard Eschenbach: Klaväoline In: Weekly display for art and industry in the Kingdom of Bavaria. Volume 1, No. 21, October 28, 1815, pp. 225-234 ( Wikisource ).
5. ↑ Gleichmann: About the invention of the aeoline or the aeolodicon. In: General musical newspaper. 22nd year, Breitkopf und Härtel, Leipzig 1820, p. 505: “This beautiful instrument, which was invented several years ago and made by various instrument makers, is even less known than it deserves to be known, and the name of the Its inventor has still been so little publicly named that many may be uncertain about it, or even mistakenly. The writer of this not only had the opportunity to see and hear several of these instruments, but also to get to know the inventor himself and about his invention, about the way in which he came to gain some clarification. It will not be without interest to share what has been experienced in this regard, all the more so since this invention will subsequently become very useful for the public, on the construction of one of our most important instruments, the organs have many influences, or perhaps bring about a formal transformation of it could. The inventor of the now so-called Aeolodicon is the royal. bayer. Rentamtmaun Eschenbach zu Königshoven in Grabfelde. As for the invention of some other instruments, the Aeolian harp gave the first cause for this. Herr Eschenbach thought about the way in which the attractive, but uncertain play, the wind-dependent and completely unbridled harmonics of this instrument could be bent under the laws of our tone system and made dependent on the force of the fingers. Many attempts at this failed because the tension of the gut and metal strings did not guarantee the security and stability of the tone which is necessary for the purity of the tone relationships. However, without being deterred by these unsuccessful attempts, the thinking man thought of other means to achieve his end. Another, equally insignificant seeming instrument, the harmonica, (commonly known as the Jew's Harp) led him to his goal. Considering that the firmly clamped tongue of this instrument always gives off the same, indistinguishable tone, which, merely by the human breath, is arbitrarily modified according to the laws of the strings of the Aeolian harp, he believed that Several large and small steel tongues clamped in a similar way, brought to the address by bellows, always give the same tone, and would have to be tuned to the usual tone relationships. The attempt was made and it was successful. 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 aeoline after the instruction of the word violin. Now unselfishly he shared his invention with some other artists, namely Mr. Voit in Schweinfurt, who then built several such instruments, called them Aeolodikon, and several years ago made a trip to Frankfurt with one of them. Mr Eschenbach has been willing to make a complicated description of it public for a long time, but we regret that it has not yet appeared. After the Meiming of the same, these instruments, since the mechanism is very simple and the material cheap, must in the future, if external elegance does not make them expensive, be able to be supplied very cheaply, and he therefore hopes that they will still be quite useful; for he believes that, as a result, the steel springs, worked in factories according to numbers, can just as easily become an article of trade as the metal string is now. He considers the tone of this instrument to be able to change more than is possible even with organs, and also believes that the same force, especially with the use of the doublings, can thereby be achieved. In fact, the above-mentioned Mr. Schlimmbach already built an organ in which several stops with the aeolodicon are attached, which make a good effect. What savings in space, metal and wood can now be made in organ building! Because after this experiment there is hardly any doubt that the invention will really have an impact on organ building; but whether it can also bring about a reform of the orchestra, as is believed, is still very doubtful. *) By the way, Referent still considers this instrument to be in need of some improvement; It would be especially pleasant if the bellows could be ruled with the feet instead of the knees, without losing the swelling and swelling of the sound. Meanwhile the beautiful tone and the splendid effect of it have already been spoken of in several newspapers. We are completely in agreement with what it achieves, and we are very pleased that various artists have already found each other who play the same with the appropriate skill and know how to treat it with insight and taste: but about the inventor himself, one is, as can be seen from everything, until now still in uncertainty. For this reason, the Referent felt it was his duty to publicly name the true inventor, who communicated what was said orally above, since partly modesty, partly lack of time may prevent him from making closer, public announcement of his invention; because suum cuique. The gentlemen, however, who work with praiseworthy zeal on the perfecting of this instrument, and therefore deserve all respect, will certainly be happy to be content with the glory of being improvements to it, and will happily humble themselves to give Mr. Eschenbach the honor of the first invention, especially since he himself, who is neither a musician nor an instrument maker, seems so little vain about this honor. But those who think that the invention of such a simple instrument was not an invention, but the manufacture and improvement of it was an art, may remember the standing egg of Columbus. Gleichmann. ” Full text in the Google book search