Panharmonic

Panharmonicon (1846)

The Panharmonikon is a mechanical music automat from Johann Nepomuk Mälzel , the inventor of the metronome . This tool not only were impacting tongues , but also already resounding reeds used. The Panharmonikon is a forerunner of the Orchestrion . Ludwig van Beethoven originally wrote his battle symphony Wellingtons Sieg for the Panharmonikon.

Several panharmonics were made. An instrument constructed in 1805 ended up in the collection of the Landesgewerbemuseum in Stuttgart and was bombed there during World War II. One was sold in Paris in 1807 for 100,000 francs ; at least one further, improved copy was completed in Vienna in 1808. One instrument surely reached the USA as early as 1811 and was demonstrated by William M. Goodrich for two years . Goodrich also constructed a replica in 1823.

As far as can be determined, no panharmonic has survived today. There are two photos of the specimen that was destroyed in Stuttgart during World War II, which at least reveal part of the mechanics. Some of the associated pin rollers have also been preserved .

Replicas

In 1808 Friedrich Kaufmann built a similar machine.
In 1817 the London organ builder Flight & Robson built a similar automat called the Apollonicon .
In 1821 Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel rebuilt the Panharmonikon in Amsterdam and named this replica, which could also improvise variations, Componium.
In 1823 William M. Goodrich copied Mälzel's Panharmonikon. The New England Magazine reported in detail about it in the same year.
In 1826 the Aeolodicon was created , upon whose discovery and improvement Mich. Jos. Child friend and the mechanic Wenzel Balde received a six-year privilege on August 1, 1826 in Prague. It also played string instruments.
In 1828 Heinrich Johann Bauer built an orchestrion in Vienna .

“The great orchestrion by Christ, completed in 1828, is undoubtedly one of the greatest orchestral works that have ever been produced. Heinrich and Joh. Bauer in Vienna. This instrument has three cylinders which play at the same time and of which the lower cylinder has three registers (Flute-Forte Piano and Pianissimo), the middle cylinder a physharmonica and a piccolo and the third cylinder 25 natural flutes, 15 French horns, 15 trumpets, 2 timpani, a bass drum and 2 Basin contains. The whole thing is in a large box decorated with bronze decorations, the production of which cost 5000 fl. C. M. "

- Knight of Kess

Newspaper reports

There is a report from 1807 about the demonstration of the instrument in Paris, which also contains the information that the instrument was made in a Viennese workshop together with workers employed by Mälzel. In 1808 Mälzel traveled again to Paris and performed the mechanical trumpeter and the panharmonicon there. The latter was sold there and exhibited by the new owner in the Palais Royale for a fee. In 1808 Mälzel traveled with his famous panharmonicon, and with his musical automaton, the trumpeter, [again] to Paris, where he sold it for 100,000 francs; with this, however, it earned almost even greater approval than with the Panharmonikon, from all art and music connoisseurs . On the return trip to Vienna, the mechanical trumpeter was again exhibited in Munich with great public success. Obviously Mälzel had built his own instrument for the Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstädt, Eugène de Beauharnais , because the Kunst- und Gewerbeblatt für Bayern reported as follows: The most perfect instrument of its kind is without a doubt that of the Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstädt Prince Eugene royally. Hoh., Which is set up in the palace here in Munich .

A detailed, rather technical description, with a clear indication of the use of penetrating tongues, was given by Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff in his annals in 1809 ; the Bulletin of the Latest and Most Knowledgeable also reported it that same year . With a gap of 20 years, the Brockhaus from 1827 already summarized these events and gave Mälzel the wrong first name Leonhard . Also in 1827, The Franklin Journal reported and confirmed that a panharmonicon had previously been on display in Boston.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b “According to newspaper reports, a Mr. Lecuyer bought the Panharmonicon in May for 100,000 francs in order to have it heard publicly in the Palais Royal for 6 francs, half of the other entrance. " Kunst- und Gewerbeblatt des Polytechnisches Verein für das Kingdom Bayern, Volume 4, 1818, pages 223-228 online
↑ http://unheardbeethoven.org/search.php?Identifier=hess108
^ Christian Breternitz: The collection of historical musical instruments at the state museum
↑ Urania: Musik-Zeitschrift für Orgelbau, Orgel- und Harmoniumspiel, Volume 12, 1855, P. 20 : “ One of the most extraordinary instruments of this genre is the instrument built in 1821 by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel in Amsterdam and named“ Componium ”. In addition to the ability to reproduce all the effects of the panharmonicons, it also possessed the ability to always improvise new and correct variations on a given theme, if one had notated the theme with some changes similar to the well-known Mozart waltz on the divided cylinder the mechanism in motion, which then made the rollers and registers work with such surprising changes and so numerous combinations that one could neither calculate arrangement nor recurrence and the artist himself could not suspect the effects that his instrument would produce. "
↑ The New-England Magazine, Volume 6, 1832, p. 32 : In March, 1823, Mr. Goodrich undertook to complete, with the assistance of others, a Pan Harmonicon, in imitation of that of Maelzel. Mr. Savage, the proprietor of a Museum in Boylston Hall, had kept the latter for some time on exhibition in his Museum, and had made considerable progress in constructing one like it. After his death, it was determined to complete it. Mr. Goodrich was employed, and it was finished in May, 1824. From November, 1824, till sometime in 1825, he was chiefly employed in the exhibition of this instrument; but it was not productive, and, as he often stated, from the inability of his employers to fulfill their contract, he finally suffered a very serious loss ...
↑ Systematic presentation of the latest advances in trades and manufactures and the current state of them; as a continuation and supplement to the work completed in 1823: Representation of the factory and trade, & c. With special consideration for the Austrian imperial state, 1830, pages 10, 11, online
↑ Systematic presentation of the latest advances in trades and manufactures and the current state of them; as a continuation and addition to the work completed in 1823: Representation of the factory and trade, & c. With special consideration for the Austrian imperial state, 1830, pages 10, 11, online
↑ "Should Mr. Mälzel decides to sell his instrument and is inclined to make a similar one, so this could, according to his assurance, only take place in Vienna, because only there is his workshop set up for such work, and because only his in Vienna is employed by him Workers can give him a helpful hand in this. ” Morgenblatt für educated estates, Volume 1, JG Cotta'sche, 1807, pages 411-412 Online
↑ Annalen der Physik, year 1807, vol. 2/26. Vol., Section VI. Perfecting the Organ or the Panharmonicon, pp. 214-218
↑ Kunst- und Gewerbeblatt des Polytechnisches Verein für das Kingdom Bayern, Volume 4, 1818, p. 225 This remarkable work of art was also admired by Munich residents on February 8, 1809 in a public concert, the Hr. Mälzel on his return trip from Paris in the k. There was a theater in front of the whole court and a very numerous gathering .
↑ Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff: Annals of the progress, newest inventions and discoveries in science, arts, manufactories, factories and handicrafts , Volume 1, 1809, Pages 856-863
^ Bulletin of the newest and most worth knowing from the natural sciences, Volume 2, Berlin 1809, pp. 166–170
↑ General German real encyclopedia for the educated classes. (Conversation Lexicon). Volume 7, Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1827, page 83 : Mälzel (Leonhard), kk östr. music. Court chamber machinist in Vienna, the inventor of the panharmonic, born in Regensburg and born around 1776. The panharmonicon mimics a fairly complete orchestra by seeing the instruments in motion through rollers and bellows; the strength and determination of the wind instruments is special, B. the trumpets, have been admired; specifically in Paris in 1807. In 1808 M. had a new work of art heard there, a trumpet automaton. A few years ago he was in London with his automatons and the Kempelen chess machine. His most important invention is the metronome or chronometer (metronome, sd), for which he built a factory in London in 1816. See the essay by Kandler in the "Wiener Musical Zeitung", 1817
↑ Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia (PA), Volume 3, 1827, pp. 130-133 : Mr. Maelzel has been for many years distinguished for his great mechanical skill. The Panharmonicon, which was formerly exhibited here, was made by him: he is likewise the inventor of the Metronome, an instrument by which the time in music is accurately measured; it is not unknown here, and is extensively used in Europe. He has also invented, an apparatus which is attached to a Piano Forte, by which any piece of music which is played on it, is correctly written out at the same time. His speaking figures are of his own make, and far excel the attempts of Von Kempelen, although the labor of the latter, were eminently successful .

literature

Hans-W. Schmitz: Johann Nepomuk Mälzel and the Panharmonicon. From the beginnings of orchestral machines . In: The Mechanical Musical Instrument, 7th year, No. March 19, 1981

Web links

Wikisource: perfecting the organ or the panharmonicon - sources and full texts

[FR100-1] “According to newspaper reports, a Mr. Lecuyer bought the Panharmonicon in May for 100,000 francs in order to have it heard publicly in the Palais Royal for 6 francs, half of the other entrance. " Kunst- und Gewerbeblatt des Polytechnisches Verein für das Kingdom Bayern, Volume 4, 1818, pages 223-228 online

[2] ttp://unheardbeethoven.org/search.php?Identifier=hess108

[3] Christian Breternitz: The collection of historical musical instruments at the state museum

[4] Urania: Musik-Zeitschrift für Orgelbau, Orgel- und Harmoniumspiel, Volume 12, 1855, P. 20 : “ One of the most extraordinary instruments of this genre is the instrument built in 1821 by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel in Amsterdam and named“ Componium ”. In addition to the ability to reproduce all the effects of the panharmonicons, it also possessed the ability to always improvise new and correct variations on a given theme, if one had notated the theme with some changes similar to the well-known Mozart waltz on the divided cylinder the mechanism in motion, which then made the rollers and registers work with such surprising changes and so numerous combinations that one could neither calculate arrangement nor recurrence and the artist himself could not suspect the effects that his instrument would produce. "

[5] The New-England Magazine, Volume 6, 1832, p. 32 : In March, 1823, Mr. Goodrich undertook to complete, with the assistance of others, a Pan Harmonicon, in imitation of that of Maelzel. Mr. Savage, the proprietor of a Museum in Boylston Hall, had kept the latter for some time on exhibition in his Museum, and had made considerable progress in constructing one like it. After his death, it was determined to complete it. Mr. Goodrich was employed, and it was finished in May, 1824. From November, 1824, till sometime in 1825, he was chiefly employed in the exhibition of this instrument; but it was not productive, and, as he often stated, from the inability of his employers to fulfill their contract, he finally suffered a very serious loss ...

[6] Systematic presentation of the latest advances in trades and manufactures and the current state of them; as a continuation and supplement to the work completed in 1823: Representation of the factory and trade, & c. With special consideration for the Austrian imperial state, 1830, pages 10, 11, online

[7] Systematic presentation of the latest advances in trades and manufactures and the current state of them; as a continuation and addition to the work completed in 1823: Representation of the factory and trade, & c. With special consideration for the Austrian imperial state, 1830, pages 10, 11, online

[Angestellte-8] "Should Mr. Mälzel decides to sell his instrument and is inclined to make a similar one, so this could, according to his assurance, only take place in Vienna, because only there is his workshop set up for such work, and because only his in Vienna is employed by him Workers can give him a helpful hand in this. ” Morgenblatt für educated estates, Volume 1, JG Cotta'sche, 1807, pages 411-412 Online

[9] Annalen der Physik, year 1807, vol. 2/26. Vol., Section VI. Perfecting the Organ or the Panharmonicon, pp. 214-218

[10] Kunst- und Gewerbeblatt des Polytechnisches Verein für das Kingdom Bayern, Volume 4, 1818, p. 225 This remarkable work of art was also admired by Munich residents on February 8, 1809 in a public concert, the Hr. Mälzel on his return trip from Paris in the k. There was a theater in front of the whole court and a very numerous gathering .

[11] Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff: Annals of the progress, newest inventions and discoveries in science, arts, manufactories, factories and handicrafts , Volume 1, 1809, Pages 856-863

[12] Bulletin of the newest and most worth knowing from the natural sciences, Volume 2, Berlin 1809, pp. 166–170

[13] General German real encyclopedia for the educated classes. (Conversation Lexicon). Volume 7, Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1827, page 83 : Mälzel (Leonhard), kk östr. music. Court chamber machinist in Vienna, the inventor of the panharmonic, born in Regensburg and born around 1776. The panharmonicon mimics a fairly complete orchestra by seeing the instruments in motion through rollers and bellows; the strength and determination of the wind instruments is special, B. the trumpets, have been admired; specifically in Paris in 1807. In 1808 M. had a new work of art heard there, a trumpet automaton. A few years ago he was in London with his automatons and the Kempelen chess machine. His most important invention is the metronome or chronometer (metronome, sd), for which he built a factory in London in 1816. See the essay by Kandler in the "Wiener Musical Zeitung", 1817

[14] Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia (PA), Volume 3, 1827, pp. 130-133 : Mr. Maelzel has been for many years distinguished for his great mechanical skill. The Panharmonicon, which was formerly exhibited here, was made by him: he is likewise the inventor of the Metronome, an instrument by which the time in music is accurately measured; it is not unknown here, and is extensively used in Europe. He has also invented, an apparatus which is attached to a Piano Forte, by which any piece of music which is played on it, is correctly written out at the same time. His speaking figures are of his own make, and far excel the attempts of Von Kempelen, although the labor of the latter, were eminently successful .