Flute clock
A flute clock (also known as an organ clock ) is a valuable mechanical clock that is combined with a small organ . At a given time, music is played, controlled by a pin roller . Flute clocks come both in the form of a floor clock and as a wall clock . So the function and not the form is in the foreground, ultimately the cuckoo clock is also a flute clock.
Origin and epoch
The origin of the flute clock is unknown. Around 1600 it was built by Augsburg masters as a splendid clock and around 1760 it appeared in the Swiss Jura in the form of a pendulum clock. Around 1738 Charles Clay built a flute clock that was bought by Gerrit Braamcamp and acquired by the Speelklok Museum in Utrecht in 2016 . The heyday of flute clock construction was the end of the 18th century. Simpler flute clocks were produced in large numbers in the Black Forest from 1770 to around 1850 . They also played in inns for entertainment .
The customers
Flute clocks were built for wealthy, culturally upscale circles, educated people with a corresponding understanding of art and music. The finest pieces were built in Vienna and Berlin .
The music authors
Several well-known composers wrote works especially for this instrument, such as Georg Friedrich Händel , Wilhelm Friedemann Bach , Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , Joseph Haydn , Antonio Salieri , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven .
Flute clocks are to be regarded as sound carriers of their era with great reservations; they forced the composer to give precise instructions in terms of ornamentation and tempo. The coupling of the winch and roller allows conclusions to be drawn about the minimum tempo and thus makes historical flute clocks interesting for questions of historical performance practice.
Historical flute clocks
Famous flute clocks are the four examples of the librarian, clockmaker and Haydn friend Father Primitiv Niemecz , which were created after 1782. Niemecz commissioned Haydn to compose pieces (something of a minuet and an allegretto ) for his flute clocks . So you hear Haydn how he would have played the pieces himself.
At Elisabethenburg Palace, Duke Georg I, there is still a floor clock made by the Berlin court watchmaker Louis George with a musical mechanism (inventory no. II 1908), height 2.93 m, around 1790; with inscription on the dial: “Ls. GEORGE HORLOGER DU ROY ”/“ A BERLIN ”. Equipped with a flute clock according to the notes of M. Ruszwurm.
A similar clock from the era of Friedrich II has been preserved in the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam . The console clock also comes from Louis George's Berlin manufactory and is on the wall of a guest room in the New Chambers .
The clock with the inventory number V3 has a wooden case covered with a brass veneer, in which flowers made of mother-of-pearl and other materials are inlaid. The case is also provided with a rich, gold-plated brass decoration (rocailles, acanthus , blossom branches). According to the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg Foundation, it is not known whether there is still a complete flute in it. However, the pewter pipes are there.
Another flute clock with all cylinders and all melodies from before 1797 is mentioned in a legacy dated November 16, 1797.
A large flute clock with the theme 'Gesler's Death' (shield signed 'Leodegar Dufner Furtwangen'), made around 1840 with three registers and 82 pipes, is listed under the inv. Number Inv. No .: 1999-004 received in the German Watch Museum in Furtwangen. The musical work offers an extensive repertoire of twelve melodies, one of which each sounds after the hour - the orchestra and dance figures move to this. It is noteworthy that the flute clock has been preserved in almost its original condition. The two depictions on the subject of tyrannicide (Geßler's death / David and Goliath) and the varied round of folk dances, opera pieces, hymns and piano arrangements made the clock a showpiece of the French private house, where it was from its creation until 1999.
The Hamburg Museum of Arts and Crafts has an elaborately decorated flute clock on a pedestal with a bust from the Hamburg / Altona area (produced in 1780/82) .
Table flute clock
Table flute clock with complete flute movement by M. Naeschke
Black Forest flute clock around 1820
Flute clock in the Museum of Arts and Crafts Hamburg, 18th century
Flute clock music
Flute clock music: Minuet by Joseph Haydn for a mechanical clockwork
Flute clock music in D major by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Flute clock music in B flat major by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Flute clock music in E major by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Flute clock music in C minor by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Koninklijke Speelklok van wereldklasse aangekocht" , Museum Speelklok , 14 November 2016 (in Dutch); "Georg Friedrich Händel and the Braamcamp clock" by Erma Hermens, 22 November 2018
- ^ Charles Ditto: Handel's Musical Clock Music . In: Fontes artis musicae . tape 44 , no. 3 , 1997, p. 266-280 , JSTOR : 23508494 .
- ^ Herbert Jüttemann: Black Forest Flute Clocks . Waldkircher Verlag, Waldkirch 1991, ISBN 3-87885-236-3
- ↑ Representation of the factory and trade in its current state: excellent in technical, mercantilian and statistical relationship, editor Stephan von Keess, 1824, pages 176-181 Description of the flute works, barrel organs , orchestras and the metronome - online on Google book
- ↑ Erwin Schwarz-Reiflingen: The Haydn book for guitar. Musikverlag Hans Sikorski, Hamburg 1958, p. 18 f.
- ↑ stand speech at the grave of Madame Schu joke. A New Years gift for Incroyables. , Rastadt 1798 Testament - Google Books, online , p. 37
literature
- Helmut Kowar, Heinz Zemanek: The Viennese flute clock: "It plays better than the orchestra in the Kärntnertor". Technisches Museum Wien, 2001, ISBN 3-902183-00-4 .
- Johann August Donndorff: History of the inventions in all parts of the sciences and arts. Volume 3–4 of History of Inventions in All Parts of the Sciences and Arts: From the oldest to the present time: in alphabetical order. G. Basse, 1817 (Primitive Niemecz is mentioned as the inventor of an organ clock on page 201; limited preview in the Google book search)