Johann Nepomuk Mälzel

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Metronome by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, Paris 1815

Johann Nepomuk Mälzel (born August 15, 1772 in Regensburg ; † July 21, 1838 in the port of La Guaira , Venezuela ) was an inventor , mechanic and designer of mechanical musical instruments. He is considered to be the inventor of the term metronome .

Live and act

Advertising poster for exhibition

Born as the son of the Regensburg organ builder and mechanic Johann Nepomuk Mälzel (1741–1797) in the house under Schwibbögen No. 7 , Johann Nepomuk Mälzel enjoyed a good general and musical education like his younger brother Leonhard Mälzel . He became known very early on for his masterly piano playing , even in later years he never gave up and almost always carried a pianoforte with him, which he used to accompany and loosen up his performances. The good response to his later events was therefore largely dependent on his person. Performances that took place without his presence generated less income.

In 1792 Mälzel moved to Vienna , studied mechanics, became a citizen of Vienna and built machines with his workers in a workshop, which quickly made him famous all over Europe. At the same time Georg Joseph Vogler was giving lectures in Prague, Vienna and other places that were important to Mälzel; both worked for several years at the same time in Vienna and Paris. In Vienna, Mälzel also developed his panharmonicon , a mechanical musical instrument that could play the instruments of an entire military band. It was powered by a spring mechanism , bellows provided the wind, and it had the notes stored on rotating drums. Mälzel was one of the first to use penetrating tongues .

He sold a panharmonicon in Paris in 1807 for 100,000 francs . One was sent to a company in Boston in 1811 and at least one was sold in America after 1826.

Mälzel constructed numerous other jukeboxes. In 1807 in Nuremberg and in 1808 in Paris and Vienna he performed his "mechanical trumpeter", which gave the impetus for the perfect trumpeter automaton by Kaufmann in Dresden. Mälzel always employed the best available mechanics on site for his projects. In general, he made no effort to keep his machines and their functions secret. He kept a secret solely around the Chess Turk , whom Mälzel had acquired after Wolfgang von Kempelen's death in 1804, rebuilt something and added a language machine. Many visitors thought of a trick, especially with the Chess Turk, but others thought about artificial intelligence . Through the discussions that were held about it, he was sure of the curiosity and interest of the audience, so that he could successfully go on tour with the Chess Turk and his jukeboxes.

In 1808 he was appointed kk court chamber machinist in Vienna. Here he also became the mentor of Elisabet (called Elise ) Barensfeld , who also came from Regensburg. Elisabet Barensfeld was - according to a thesis by Rita Steblin - possibly the dedicatee of Beethoven's piano piece Für Elise . Mälzel even received a gold medal from the King of Prussia as recognition. Several of these huge orchestras were created very quickly and soon caused a sensation everywhere.

Developed for the wounded military conflicts during the Napoleonic campaigns or the siege of Vienna Mälzel 1809 in Vienna and prosthetic feet :

“But how does Mr. Mälzel has not only earned applause, but also claims to public thanks, these are the artificial feet he invented. He knew, by means of an extremely simple, easy and permanent mechanism, to bring a life into the feet, which is admired by art experts and anatomists, and whereby these artificial feet are almost indistinguishable from natural ones. The sevenfold bend of the knee and threefold bend of the forefoot allow you to climb stairs and on horseback with ease. Mr. Mälzel has already delivered several such feet to the full satisfaction of his customers, and thereby, most worthy of him, refuted the accusation of certain journals which said that he used his talent only for pleasant things but not for useful things. "

For Ludwig van Beethoven , who suffered from progressive deafness in his later years, Mälzel constructed several ear trays , four of which have been preserved in the Beethoven House in Bonn from the period between 1812 and 1814. Presumably as a thank you for this, Beethoven wrote a piece for a new panharmonicon by Mälzel, for the dramaturgical course of which the designer gave the composer very precise specifications. When Beethoven later arranged this work called “ Wellington's Victory or The Battle of Vittoria ” for orchestra (op. 91) and premiered it in Vienna in 1813, there was a dispute between the two because Mälzel was of the opinion that he had rights to it. It was not until 1819 that the dispute was amicably settled. In 1812 he was back in Paris; In the same year he opened his own art gallery in Vienna. For the mechanical trumpeter Jan Ladislav Dussek and Ignaz Pleyel composed a concert piece with orchestral accompaniment in 1813, which supposedly also included a talking doll that could move the eyes.

The metronome , the construction of which Mälzel is well known, was the only one of his devices to be patented in 1815.

This device can be used to measure the tempo of pieces of music: even today, the number of beats per minute for this note value is often given in scores with MM, the abbreviation for Mälzel's metronome , a note value and a number. The actual invention of the metronome was awarded to the German mechanic and organ builder Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel , who lived in Amsterdam in a legal dispute in 1820 ; Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel had designed the first metronome for Mälzel after Mälzel's idea, Mälzel expanded this metronome by a scale, finally manufactured it in large numbers in his own factory in Paris and sold it as far as America. On February 14, 1818, the Wiener Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung published a joint declaration by Beethoven and Salieri on the use of Mälzel's metronome. The joke canon On the inventor of the metronome , the motif of which was taken from the second movement of Beethoven's 8th Symphony, composed in 1812 and premiered in 1814 , does not come from Beethoven, as has long been assumed, but is a forgery by Anton Schindler . In 1819 and 1820 Mälzel was again in Paris, London, Munich and other cities in Europe. The chess Turk was briefly owned by Eugène de Beauharnais , who died in 1824. He also traveled to North America with much of his inventions, including the Chess Turk. He arrived in New York on February 7, 1826 and caused so much furore with demonstrations in the United States that he later successfully toured America several times.

In 1827 he had the animated diorama The Fire of Moscow ("Conflagration of Moscow"), which was successfully shown in Paris, London and Amsterdam, transferred to America. This diorama was reproduced and enlarged twice in America after the profitable sale. The stay in North America was certainly interrupted once from September 11, 1828 to April 13, 1829 for a visit to Europe; a second visit to Europe around 1833 is very likely, as at least one contemporary witness reports. In addition to further tours through North America, two stays in Cuba in the capital Havana followed .

In Baltimore , witnesses observed how Mälzel's assistant, the Alsatian chess player Wilhelm Schlumberger , got out of the machine, and the Baltimore Gazette and other newspapers continued to reveal the secret. The chess Turk did not completely lose its attraction and was used in illusionary performances until Schlumberger's death. Even Edgar Allan Poe wrote in 1836 under the title Maelzel chess player , an analysis of the alleged machines.

Mälzel copied and refined his other machines permanently in America and employed the best available mechanics for months, as his biography shows, for example with the third generation of The Fire of Moscow . His last tour took him from North America to Havana , where his de facto adoptive son and director of shows, Schlumberger, died of yellow fever . The 66-year-old Mälzel then fell into a depression; he had had the closest bond with the younger educated Schlumberger of French descent. The loss as a chess player, who was indispensable for the show's highlight, was probably not easy to get over. There is no evidence that Mälzel was married or had closer ties to women.

In contrast to all previous events, the illusion demonstrations in Cuba did not prove to be very successful. His friend Mr. Ohl, on whose ship he was en route, seems to have taken advantage of this situation. In July 1838 he went on the return voyage, during which Mälzel died on the ship and was buried at sea. Mr. Ohl auctioned off the freight and all of the machines and belongings that were left in a warehouse, including the royal gold medal. Mälzel was by no means poor at the time of his death, as the demonstrations in the New World were extremely successful and he had invested $ 20,000 in a bank owned by Mr. Willig for a long period of time. He had been extremely enterprising and had repeatedly sold his unique machines to finance the construction of newer and better machines.

Mälzel's brother Leonhard wanted to clarify after death how things stood with the financial situation; how the matter ended is not clear. Mälzel's correspondence, which was in the hands of his confidante, his older friend Mr. Willig, a wealthy businessman and publisher who traded in musical instruments, burned on December 31, 1851 under unexplained circumstances.

Description of a performance

Duke Bernhard zu Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach describes his journey through North America in 1825 and 1826, and also visits a performance by Mälzel in New York.

The time in the USA

Mälzel mainly stayed in Philadelphia for the past 12 years , where he was practically always in "Mälzel's Hall" with interruptions. The demonstrations there proved extremely successful for almost a decade.

On August 22, 1828, the "Moscow" show sold for $ 6,000. The Chess Turks and automatic trumpeters were kept and stored with Mr. Ohl. His own show continued at Julian Hall , which had a summer break from July 26th to August 25th and was then continued until September 6th. On September 11th, Mälzel embarked for Europe. From September 13th, the parts sold were shown again in his name under the direction of Schlumberger and the owner, Mr. William P. Kummer. The demonstrations were not very successful without Mälzel. On April 13, 1829, Mälzel was back with other attractions that he had brought with him from Europe. It seems that he brought the new attractions "Diorama and Mechanical Theater" with him from Paris. He offered this attraction for sale with the "Whist-player" which was built in America for Mälzel. Contracts have been signed for demonstrations again, and the demonstrations in Boston in the Tammany Hall continued on 18 May 1829 to 24 April 1830th Then there was another stay in New York at Masonic Hall on Broadway , and from September 30, 1830 to December 1, 1830 he was again in Philadelphia . On January 28, 1830, he informed the public that he was presenting new attractions of his own, such as the "Carousel". From Philadelphia, Mälzel made guest screenings of varying lengths in Pittsburgh , Ohio , Mississippi , Cincinnati , Louisville and New Orleans as well as a longer stay in Baltimore. These trips took place between December 1830 and the autumn of 1831. Late in 1831, Mälzel again offered his "Conflagration of Moscow" with other attractions for sale. That may have been the preparation for another visit to Europe. The Chess Turk was never put up for sale. There is at least one contemporary witness, Mr. Mickley, who claimed that Mälzel would definitely travel to Europe one more time. Two years followed without any particular information in the newspapers, only in 1832 an exhibition season in New York and in 1833 a visit to Boston are reported. But Mälzel was so popular that he could easily get along for a long time without advertising. In addition, he was so wealthy that he could not afford to do anything, but that is hardly to be assumed, just as he could have been working on new machines. In 1834 three months of shows followed in Philadelphia and again in the south, in Richmond . In November in Charleston , South Carolina . It also seems to be the case that in some cases he used two venues almost simultaneously by having one of them performed by an agent. The attractive "Conflagration of Moscow" was shown in Richmond and he and Schlumberger stayed behind with the Chess Turks in Washington . In 1836 there was another tour through the west, in spring he is back at the starting point. The preparations for a stay in Cuba begin. The Moscow Show is sold again and a new, extended one is put together, which extends over the summer until the departure for Havana in the fall of 1837. Mälzel had deposited his documents and valuables with Mr. Willig and Mr. Ohl. The later death of Mr. Willig in 1851 and a fire at the same time in Baltimore resulted in the destruction of all Mälzel correspondence and made it impossible to substantiate some of the claims.

English quote for the previous section

“The sale was actually made, on the 22nd of August, to a company of three Bostonians, for the sum of six thousand dollars. […] He himself took in pieces the Automaton Chess-player and the Trumpeter, and packed them off, […] the [soled] "Burning of Moscow," the "Speaking Figures," and the "Funambulists," together with an "Automaton Violoncellist" - [...] was carried on in Julian Hall under the name of Maelzel , and with the indispensable assistance of our hero Schlumberger . [...] * The exhibitor guaranteed to the company by Maelzel (after having been recommended to him by the elder Mr. Willig) was Mr. William P. Kummer, who had become perfectly at home and favorably known all over the country, by traveling as an agent for the celebrated manufactories of jewelry in his native Baden. From Mr. Kummer, now living in Philadelphia at an advanced age, I have learned what is related in the text. […] Maelzel embarked for Europe […] on the 11th of September. Although he had made the sale of his "Moscow" on the 22nd of August (three days before re-opening his exhibition, after closing it on account of the warm weather on the 26th of July) he continued to exhibit it in connexion with the Chess-player and Trumpeter until the 6th of September. It was not till the 13th of September, when he was already four days at sea, that "Mr. Maelzel," ie the new company, advertised the re-opening of his exhibition, in compliance with numerous solicitations, etc. [...] York, he was suddenly joined by the great exhibitor on the 13th day of April, 1829, then just landed from the Havre packet. [...] Maelzel came on to Philadelphia, after his year-long residence in New York, and opened his hall for exhibitions from the last of September until the first of December, 1830. [...] He made one long journey, at least, to Pittsburg, and from thence down the Ohio and the Mississippi, with longer or shorter halts for exhibitions, at Cincinnati, Louisville, and New Orleans; [...] * The exhibition in Tammany Hall continued from the 18th of May, 1829, to the 24th of April, 1830. It appears that he had brought over with him from Paris what he calls a "Diorama and Mechanical Theater." On the 26th of September, 1829, he offers this for sale, together with his late useless acquisition, the "Whist-player," and another articles of his exhibition. On the 28th of January, 1830, he informs the public, that he had enriched his exhibition with another mechanism of his own, the "Carousel". […] Belong to the space between December, 1830, and a long residence here [in Baltimore] during the summer and autumn of 1831 […] Maelzel's again announcing by advertisement (late in the year 1831) that he is about to abandon public exhibitions, and that he offers for sale his Conflagration of Moscow, and the other now numerous articles of his Exhibition— always omitting the Automaton Chess-Player. This advertisement, like a former one of the same kind, may have been the prelude to a second voyage to Europe. * For two years after this date, I have been able to glean nothing of Maelzel's movements, beyond an exhibition season in New York during the melancholy cholera year of 1832, and a third visit to Boston in the summer of 1833. […] * Mr. Mickley is quite confident that Maelzel returned to Europe more than once. The death of Mr. Willig, and the destruction by fire of all Maelzel's correspondence with him, make it impossible to verify this impression; which, however, is rendered highly probable by the entire silence of the newspapers during certain long periods. [...] he could well afford to do, or exhibiting without finding it worth his while to advertise. Maelzel's Hall was so well known, and so popular a resort, that if the tide of visitors had once been fairly made to set in, by a month's advertising, it continued to flow without further notice, until the newspapers gave the melancholy announcement, that the favorite exhibitor was about to pack up and go elsewhere. […] In 1834, after a three months' exhibitionseason in Philadelphia, he would appear to have gone South as far as Richmond; and in November, of the same year, he is found in Charleston, South Carolina.! [...] It is also an odd circumstance, that by the advertisements of this and one other year, Maelzel would appear to have been in two places at once. A closer examination leads me to the more reasonable conclusion, that he occasionally found it profitable to divide his numerous curiosities, and to allow an agent to exhibit the. Attractive Conflagration of Moscow, & co at Richmond, for instance, while he remained for a while behind at Washington with his inseparable allies, the Chess-Player and Schlumberger. […] [There] was a second tour to the West during the autumn of 1836, and the ensuing winter. * He is found here again in the spring, and here he remained until he left our shores, never to return. It must not be imagined, however, that he was always to be found at " Maelzel's Hall ". He seems to have given up his hold upon that favorite building at the time when he advertised his exhibition for sale, preparatory to an absence from the city for two years. During his subsequent visits, he exhibited once in the Union building, at the corner of Chesnut and Eighth Streets, but at other times in the Masonic Hall, Chesnut Street . His name is last associated with the Adelphi Buildings , in Fifth Street , below Walnut. When he had decided on a visit to Havana - to be followed, I understand, by a tour through the principal cities of South America - he resolved to reconstruct the most attractive mechanism of his Exhibition - the Conflagration of Moscow - on a grander scale. For this purpose he rented the Adelphi Buildings, where he kept all kinds of mechanics busily at work, during the summer and autumn of 1837. To superintend and expedite the work, he occupied private rooms in the same building himself. It may be recollected on how limited a scale he had been compelled to form his establishment during his first visits to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia; and that Schlumberger, when the contract was originally made between them, was so universal in his duties as to make any other, assistant unnecessary. Maelzel's subsequent success, and the great enlargement of his Exhibition, increased his regular staff, and relieved Schlumberger from his factotum role. His preparations for Cuba induced still another improvement. He took into pay an experienced exhibitor by the name of Fischer —partly, to be sure, because such a Head of Department had become necessary for the execution of his grand schemes, but partly also because the same Fischer had a wife, whose housekeeping talents would make it possible for the entire establishment to live together - an object of some consequence in a strange country. The system was carried into execution, by way of rehearsal, in the Adelphi Buildings, for some time before the embarkation for Cuba. While Maelzel was thus absorbed in his preparations for Havana, Schlumberger was more than ever at leisure to accept the invitations. "

- Daniel Willard Fiske : The Book of the first American Chess Congress: Containing the Proceedings of that celebrated Assemblage

List of his inventions

Until 1808 Mälzel manufactured many smaller music boxes and machines. The larger machines were given well-known personalities.

  • Prince of Lichtenstein
  • Count Friedrich Palffy
  • Baron Braunecker
  • Many more for others, mostly for wealthy Hungarians
  • Baron von Braun
  • In the temple of the night in Schönau
  • Count Erdődy
  • Count Caroly
  • Count Esterhazy
  • Duke Albert of Saxony
  • Empress Maria Theresa
  • Dresden owns an automaton from him which plays trumpets and timpani.
  • Munich and Würzburg got an automatic desk with various trumpets.
  • The Empress of France got an automatic trumpeter and an automatic desk.

How much was manufactured after 1808 is only partially known.

  • Talking figure
  • Panharmonic
  • Animated diorama of Reims Cathedral
  • Automatic trumpeter
  • "equestrian" (Reiter Machine)
  • "automatous slack rope dancers" (automatic circus)
  • Melodium
  • Automatic charlatan
  • metronome
  • panoramic spectacle of the conflagration of Moscow ( Moscow fire)

English language quote for this listing

“JOHN MAELZEL. * In the playing of this great master, are constantly to be found a regular attack and a premeditated defense; and his remarks, whilst they prove his perfect knowledge of the game, attest the profundity of his genius. This gentleman, mentioned in the foregoing letter, is still the owner of the chess-playing automaton, which, from time to time, he opens to the public. He is well known as the musical mechanician of the late emperor of Austria, and is alike distinguished for his skill in mechanics, his taste for the fine arts, and the extraordinary inventive faculties of his mind. Some of the most beautiful and splendid of automatic machines are the creations of his genius; and no exhibition of a like character attracts so much attention as that which he possesses. Of his inventions the following may be enumerated: viz.— [1.] The automaton speaking figures, which articulate certain English and French words, in the hands of any person; [2.] the panharmonicon a magnificent instrument, composed of all the pieces, rich, various and powerful as they are, of an entire military band; [3.] the animated diorama of the cathedral at Rheims a large and most superb representation of the kind; [3.] the automaton trumpeter, of the size of a man; and whose clarion notes cannot be equalled by those of any living performer the time from the nature of the mechanism, being absolutely perfect; [5.] the equestrian automata, [7.] and the automatous slack rope dancers, which go through all the difficult feats and surprising evolutions, both of 'horse and foot' of the circus or amphitheaters, and with an agility, ease and gracefulness, so true to nature, as scarcely to be credited by those who have not witnessed them; [8.] the melodium, whose very name attests how exquisitely it is attuned to 'sweet sounds;' [9.] the automaton charlatan, never exhibited, we believe, in America; [10.] the metronome, or musical timekeeper, patented in Europe; and 'last not least,' that unique and most masterly combination of music, mechanism and design, [11.] the grand and appalling panoramic spectacle of the conflagration of Moscow. [...] "

- Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne : (Eds.): American magazine of useful and entertaining knowledge

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Nepomuk Mälzel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ "The writer in the Palamede makes the result a kind of partnership in an exhibition tour - the title of the Automaton was to remain in the princely owner, and Maelzel was to pay the interest of the original cost as his partner's fair proportion of the profits . But another account - current, I believe, at Munich - makes the transaction to have been a sale: Maelzel bought back the Automaton for the same thirty thousand francs, and was to pay for it out of the profits of his exhibitions - "Provided , nevertheless, "that Maelzel was not to leave the Continent to give such exhibitions. The latter account I believe to be the more correct one." In: The Book of the first American Chess Congress. P. 427. (online)
  2. ↑ "Mr. Maelzel, who had already experienced some regret at parting with his protegi, requested the favor to be again reinstated in the charge, promising to pay Eugene the interest of the thirty thousand francs Mr. M. hod pocketed. This proposition was graciously conceded by the gallant Beauharnois, and Maelzel thus had the satisfaction of finding he had made a tolerably good bargain, getting literally the money for nothing at all! Leaving Bavaria with the Automaton, Maelzel was once more en ramie, as traveling showman of the wooden genius. Other automata were adopted into the family, and a handsome income was realized by their ingenious proprietor. Himself an inferior player, he called the assistance of first-rale talent to the field as his ally. On limits compel us to skip over some interval of time here, during which M. Boncourt (we believe) was Maelzel's chef in Paris, where the machine was received with all its former favor; and we take up the subject in 1819, when Maelzel again appeared with the Chess Automaton in London. " In: Fraser's magazine for town and country. Volume 19, James Fraser, 1839. (online)
  3. ↑

    “I also looked at the famous Kempelensche chess machine , which, along with some other curiosities, was shown by its current owner, the Mechanicus Maelzel from Vienna. He is said to have made a lot of money with the same in New York. The machine represents a Turk sitting behind a table with a chess board in front of him. Opposite is a table with another chess board, at which someone from the company starts a game of chess with the machine. When the automaton has a pull to do, one hears a train of wheels moving inside the table; and at the same time the Turk raises his left hand, resting on a pillow, opens his fingers, takes hold of the stone, pulls the pull, closes his hand and puts it back on the pillow. If the other player makes a wrong move, the Turk reluctantly knocks on this table with his right hand, which is lying on the table next to the chessboard, shakes his head and utters a sound of displeasure . When the Turk had won a game, Herr Maelzel opened the machine like clockwork by means of a crank attached to the side of the table, then the Turk seized a jumper and performed the so-called knight jump with it. The whole machine stands on 4 rollers and is very easily lifted from one side of the room to the other. While the Turk is playing his game of chess, Mr. Maelzel stands by; but one cannot at all notice in what way he guides its movements. It was said that Mr. Maelzel was negotiating the sale of the chess player with the landlord of the National Hotel, in which he was showing his machines, and had already received a bid of 19,000 dollars. After Mr. Maelzel had pushed the chess player back, he showed us a small figure cut out of cardboard, representing a violoncello player who moves his head and both hands. Herr Maelzel plays several pieces on the pianoforte, and the little figure accompagnies with the violoncello according to the beat. Then he showed us a life-size trumpeter who performs several pieces on the trumpet very masterfully and accompagnies Herr Maelzel, who plays the pianoforte, with the trumpet. I had already seen this trumpeter in Vienna in 1809, just as I remembered having seen the chess player in 1812 in Milan, in the palace of the then viceroy of Italy. Finally, Mr. Maelzel showed us three small  automatons 1 1 ⁄ 2  feet high; one represented a little girl who, if you moved your arm, called Maman, the other a Pierret who made faces and oh la la! called. This and another smaller figure were put on a rope and made rope swivel pieces. "

    In: Heinrich Luden (Ed.): Sr. Highness of Duke Bernhard's journey to Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach through North America in the years 1825 and 1826. Wilhelm Hoffmann, Weimar 1828, pp. 254, 255, books.google.at

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Finally laurel for the inventor of the metronome . In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung , July 28, 2016, p. 25
  2. ↑ "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. ”In: Morgenblatt für educated estates. Volume 1. JG Cotta'sche, 1807, pp. 411-412. books.google.at
  3. ↑ "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 rest of the entrance. ”In: Kunst- und Gewerbeblatt des Polytechnisches Verein für das Kingdom Bayern. Volume 4, 1818, pp. 223-228. books.google.at
  4. ↑ Encyclopedia of the Entire Musical Sciences, or Universal Lexicon of the Art of Music. Volume 4, 1841, p. 510. books.google.at
  5. ^ The New England Magazine. Volume 6, 1834, p. 30. books.google.at
  6. ^ Pleikard Joseph Stumpf: Memorable Bavaria: Brief descriptions of the lives of deceased deserving men who were born in the territories of the current Kingdom of Bavaria or who belonged to it through a longer stay. Rieger, Munich 1865, p. 128. books.google.at
  7. ^ Eduard Hanslick : History of concerts in Vienna. Vienna 1869, Volume 1: “In the field of musical automatons, the mechanic Joh. Nepomuk Mälzel 1), the famous inventor of the metronome, came first. He produced his “mechanical trumpeter” in Vienna in 1809 (which gave the impetus for Kanfmann's perfect trumpeter automaton in Dresden), then repeatedly in later years (last in 1828 in Augarten) his “trumpet machine” composed of thirty-six trumpets. Another mechanic, Bauer, visited Vienna in 1829 with his "Orchestrion". Later only Mrs. Kaufmann had success with similar instruments and musical works, namely with his excellent "Harmonichord" (a clavir-like keyboard instrument) and the "Chordaulodion" (flute string suction). In general, attention has quickly waned, and the numerous fantasy instruments listed above were lost except for their names in 1830. ” books.google.at
  8. ^ Augsburgische Ordinari postal newspaper. Nro. 273, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 1809, p. 1 f.
  9. ↑ Bayerische Nationalzeitung , October 11, 1809, p. 992 f., Books.google.de
  10. ↑ Cf. Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon
  11. ↑ Gottfried Wilhelm Fink : The musical tutor, or theoretical-practical guide for all who want to train themselves in the art of music, namely in piano playing, singing and harmony. 1846. books.google.at
  12. ^ General musical newspaper. Volume 5, 1870, Friedrich Rochlitz, p. 129. books.google.at
  13. ↑ Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne (Eds.): American magazine of useful and entertaining knowledge . Volume 3, 1837, p. 194. books.google.at
  14. ^ Daniel Willard Fiske: The Book of the first American Chess Congress: Containing the Proceedings of that celebrated Assemblage, held in New York, in the Year 1857. pp. 420–483 books.google.at
  15. ↑ Mr. Willig "the pepery gentleman". In: Musical world. Volumes 11–13, June 1855, p. 86 (online)
  16. ↑ Musikalienhandel, Mr. Willig nestor of the trade. In: American musical directory. 1861, p. 15. books.google.at
  17. ↑ “On December 31, 1851, the museum was burned, with the entire contents of Lee & Walker's store, and by a singular coincidence the death of Mr. Willighis eighty-eighth year, took place at the same hour when his accumulations of a … ”In: American literary gazette and publishers' circular. Volume 17. Charles R. Rode, George W. Childs, 1871.
  18. ^ Daniel Willard Fiske: The Book of the first American Chess Congress: Containing the Proceedings of that celebrated Assemblage. New York 1857, pp. 459-466 books.google.at
  19. ↑ Mälzl and his musical art . In: Vaterländische Blätter , Vol. 1, No. 14 ( Wikisource )
  20. ↑ Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne (Eds.): American magazine of useful and entertaining knowledge. Volume 3, 1837, p. 196. books.google.at
personal data
SURNAME Mälzel, Johann Nepomuk
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German inventor and mechanic
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH regensburg
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1838
Place of death La Guaira , Venezuela