The Age of the Music Box
by John A. Pfirrmann
PCHS Publication - Volume 1969 - Number 2
From the earliest beginning, man has been aware of, and responsive to, the sounds around him made by simple things.
The wind rustling through trees, the sounds of birds, waves splashing against a shore, or the rippling of a brook, all challenged man to imitatethem and create his own noises. Even the early cave man must haveneeded some form of expressing his emotions, and perhaps his first rhythms were developed from a dull but timed beat of stone against stone.
Following through the centuries, one finds man using animal skinsto form a bellows-type instrument on which he would beat to obtain sound,or blowing through reeds fashioned from dry plants or weeds.
In still another era (and still being done in some remote parts ofthe world today), man hollowed-out logs and bamboo poles on which he couldproduce different rhythmic tones to which he could dance, giving vent tohis emotions.
Many centuries later, bells were run to summon man to meetings, battle,worship, and as warnings of danger. Long before clocks had dials,bells rang out the time, so we are now relatively certain that it was inthe early bell tower that automatic music was first conceived sometimein the fourteenth century.
It was the watchmaker who recognized the opportunities and furtherapplications. The theory was that if large hammers driven by thetower clock could strike the bells, why could tiny hammers not strike smallbells in a watch. The idea was picked up by two German inventors,Hasler and Heinlein, who presented Emperor Rudolf II with the first trulyautomatic musical clock in 1601. Edward Barlow invented the firstrepeater watch, and in 1730, Anton Ketterer produced the first cuckoo clockin the Black Forest of Germany.
To Switzerland however, we owe the music box. No one knowsfor certain who invented the first music box movement, but for the mostpart, it is believed that Louis Favre, a watchmaker from Geneva, was responsiblefor making the first unit in the eighteenth century. It was the Swisswho were responsible for making musical boxes a thriving industry in theirland – an industry which today still ranks high among collectors. As early as 1770, Swis s watchmakers were setting small musical movementsinto watch cases, using a small tuned-steel comb played by pins or pegs set in a cylinder or disc. By 1880, they were making tiny music boxeswith from 15 to 25 teeth tuned to scale, screwed separately into positionon the comb, and played upon by steel pins set in a brass disc. These first music boxes played only the simplest of airs.
The “key wind” was the next largest unit which played approximatelyfour to six tunes and by 1815, specialized music box makers had appearedon the scene. They improved on the early form of small units by enhancingthe beauty of the case as well as adding more teeth to the comb, thus producinggar greater sound, much more pleasing to the ear. It was found thatmahogany and oak would deadened sound, therefore the woods favored forthe cases were rosewood and walnut with zinc, brass, and mother-of-pearlused for inlay work. Some of the known specialists of this time were Recordou, Junod, Nicole Freres and Moise-Aubert of Geneva.
In 1840, a new development called the “rachet wind” appeared. This box played anywhere from six to twelve tunes per cylinder. Inthe Ste. Croix district of Geneva the music box industry prospered. Labor was cheap and material inexpensive. A flat piece of metal cutto the approximate size desired was given to the transposer of the musicwho would cut into the metal the lines (leger lines of music) and pinpointthe notes necessary for the scale. When finished, the marked-up metalwas given to various Swiss homes where the girls would drill the many fineholes to be pinned. This done, the metal was then sent to orphanages where the young charges inserted small metal pins in the openings. The final step was by the Swiss craftsman who would take the metal andform it into the cylinder. He would cement the pins in place and seal up the ends to produce the musical cylinder which was then placed into the box so it could operate at hundreds of revolutions per minute.
Many new developments took place in years to follow and as new competition sprang up, various companies made forced changes in order to stay in business. They added more teeth to the comb for better tonal quality and harmony;they also added zithers, bells, castanets, drums, and cymbals. Infact, so much was added to the boxes that the price became prohibitiveand the cylinder type box was gradually going out of business due to overimprovement.
The death-knell of the cylinder type music box gave way to a new form of musical box, the disc-box. In 1885, Paul Lochmann of Liepzig,Germany introduced a musical box playing circular cardboard discs.
The revolving discs were struck with goose quills to produce thedesired effect. This patent was first put on the market in 1886 andknown as the Symphonion. The Polyphon Music Works, also of Liepzig,offered immediate competition and improved so much on the original thatthey far surpassed the Symphonion Corporation in quality. Both ofthese companies kept the music box industry alive, but in so doing, they still had to turn to Switzerland for their fine comb makers. Both companies were involved in making small nursery boxes, clocks, coin-in-the-slotmachines, and many other types of boxes.
Like much else in life, success can be imitated, and it was truewith the disc-type boxes. Many new companies came into existenceovernight such as Calliope, Monopol, Komet, Gloria, Celesta, and the Triumph. It made no difference to Symphonion and Polyphon however, because they still prospered and remained far superior in the field.
Inthe year 1899, the Polyphon Music Box Factory sent workers and equipmentto America to form what was to be known as the Regina Company of Rahway. It was under the inventive leadership of Gustave Brachausen that the industrycontinued to prosper after being transplanted, and it was through him thatmusic could be brought into homes because the price per box was not prohibitive and could be purchased in any size from a four-inch disc type to a twenty-seveninch automatic coin-operated box.
As the disc-type box continued to prosper in America, business boomed,and people by the score were hired to manufacture them. But – “Maryhad a little lamb” – these words, uttered by a Mr. Thomas Alva Edison,marked the death of the music box industry. It was Edison’s inventionof the talking machine in 1878, which created the first turmoil among manufacturersof music boxes. The machine which could produce voices (not well,but nevertheless, recognizable voices) was designed originally for commercialpurposes but soon gave way to entertainment.
The Regina Company, realizing Edison’s machine meant doom, took immediate steps to improve existing machines, and came up with the first automatic disc-changing machine – The King of the Music Boxes. It offered the truly finest reproduced musical could ever heard.
Edison kept improving the Quality of his wax records while Brachausenof the Regina Company was looking for some means to compete. In 1903,Brachausen finally invented a device which would allow his machine to playnot only the metal disc-type records, but also the new flat type wax recordingsas well. The Regina became known as the Regina-phone, and kept the Polyphon factory going full swing for at least another 19 years.
The ever-inventive genius of Edison continued to make improvementsin the phonograph, and with the Victor Talking Machine, the era of themusic box ended.
If one is fortunate today, he may have one of the prized music boxes,or have had the pleasure of hearing the music of other years in the homesof collectors. Even now (1971), some metal records are being madefor those fortunate enough to own music boxes. Man does not forgetthe past too readily, even while trying to see the ultimate in perfectionin many kinds of machines that now produce and reproduce music. Wehave a tremendous variety of entertainments, but music still plays a majorpart in most of them.
It is interesting to note that even though the invention of the phonographended the great period of music boxes, because of constant improvementsmade by Edison, and especially Victor, the music of the antique boxes,both cylinder and disc-type, can still be heard on modern wax recordings,and in all their richness, thanks to hi-fi and stero. Thus the verything responsible for the death of the music box industry is responsiblefor its revival. Today you may buy music box recordings, as wellas toy pianos, key rings, jewel cases, dancing dolls, toy banks, and similarobjects in unimaginable variety – all musical, and all because one daylong ago a watchmaker first created a tune by making small hammers strikeagainst tiny bells.
(Mr. Pfirrman, a collector of musical boxes anda dealer of fine arts wrote the above article in 1971.)
LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL MUSIC DISKS FROM THE 1880's - PLAYED ON THE BIRD CAGE THEATER MUSIC BOX
IPOD COMPATIBLE
