Music box

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The Symphonium company started business in 1885 as the first manufacturers of disc-playing music boxes. Two of the founders of the company, Gustave Brachhausen and Paul Riessner, left to set up a new firm, Polyphon, in direct competition with their original business and their third partner, Oscar Paul Lochmann. Following the establishment of the Original Musikwerke Paul Lochmann in 1900, the founding Symphonion business continued until 1909.{{Cite web|url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/2771|title=A Brief History of the Symphonion Company|website=Museums Victoria Collections}}

According to the Victoria Museums in Australia, "The Symphonion is notable for the enormous diversity of types, styles, and models produced... No other disc-playing musical box exists in so many varieties. The company also pioneered the use of electric motors... the first model fitted with an electric motor being advertised in 1900. The company moved into the piano-orchestrion business and made both disc-operated and barrel-playing models, player-pianos, and phonographs."

Meanwhile, Polyphon expanded to America, where Brachhausen established the Regina Company. Regina was a spectacular success. It eventually reinvented itself as a maker of vacuums and steam cleaners.{{fact|date=April 2022}}

In the heyday of the music box, some variations were as tall as a grandfather clock and all used interchangeable large disks to play different sets of tunes. These were spring-wound and driven and both had a bell-like sound. The machines were often made in England, Italy, and the US, with additional disks made in Switzerland, Austria, and Prussia. Early "juke-box" pay versions of them existed in public places. Marsh's free Museum and curio shop in Long Beach, Washington (US) has several still-working versions of them on public display. The Musical Museum, Brentford, London has a number of machines.{{cite web |url=http://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/page22.html |title=Origins of Automatic Music |access-date=2011-05-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426035303/http://musicalmuseum.co.uk/page22.html |archive-date=2011-04-26}} The Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, USA has a notable collection, including interactive exhibits. In addition to video and audio footage of each piece, the actual instruments are demonstrated for the public daily on a rotational basis.{{Cite web|url=http://morrismuseum.org/wordpress/mechanical-musical-instruments-automata/|title=morrismuseum.org}}

9th century: In Baghdad, the Banū Mūsā brothers, a trio of Persian inventors, produced "the earliest known mechanical musical instrument", in this case a hydropowered organ which played interchangeable cylinders automatically, which they described in their Book of Ingenious Devices. According to Charles B. Fowler, this "cylinder with raised pins on the surface remained the basic device to produce and reproduce music mechanically until the second half of the nineteenth century."{{citation|title=The Museum of Music: A History of Mechanical Instruments|first=Charles B.|last=Fowler|journal=Music Educators Journal|volume=54|issue=2|date=October 1967| pages=45–49| doi=10.2307/3391092| publisher=MENC_ The National Association for Music Education| jstor=3391092|s2cid=190524140}}. Citation on p. 45.

Early 13th century: In Flanders, an ingenious bell ringer invented a cylinder with pins which operates cams, which then hit the bells.

1598: Flemish clockmaker Nicholas Vallin produced a wall-mounted clock which has a pinned barrel playing on multiple tuned bells mounted in the superstructure. The barrel can be programmed, as the pins can be separately placed in the holes provided on the surface of the barrel.In the Collections of the British Museum (M.L. Antiquities Dept. Ilbert collection)

1665: Ahasuerus Fromanteel in London mades a table clock which has quarter striking and musical work on multiple bells operated by a pinned barrel. These barrels could be changed for those playing different tunes.Horological Masterworks Exhibition AHS 2003 Catalogue No.14

1772: A watch was made by one Ransonet at Nancy, France which has a pinned drum, playing music not on bells but on tuned steel prongs arranged vertically.Sotheby's Auction Masterpieces from the Time Museum June 19, 2002 Lot 73

1796: Antoine Favre-Salomon, a clockmaker from Geneva replaced the stack of bells by a comb with multiple pre-tuned metallic notes in order to reduce space. Together with a horizontally placed pinned barrel, this produced more varied and complex sounds. One of these first music boxes is now displayed at the Shanghai Gallery of Antique Music Boxes and Automata in Pudong's Oriental Art Center.[http://en.shoac.com.cn/Content.asp?nrID=141 en.shoac.com.cn], "Antique Music Box Gallery", accessed 18 Dec 2014.

1877: Thomas Edison invents the phonograph, which has important consequences for the musical-box industry, especially around the end of the century.{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/|title=History of the Cylinder Phonograph|publisher=Library of Congress|language=en-US|access-date=June 1, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1999143_1999210,00.html |magazine=Time |title=The Incredible Talking Machine |author=Stross, Randall |language=en-US|date=June 23, 2010 |access-date=June 1, 2022}}

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In 2010 American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny released the album Orchestrion on which he performed alongside a variety of custom-designed and built acoustic and electromechanical orchestrions which comprised the rest of the "band", playing music in real-time through the MIDI file format.{{Cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/orchestrion-mw0001950634 |title=Orchestrion - Pat Metheny | Album |publisher=AllMusic }}

In 1974–1975, German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen composed Tierkreis, a set of twelve pieces on the signs of the zodiac, for twelve music boxes.Peter Andraschke, "Kompositorische Tendenzen bei Karlheinz Stockhausen seit 1965", in Zur Neuen Einfachheit in der Musik, Studien zur Wertungsforschung 14, edited by Otto Kolleritsch, 126–43 (Vienna and Graz: Universal Edition [for the Institut für Wertungsforschung an der Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz], 1981). {{ISBN|3-7024-0153-9}}.Giuliano d'Angiolini, "Tierkreis, oeuvre pour instrument mélodique et/ou harmonique: un tournant dans le parcours musical de Stockhausen", Analyse Musicale (1989, 1er trimestre): 68–73.Hermann Conen, Formel-Komposition: Zu Karlheinz Stockhausens Musik der siebziger Jahre, Kölner Schriften zur Neuen Musik 1, edited by Johannes Fritsch and Dietrich Kämper. (Mainz: Schott's Söhne, 1991). {{ISBN|3-7957-1890-2}}.Wilfried Gruhn, "'Neue Einfachheit'? Zu Karlheinz Stockhausens Melodien des Tierkreis", in Reflexionen uber Musik heute: Texte und Analysen, edited by Wilfried Gruhn, 185–202 (Mainz, London, New York, and Tokyo: B. Schott's Söhne, 1981. {{ISBN|3-7957-2648-4}}.Jerome Kohl, "The Evolution of Macro- and Micro-Time Relations in Stockhausen’s Recent Music", Perspectives of New Music 22 (1983–84): 147–85, citation on 148.Michael Kurtz, Stockhausen: A Biography, translated by Richard Toop (London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1992). {{ISBN|0-571-14323-7}} (cloth) {{ISBN|0-571-17146-X}} (pbk).Gallus Oberholzer, "Karlheinz Stockhausen komponierte 12 Melodien speziell für Spieldosen", Das mechanische Musikinstrument: Journal der Gesellschaft für selbstspielende Musikinstrumente 12, no. 46 (December 1988): 49.Christel Stockhausen, "Stockhausens Tierkreis: Einführung und Hinweise zur praktischen Aufführung" Melos 45 / Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 139 (July–August 1978): 283–87.

• Barrel organ
• Cuckoo clock
• Graphophone
• Musical clock
• Player piano
• Singing bird box
• Shanghai Gallery of Antique Music Boxes and Automata
• The Musical Museum, Brentford, London, England has several examples by makers including Nicole Frères, Regina and Popper which may be seen and heard.

{{Reflist}}

• Bahl, Gilbert. Music Boxes: The Collector's Guide to Selecting, Restoring and Enjoying New and Vintage Music Boxes. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press, 1993.
• Bowers, Q. David. Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments. {{ISBN|0-911572-08-2}}. Lanham, Maryland: Vestal Press, Inc., 1972.
• Diagram Group. Musical Instruments of the World. New York: Facts on File, 1976.
• Ganske, Sharon. Making Marvelous Music Boxes. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 1997.
• Greenhow, Jean. Making Musical Miniatures. London: B T Batsford, 1979.
• Hoke, Helen, and John Hoke. Music Boxes, Their Lore and Lure. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1957.
• {{Cite book | last=Ord-Hume | first=Arthur W. J. G. | title=Clockwork Music | publisher=Allen & Unwin | year=1973 | location=London | isbn=978-0-04-789004-8 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/clockworkmusicil0000ordh|ref=none}}
• Ord-Hume, Arthur W. J. G. The Musical Box: A Guide for Collectors. {{ISBN|0-88740-764-1}}. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1995.
• Reblitz, Arthur A. The Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments. {{ISBN|0-9705951-0-7}}. Woodsville, New Hampshire: Mechanical Music Press, 2001.
• Reblitz, Arthur A., Q. David Bowers. Treasures of Mechanical Music. {{ISBN|0-911572-20-1}}. New York: The Vestal Press, 1981.
• Sadie, Stanley. ed. "Musical Box". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. {{ISBN|1-56159-174-2}}. MacMillan. 1980. Vol 12. P. 814.
• Smithsonian Institution. History of Music Machines. {{ISBN|0-87749-755-9}}. New York: Drake Publishers, 1975.
• Templeton, Alec, as told to Rachael Bail Baumel. Alec Templeton's Music Boxes. New York: Wilfred Funk, 1958.

{{Commons category|Musical boxes}}

• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Musical-box|volume=19|ref=none}}
• Performance of [http://www.essl.at/works/listen-thing.html Listen Thing] and [http://www.essl.at/works/pandoras-secret.html Pandora's Secret] on a punched paper-tape controlled music box (video)
• [https://mbsi.org/glossary/ Musical Box Society International – Glossary of Terms]
• [https://musicboxmaniacs.com/ Music Box Maniacs] – a website dedicated to paper strip punch card music boxes

Videos

• [https://www.youtube.com/@musicalboxdotbe antique music boxes]

• [https://archive.org/details/Polyphon_Music_Box Polyphon Music Box, made app. 1850]
• [https://archive.org/details/MiraMusicBox-Sammy1903 Mira Music Box – Sammy 1903]
• [https://archive.org/details/MechanicalMusicBox-AuldLangSyne Mechanical Music Box – "Auld Lang Syne"]
• [https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/phonogrammarchiv/publications/audio-and-video-publications/mechanical-music/ Mechanical Music] from Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
• LP vinyl record: The Concert Regina Music Box and the Symphonium (1977, Nostalgia Repertoire Records – Sonic Arts Corporation, 665 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA. 94107, Curator: Leo de Gar Kulka, Record No. RR 4771 Stereo.)

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