Technical Marvels, Part 6: Musical Automatons

Historic music machines are among the most magnificent automatons. They delighted visitors to fairgrounds, played in inns and railroad stations, and entertained passengers on huge ocean liners. Many devices are still fully functional today. They range from tiny singing birds, music boxes, barrel organs, flute-playing clocks and mechanical violins to self-playing pianos and huge organs. A short journey back in time to the world of analog music. Music automatons have survived in numerous museums.

The most famous musical automaton figures can be found in Paris and Neuchâtel (Switzerland). Peter Kintzing created his dulcimer player (see Fig. 1) in collaboration with David Roentgen.

Fig. 1: Dulcimer player (1784). The dulcimer player by Peter Kintzing uses tiny hammers for the dulcimer. She moves her head and eyes, but not her upper body. The control mechanism is not located in the automaton figure, but underneath it.
Credit: Musée des arts et métiers/Cnam, Paris, image: Pascal Faligot

The three Jaquet-Droz automated figures, including the musician (see Fig. 2), are regularly presented to the public in Neuchâtel (Switzerland).

Fig. 2: Musician (1774). The automaton figure built by Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz operates the keys of the flute-playing organ with her fingers. She plays five pieces of music, which were probably composed by the clockmaker himself.
Credit: Musée d’art et d’histoire, Neuchâtel

The Swiss clockmakers Pierre Jaquet-Droz and Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz are regarded as the inventors of the singing bird (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Automated singing birds (1780). Precision mechanical singing birds once adorned many snuff boxes.
Credit: Reuge SA, Sainte-Croix VD

Mechanical singing birds in cage automatons were particularly popular (see Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Songbird in cage automaton, made by Blaise Bontems, Paris, France, circa 1900–1910. After winding the object is operated from a lever on the side of the base. “The bird sings, opening and closing its beak and moving its head from side to side as its tail also rises and falls,” Science Museum Group, London,
Credit: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Music boxes (see Figs. 5–7) were widespread.

Fig. 5: Mechanical singing bird box, Geneva, Switzerland, circa 1820. “When wound up, the bird turns and flutters its wings while music plays. These “singing bird” boxes were especially popular in the East.
Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Fig. 6: The tambour timbres vue cylinder-operated music box, with a selection of eight melodies (Sainte-Croix VD, around 1895). The bells and drum enhance the range of sounds.
Credit: Museum für Musikautomaten, Seewen SO

Fig. 7: The Voix céleste cylinder-operated music box. The music box has swing-through tongues. This section shows the brass cylinders and the two sound combs. The Geneva clockmaker Antoine Favre invented the steel rib in 1796.
Credit: Museum für Musikautomaten, Seewen SO

Disc musical boxes (see Fig. 8) are easier to manufacture than cylinder music boxes.

Fig. 8: The Edelweiss disc-type music box. This device from the Thorens company (Sainte-Croix VD) is equipped with a coin slot. The sound recording medium is a steel plate.
Credit: Museum für Musikautomaten, Seewen SO

Barrel organs (see Fig. 9) still enliven streets and squares today.

Fig 9: Barrel organ (1991) by Franz Oehrlein, barrel organ and automaton maker from Mainz, Germany.
Credit Museum für Musikautomaten, Seewen SO

Many mechanical musicians (see Fig. 10) are still in working order.

Fig. 10: Automaton figure, clown, Vichy, Paris, circa 1878.
Credit: Museum für Musikautomaten, Seewen SO

The Hupfeld violins (see Fig. 11) were considered a technical marvel.

Fig. 11: Phonoliszt violin (1908). The pneumatic self-playing violin made by Ludwig Hupfeld AG, Leipzig, consists of a piano and three violins. The Hupfeld violin is controlled by a perforated paper roll.
Credit: Technisches Museum Wien

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the museums, especially the Museum für Musikautomaten in Seewen, Switzerland, for providing high-quality photos.

References

This post is based on:

Bruderer, Herbert: Meilensteine der Rechentechnik, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin/Boston, 3^rd edition 2020, volume 1, 970 pages, 577 figures, 114 tables, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110669664

Bruderer, Herbert: Meilensteine der Rechentechnik, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin/Boston, 3^rd edition 2020, volume 2, 1055 pages, 138 figures, 37 tables, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110669671

Bruderer, Herbert: Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing, Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Cham, 3^rd edition 2020, 2 volumes, 2113 pages, 715 illustrations, 151 tables, translated from the German by Dr John McMinn, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40974-6

Herbert Bruderer is a retired lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich and a historian of technology. He recently was added to the Honor Roll of the IT History Society.