Last Updated: 10/8/2008

     

"Barrel Organ: The Story Of The Mechanical Organ And Its Repair," by Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume. Published in 1978 by A. S. Barnes and Co., New York. First Edition. Hard cover with dust jacket, 567 pages with nearly 150 drawings and over 100 photographs. The book measures 10 inches (25.2 cm) high by 7˝ inches (19.2 cm) wide.

Text from the dustjacket is as follows:

" Writings on the organ abound and books on the history of the organ—how to play it, how to listen to it, and even how to build it—are quite numerous. However, one aspect of the organ has hitherto remained more or less neglected. One whole section of the history and development of the organ remains in the twilight. This huge oversight is the mechanical or barrel organ, which played so great a part in church music in the early days and, later, was to become a king in its own right in the field of secular music.

Mr. Ord-Hume, a noted scholar in the collecting and repair of musical boxes and player pianos, has compiled in this one volume the most comprehensive historical, mechanical, and musical analysis of the barrel organ to the present day. Thus, the twilight and neglect are no more.

In detailed chapters, Mr. Ord-Hume outlines the steps in the restoration of barrel organs and player organs, as well as including a list of makers, agents, and patentees, and tuning scales for mechanical organs. Catalogues of player organs, show organs, and Flight and Robson auctions are treated in separate sections.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the organ acquired a stature both in ornamentation and tonality that justly earned it its regal connotation. The Renaissance brought with it yet greater sensitivity of purpose that engendered the creation of organs worthy of Balzac's eulogy: "The organ is in truth the grandest, the most daring, the most magnificent of all instruments invented by human genius."

Seeking to continue that tradition and appreciation, The Barrel Organ will rejuvenate and enlighten the world of organs and music with this thorough study of a little-known area of musicology.

Lavishly illustrated with nearly 150 drawings and over one hundred photographs, The Barrel Organ will become an essential book for any serious organist and organ enthusiast as well as for anyone with an interest in music and its development. "


TABLE OF CONTENTS:
List Of Plates
List Of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
  1. The Mechanical Organ
  2. The Primitive Mechanical Organ
  3. The Development of the Barrel Organ: Part 1
  4. The Development of the Barrel Organ: Part 2
  5. The Flute-Playing Clock
  6. Organs of the Street
  7. Pneumatic Player Organs
  8. Book Music and the Show Organ
  9. Restoring the Barrel Organ
  10. Restoring the Player Organ
  11. How Organ Barrels Are Pinned
  12. A List of Makers, Agents and Inventors
Appendices
  1. Flight & Robson Auction Catalogue
  2. Mechanical Organ Tuning Scales
  3. Catalogue of Instruments Issued
    by Walcker of Germany in or about 1907
  4. Catalogue of Instruments Issued
    by Wellershaus of Germany in or about 1900
Peroration
Bibliography
Index
    LIST OF PLATES:
    Frontispiece: The author with the Componium
  1. Salzburg castle barrel organ
  2. Mechanism of Schlottheim's Tower of Babylon
  3. Music wheel of the Tower of Babylon
  4. Organ from Schlottheim's Bethlehem Crib
  5. Organ pinned with Mozart's K 616
  6. Maria Leszczinska's barrel organ
  7. Early eighteenth-century marquetry serinette
  8. Davrainville clockwork organ
  9. Davrainville trumpet fanfare automaton
  10. French mid-nineteenth century perroquet
  11. A fifteen-key barrel organ in the London Museum
  12. Small Viennese table organ
  13. Clockwork barrel organ made by Ignaz Schoepperle
  14. Empire-style clockwork organ by D N Winkel
  15. Single-wheel clockwork organ made by D N Winkel
  16. The barrel of the Winkel organ
  17. French chamber barrel organ by Chomassin
  18. Early English barrel organ by van Kamp
  19. Tune list on van Kamp barrel organ
  20. Small barrel organs made by Wedlake and Fentum
  21. Chamber barrel organs made by Meyer and by Clementi
  22. Sheraton-style barrel organ by Longman
  23. Barrel organ made by Pistor
  24. A seventeen-key chamber barrel organ
  25. James Davis barrel organ
  26. Three chamber barrel organs from the author's collection
  27. Details of barrel organ by John Longman
  28. Longman & Broderip barrel organ
  29. Barrel organs by Lincoln and by T C Bates
  30. Barrel organ in Hampton Gay Church
  31. Remains of a large barrel organ at Piddinghoe
  32. Sydney Armstrong, barrel-organist of Shelland Church
  33. Barrel and finger organ
  34. Large Joseph Davis barrel and finger organ
  35. Detail of the barrel of the Davis organ
  36. Details of the Davis barrel and finger organ
  37. Barrel and finger organ made by Flight & Co
  38. The barrel and keyframe of the Leigh Court Hospital organ
  39. Details of the Flight barrel and finger organ
  40. Dumb organist made by Walker
  41. Dumb organist in place on organ keyboard
  42. Barrel and finger harmonium by Fourneaux
  43. Viennese barrel and finger harmonium
  44. Organ clock made by George Pyke
  45. Large organ clock made by Charles Clay
  46. Small French table organ clock
  47. Twelve-tune clockwork table organ
  48. Louis XVI organ clock in Carrara marble
  49. Organ clock made by George Lindsay
  50. Organ clock made by George Hewitt of Marlborough
  51. Eight-tune organ clock by Pierre Jaquet-Droz
  52. Small French clockwork organ from a secretaire a abattant
  53. Black Forest trumpeter clock mechanism
  54. Black Forest flute-playing clock
  55. English pagoda clock with Chinese music
  56. The Componium made by D N Winkel
  57. The clockwork mechanism of the Componium
  58. The wind department of the Componium
  59. The barrels for the Componium
  60. How the two barrels fit into the Componium
  61. The percussion portion of the Componium
  62. Imhof & Mukle Euterpeon
  63. The barrel and keyframe of the Euterpeon
  64. Early Imhof & Mukle drawing-room barrel organ
  65. Windchest of the Imhof & Mukle orchestrion
  66. Very large Imhof & Mukle orchestrion
  67. Barrel and keyframe details of the Imhof & Mukle orchestrion
  68. Detail of the clockwork in the Imhof & Mukle orchestrion
  69. Welte Cottage Orchestrion
  70. Imhof & Mukle barrel organ converted to electrical power
  71. Imhof & Mukle dance orchestrion
  72. Philipps Paganini piano orchestrion
  73. Street music in 1870
  74. White & Langshaw street barrel organ
  75. German street barrel organ with automaton dancing figures
  76. Detail of mechanism of the German street barrel organ
  77. Street barrel organ made by Netschada in Odessa
  78. Street barrel organ made by Netschada in Odessa
  79. Street barrel harmonium
  80. The Autophone organette
  81. The Gem Roller Organette and Concert Grand
  82. Large organette with foot treadles and paper music
  83. Organette made for children—Country Inn Amorette
  84. Ehrlich Ariston organette
  85. The Ariosa organette with annular discs
  86. The Clariophone organette
  87. The Musical Cabinetto organette
  88. Early player reed organ—the Phoneon
  89. Aeolian forty-six-note player reed organ
  90. Aeolian Grand suction reed organ
  91. Aeolian Orchestrelle Model XW
  92. Aeolian Pipe Organ
  93. Duo-Art console for Aeolian Pipe Organ
  94. Console of two-manual Duo-Art and manual organ
  95. Butchart Gardens Duo-Art Aeolian Pipe Organ
  96. Large two-manual Aeolian Pipe Organ
  97. Two Aeolian Pipe Organ installations
  98. Consoles of two Austin player pipe organs
  99. Console of three-manual Austin player organ and Aeolian-Hammond electric organ
  100. Welte Philharmonic Organ at Harrods
  101. Welte Philharmonic Organ at British Piano Museum
  102. Fair and dance organs by Mortier, Ruth and Gavioli
  103. 112-note keyless Gavioliphone
  104. Bruder organ sold in Philadelphia by Eifler
  105. Dance organ pipework and continuous music hopper
  106. Arburo dance organ
  107. Imhof & Mukle dance organ and steam calliope
  108. Amsterdam street organ
  109. De Klok street organ in Amsterdam
  110. 101-key Mortier dance organ, the Taj Mahal
  111. Musical box playing reed organ by Bendon
  112. Orchestral musical box with reed organ
  113. Musical box reed organ mechanism
  114. Amabile clockwork organette
  115. Mechanical singing bird by Bruguier
    LIST OF FIGURES:
  1. Dallam's organ for the Sultan
  2. A street organ-grinder
  3. The Bahu Musa automatic organ
  4. Robert Fludd alias De Fluctibus
  5. Kircher's principles of notation and pinning
  6. Early notions for mechanically-operated organs
  7. The English barrel organ
  8. Church barrel organ
  9. The "roar" mechanism of the Salzburg Stier
  10. Hans Leo Hassler
  11. The Pomeranian Cabinet
  12. The trade card of Benjamin Flight
  13. The mechanism of a small barrel organ
  14. Ledger entry for a barrel and finger organ
  15. Two case designs for the Earl of Bute
  16. Front view of Flight & Robson's organ built for the Earl of Kirkwall
  17. Side elevation of the Kirkwall organ
  18. Details of the Kirkwall instrument
  19. Key frame details of the Kirkwall organ
  20. Flight & Robson's trade card
  21. A notice advertising an early (1818) concert on the Apollonicon
  22. A notice from 1920 showing the mechanical performance of the Apollonicon
  23. Apollonicon notice, 1827
  24. Apollonicon notice, 1832
  25. Apollonicon notice, 1833
  26. Apollonicon notice, 1835
  27. Artist's conception of the Apollonicon
  28. Side elevation of the Apollonicon
  29. Front elevation of the Apollonicon
  30. Automatic stop-selection of the Apollonicon
  31. Barrel attachment frame
  32. Combination pedals
  33. Extract from the overture Die Freischutz
  34. Stop sliders for the Apollonicon
  35. Admittance ticket to the Apollonicon Rooms
  36. Notice regarding the Apollonicon at the Royal Apollonicon Music Hall, Strand
  37. Tuba Mirabilis pipe
  38. Programme of music played on the Apollonicon at the Royal Music Hall
  39. The Colosseum in Regent's Park
  40. Bevington's Apollonicon at the Royal Cyclorama
  41. Bevington's organ in the Glyptotheca
  42. List of organs advertised as made by Bevington
  43. The Polytechnic Institute
  44. Map of Europe in 1851
  45. The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, 1851
  46. Wehrle & Steuert's Self-Acting Organ
  47. Dawson's Autophon improved organ
  48. Spiegelhalter's Euterpion
  49. Kleyser's Euterpeon
  50. Advertisements by Flight and by Robson
  51. The International Exhibition of 1862
  52. Welte's twin-barrel orchestrion
  53. Imhof's twin-barrel orchestrion
  54. An account for making a church barrel organ
  55. Twin-barrel residence organ by Wedlake
  56. Leopold Mukle's Yacht Orchestrions
  57. Wedlake's atmospheric engine
  58. Wedlake's advertisement
  59. Serinette or bird-organ advertised by Thibouville-Lamy
  60. Constructional details of the serinette
  61. Thibouville-Lamy's small barrel organs
  62. Mirecourt-made French barrel organs
  63. Large-size Thibouville-Lamy barrel organs
  64. Kaufmann's Chordaulodion
  65. Kaufmann's Orchestrion
  66. Kaufmann's Acoustic Cabinet in Dresden
  67. Gurk's Panharmonicon
  68. Two programmes advertising Gurk's concerts
  69. The two Panharmonicons made by Maelzel
  70. Winkel's single-key stop change system
  71. The theory of the Componium
  72. Orchestrion organs by Welte and Losche
  73. Imhof & Mukle two-key stop change system
  74. Welte's patent for pneumatic action
  75. Welte pneumatic action for orchestrions
  76. Stop-selection on the Welte orchestrion
  77. Reed organ mechanism in a cylinder musical box
  78. Mechanism of the Black Forest organ clock
  79. The Strasburg Clock
  80. Green's Lichfield clock at Spring Gardens
  81. Bridges' Microcosm
  82. Jacob Lovelace's clock
  83. The mechanism of the cuckoo clock
  84. Section through a typical street organ
  85. Street organs by Imhof and Thibouville-Lamy
  86. Gavioli's Stratarmonica
  87. Mamert Hock's book-playing street organ
  88. Section through a street barrel harmonium
  89. The bellows of a street organ
  90. Debain's Antiphonel keyboard player
  91. Details of the mechanism of the Antiphonel
  92. Systems of operation used in organettes
  93. Types of McTammany organette
  94. Different types of organette
  95. The Verdi Manopan and the Kalliston-Pankalon
  96. Advertisement showing fan-disc Ariston
  97. An early roll-playing reed organ
  98. Different types of Angelus player organ
  99. Two player organs—the Orchestrelle and the Rushworth player pipe organ
  100. Table of music roll perforations and widths
  101. The principles of automatic music-roll tracking
  102. Vincent Willis's attenuated air organ
  103. Seeburg photo-player or cinema organ
  104. Limonaire Brothers' advertisement, 1889
  105. Street organ pipework
  106. Types of street organ drum motor
  107. Book-playing organ keyframe
  108. Keyless organ keyframe
  109. Show organ stop selection mechanism
  110. The Calliope or steam-organ
  111. The proper sizes to drill screw holes
  112. Types of bellows spring
  113. The proper way to sharpen an expanding bit
  114. Details of organ soundboard and chest
  115. Steps in covering pallets
  116. Different types of pneumatic motor
  117. The correct way to form and fit pallet springs
  118. Types of organ bellows and their constructional details
  119. Steps in recovering organ bellows
  120. The organ keyframe and its adjustments
  121. Extending the speaking length of a wooden pipe
  122. Repairing and renovating metal pipework
  123. Nomograph for calculating dimensions of organ pipe tuning slides
  124. Types of organ reed
  125. Reed suction test box
  126. Types of organ reciprocator
  127. Types of barrel organ percussion linkages
  128. Adding a cross member to the organ case
  129. Repairing damaged barrel cog teeth
  130. The effect of bent barrel pins
  131. Marking wheelwork prior to dismantling
  132. Orchestrion side drum striker mechanism
  133. Barrel harmonium—German action
  134. Operation of pneumatic stops on the Orchestrelle
  135. System of the suction-model Orchestrelle
  136. How the pressure model Orchestrelle works
  137. System diagram of the pressure Orchestrelle
  138. The two-manual Aeolian Orchestrelle system
  139. Pouch boards showing how to repair cups
  140. Barrel-pinning tools and equipment
  141. Using dials for barrel-noting
  142. Complete pinning instructions for the tune Barcelonette
  143. Barrel-noter's marks for pinning
  144. Flight's Micrometer for barrel-noting


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