View source for Orchestrion

{{Short description|Generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band}}
{{About||the album by Pat Metheny|Orchestrion (album)}}

{{about-distinguish-text|the general class of mainly pipe-based instruments|the [[Orchestron]], a 1970s keyboard instrument which used optical disc technology}}

[[File:1918 Seeburg Orchestrion.jpg|thumb|right|1918 [[Seeburg Corporation|Seeburg]] Orchestrion, "Style G", located at [[Clark's Trading Post]] in [[Lincoln, New Hampshire]]. Uses a ten-song [[piano roll|music roll]] and plays multiple wind, string, and percussion instruments.]]

'''Orchestrion''' is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an [[orchestra]] or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large [[barrel organ|pinned cylinder]] or by a [[music roll]] and less commonly [[book music]]. The sound is usually produced by pipes, though they will be voiced differently from those found in a [[pipe organ]], as well as percussion instruments. Many orchestrions contain a [[piano]] as well. At the [[Musical Museum, Brentford|Musical Museum]] in [[Brentford]], examples may be seen and heard of several of the instrument types described below.

It is confused by some with the steam-powered [[calliope (music)|calliope]], which was also used to produce music on period [[carousel]]s.  It used [[steam whistle]]s rather than [[organ pipe]]s to produce its principal sounds.  See also the similar [[fairground organ]].

==Types==
[[File:Welteorchestrion1862.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Illustrated London News, {{abbr|Sept.|September}} 20, 1862: the Orchestrion by [[Welte-Mignon|M. Welte]], of Vöhrenbach, in the [[Zollverein]] Département.]]

The name "orchestrion" has also been applied to several [[musical instrument]]s:

===Chamber organ===
A [[Organ (music)#Pipe organs|chamber organ]], designed by [[Georg Joseph Vogler]] (''Abbé Vogler'') in 1790, incorporated 900 pipes, 3 manuals of 63 keys each and 39 pedals in a space of {{convert|9|ft3|dm3|}}.{{sfn|Schlesinger|1911}}

===Pianoforte with organ pipe===
A [[pianoforte]] with [[organ pipe]]s attached, invented by [[:cs: Tomáš Antonín Kunz|Tomáš Antonín Kunz]] (1756–1830) of [[Prague]] in 1791. This orchestrion comprised two manuals of 65 keys and 25 pedals, all of which could be used either independently or coupled. There were 21 stops, 230 strings and 360 pipes which produced 105 different combinations. The [[bellows]] were worked either by hand or by machinery.{{sfn|Schlesinger|1911}}

===Player piano===
The [[player piano#Types of player pianos|player piano]] automatically played by means of revolving cylinders, and was invented in 1851 by [[:de: Friedrich Kaufmann (Instrumentenbauer)|F. T. Kaufmann]] of [[Dresden]]. It comprised a complete [[wind orchestra]], with the addition of [[Timpani|kettle-drums]], [[side drum]]s, [[cymbal]]s, [[tambourine]] and [[Triangle (musical instrument)|triangle]].{{sfn|Schlesinger|1911}}

===Panharmonicon===
The [[panharmonicon]] is the earliest known automatic orchestrion. It was invented in 1805 by [[Johann Nepomuk Mälzel]] and [[Beethoven]] composed ''[[Wellington's Victory]]'' (or ''Battle Symphony'') in 1813 specifically for it. [[:de: Friedrich Kaufmann (Instrumentenbauer)|Friedrich Wilhelm Kaufmann]] copied this automatic playing machine in 1808 and his family produced orchestrions from that time on. One of Mälzel's panharmonicons was sent to [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], in 1811 and was exhibited there and then in [[New York City|New York]] and other cities. Mälzel was also on tour (with interruptions) with this instrument in the United States from 7 February 1826 until he died in 1838. In 1817 Flight & Robson in [[London]] built a similar automatic instrument called [[Apollonicon]] and in 1823 [[William M. Goodrich]] copied Mälzel's panharmonicon in [[Boston]], United States.

===Welte===
[[Image:Welte Concert Orchestrion (style 6, no198, 1895) (1).jpg|thumb|upright|Welte Concert Orchestrion, style 6, number 198 (1895)]]
[[Welte-Mignon|Michael Welte & Sons]] of [[Freiburg]] and [[New York (state)|New York]] manufactured orchestrions, organs and [[reproducing piano]]s, from 1832 until 1932. In 1883, Emil Welte (1841-1923), the eldest son of Michael, who had emigrated to the United States in 1865, patented the [[music roll|paper roll]] method ({{US patent|287599}}), the model of the later [[piano roll]].

===Welte Philharmonic Organ===
{{further|de:Liste der Philharmonie-Orgeln von M. Welte & Söhne}}
[[Image:Welteorgel.jpg|thumb|left|Welte Philharmonic Organ]]
From 1911 organs branded [[Welte-Mignon#Welte Philharmonic Organ|Welte Philharmonic-Organ]] were produced.

The largest philharmonic organ ever built is at the Salomons Estate of the Markerstudy Group.<ref name="ROM">''WELTE restored''. Royal Academy of Music, 2011</ref> This instrument was built in 1914 for [[David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons|Sir David Lionel Salomons]] to play not only rolls for the organ but also for his Welte Orchestrion No. 10 from about 1900, which he traded in for the organ. One of these organs can also be seen in the [[Scotty's Castle]] museum in Death Valley, where it is played regularly during museum tours. An organ built for [[HMHS Britannic|HMHS ''Britannic'']] never made its way to Belfast due to the outbreak of the First World War. It can currently be heard playing in the Swiss National Museum in [[Seewen, Solothurn|Seewen]].<ref name="Seewen">Christoph E. Hänggi: Die Britannic-Orgel im Museum für Musikautomaten Seewen So. Festschrift zur Einweihung der Welte-Philharmonie-Orgel; Sammlung Heinrich Weiss-Stauffacher. Hrsg.: Museum für Musikautomaten Seewen SO. Seewen: Museum für Musikautomaten, 2007.</ref>

==In popular culture==
* An unnamed orchestrion appeared as a secondary character in Disney's ''[[Herbie Rides Again]]'' (1974).
* The Pendragon is an orchestrion essential to the plot of ''[[Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva]]'' (2009).

==See also==

* [[Fairground organ]]
* [[Photoplayer]]
* [[The Orchestrion Project]] - An album by Pat Metheny
* [[Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor]]
* [[Kennywood Park]] great example in their carousel
{{Portal|Music}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
* Herbert Jüttemann: ''Orchestrien aus dem Schwarzwald'': Instrumente, Firmen und Fertigungsprogramme. Bergkirchen, 2004. {{ISBN|3-932275-84-5}} (Orchestrions From The [[Black Forest]]).
* Q. David Bowers: ''Encyclopedia of automatic musical instruments: Cylinder music boxes, disc music boxes, piano players and player pianos... Incl. a dictionary of automatic musical instrument terms''. Vestal, N. Y., the Vestal Press, 1988.
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Orchestrion|volume=20|page=170|first=Kathleen|last=Schlesinger|author-link=Kathleen Schlesinger}}
* Q. David. Bowers: ''Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments''. {{ISBN|0-911572-08-2}}. Lanham, Maryland, USA, Vestal Press, 1972.
* W. J. G. Ord-Hume: ''The Musical Box: A Guide for Collectors''. {{ISBN|0-88740-764-1}}. Atglen, Pennsylvania, USA, Schiffer Publishing, 1995.
* W. J. G. Ord-Hume: ''Barrel organ, the story of the mechanical organ and its repair'', South Brunswick, Barnes, 1978.
* W. J. G. Ord-Hume: ''The musical box: a guide for collectors, including a guide to values'', Atglen, Pennsylvania, USA, Schiffer Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-88740-764-2}}.
* W. J. G. Ord-Hume: ''Clockwork Music — An illustr. history of mechanical musical instruments from the musical box to the pianola, from automation lady virginal players to orchestrion'', London, Allen and Unwin, 1973. {{ISBN|0-04-789004-5}}.
* Arthur A. Reblitz: ''The Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments''. {{ISBN|0-9705951-0-7}}. Woodsville, New Hampshire, USA, Mechanical Music Press, 2001.
* Arthur A. Reblitz: ''Treasures of Mechanical Music''. {{ISBN|0-911572-20-1}}. New York, the Vestal Press, 1981.
* Stanley Sadie (Ed. {{clarify|date=July 2013}}): ''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.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Orchestrions}}
*[http://www.mechanicalmusicpress.com www.mechanicalmusicalpress.com]
*[http://timtrager.com/original-catalog-views/ Original orchestrion catalog views]
*[http://www.theorchestrionproject.com Pat Metheny's Orchestrion Project]

{{Mechanical instruments}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mechanical musical instruments]]
[[Category:Pipe organ]]