The catalogues of such companies as Welte, Hupfeld, Philipps, Aeolian and the American Piano Company read like a Who’s who of pianists, composers and conductors from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A generation of well-known artists played music through a special recording process. However, many names – including those of pianists – have faded from memory and are waiting to be rediscovered in the museum collection.
The “Magic Piano” special exhibition at the Museum of Music Automatons (MMA) is a celebration of these self-playing pianos – and the museum’s two-decade research collaboration with the Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB).
The “Magic Piano” special exhibition at the Museum of Music Automatons (MMA) is a celebration of these self-playing pianos – and the museum’s two-decade research collaboration with the Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB).
If you wanted to enjoy music 150 years ago, you had two choices: attend a performance or play it yourself. The year 1878 marked a turning point: The advent of the phonograph and gramophone allowed for the reproduction of music. These devices began spreading like wildfire, becoming a form of mass media.
It still took several decades, however, until the sound quality could compete with a live performance. The piano in particular was difficult to record before the invention of the microphone, due to its wide range and subtle differences in volume. Brilliant entrepreneurs and engineers addressed this challenge with a bold invention – the reproducing piano. Instead of coming out of an aplifying horn, the playing of famous pianists came out of a real piano. In the autumn of 1904, the Freiburg-based company M. Welte & Söhne caused a stir with their latest innovation: Called the Welte-Mignon, it played the most difficult piano compositions almost exactly like the great virtuosos in a concert hall. There was nothing mechanical about it – the Welte-Mignon sounded completely natural. Other companies followed suit, and the market for this type of device boomed. Thousands of recordings were made over the next three decades – a relic from the golden era of piano playing that we can still enjoy today.
It still took several decades, however, until the sound quality could compete with a live performance. The piano in particular was difficult to record before the invention of the microphone, due to its wide range and subtle differences in volume. Brilliant entrepreneurs and engineers addressed this challenge with a bold invention – the reproducing piano. Instead of coming out of an aplifying horn, the playing of famous pianists came out of a real piano. In the autumn of 1904, the Freiburg-based company M. Welte & Söhne caused a stir with their latest innovation: Called the Welte-Mignon, it played the most difficult piano compositions almost exactly like the great virtuosos in a concert hall. There was nothing mechanical about it – the Welte-Mignon sounded completely natural. Other companies followed suit, and the market for this type of device boomed. Thousands of recordings were made over the next three decades – a relic from the golden era of piano playing that we can still enjoy today.
