Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info

Spring Fundraising Drive In Progress. Please visit our home page to see this and other announcements: https://www.mmdigest.com     Thank you. --Jody

MMD > Archives > October 2012 > 2012.10.20 > 01Prev  Next


"Automusicograph" Keyboard Event Marking Machine
By Giorgio Farabegoli

Hello, anyone has information about the invention of Don Angelo
Barbieri called the "Automusicograph"?  This musical "typewriter"
was used by Pietro Mascagni in recording his opera "Isabeau"
in 1910/1911.

"The Music Typewriter Co., Ltd" (directors J. T. Sibley and F. P.
Mannock) was the title of the company registered in London who
acquired the rights of Barbieri & Co. for the "Automusicograph".

Thank you!
Giorgio Farabegoli
Italy

 [ The Washington Herald newspaper of September 14, 1910, on page 4,
 [ re-published an article from the London Daily Express which
 [ described the machine thusly:
 [
 [ "... His apparatus consists of a metal frame containing a row of
 [ thin steel bars.  The frame is fixed behind the panel of a cottage
 [ piano so that each bar rests on a key, and when a note is struck on
 [ the piano the bar rises and brings a small inked wheel into contact
 [ with a revolving roll of paper."
 [
 [ Thus the paper was marked with inked lines similar to the paper
 [ 'master' rolls marked by the Welte-Mignon recording piano, but
 [ without Welte's complex mercury-trough switches and magnets.  Ref.
 [ http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045433/1910-09-14/ed-1/seq-4/ 
 [ -- Robbie


(Message sent Fri 19 Oct 2012, 11:11:40 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Automusicograph, Event, Keyboard, Machine, Marking

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page