Dear Jody,

I recently was surfing and found, under the title "Mechanical Music,"
the following: "The First Orgel/1796 Antoine Favre" This web site
attributes the first known musical box movement, made by Antoine Favre,
now is on display in a museum in Japan.

There is much conjecture about who made the first such movement and
where it might be today. It is true that Favre holds the patent, issued
in 1796, hence we celebrate the bicentennial this year.

What is much murkier is the entire subject of exactly what the piece he
patented looked like. There is speculation that such records still
exist today, in a vault somewhere. No one to date acknowledges ever
having seen such documentation.

The problem with the site on the net is that it is very convenient to
note that a particular museum holds what would surely be among the holy
grails in mechanical music. Yet, until there is something more than
rumor as to how such a piece is attributed, we must be skeptical
regarding such claims.

If anyone knows further about this piece, which is also featured in a
book entitled The Wonderland of Music Boxes and Automata, please do
respond on the Digest, or to me personally. By the way, the Wonderland
book was published by Reuge, SA, Switzerland, and the peice in question
in Japan was purchased from the Reuge family. One might be able to make
a connection here.

As part of the Musical Box Society International annual meeting in
Chicago later this month we intend to commemorate the historical patent
by Favre with a special exhibition. Any information which might be able
to corroborate his invention would be especially timely for that
event.

Thanks in advance.

Angelo Rulli¶
887 Orange Ave.¶
St. Paul, MN 55106 USA