Hi, I am new to this group.

I recently visited the State Museum in Munich, Germany.  On the top
floor they have quite an impressive musical instrument display,
including a Mills (I'm pretty sure that is the brand) Automatic
Violin.  The amazing thing about it is that, lying within the
instrument, there is an actual violin.  Little mechanical "fingers"
stop the strings, and a strange box contains the bow.  As a violinist
myself, I found this to be pretty cool, and not a little bit strange.

The machine there did not play, but coincidentally I recently picked up
an LP called "Musical Gadgets," which has a cut featuring the Automatic
Violin.  It's pretty bizarre sounding.  The liner notes talk about the
french inventor having committed suicide, mentioning that perhaps the
reason for his act lies hidden somewhere in the Mill's Violin music.
Anyone have any information on the inventor?

Pete Docter¶
doc@pixar.com