Ruth Organs and Videos of Music Boxes
By Phil Benson
Marc Elbasani wrote:
>
> My favorite kind of pipes are Ruth and Bruder—basically the German voices
> of the Black Forest district and Waldkirch.
A soul mate! I'm a particular fan of Ruth organs myself. Unfortunately, I have never been able to go to Waldkirch - or any other continental events for that matter - but have plans to do so in the not too distant future. We're lucky in the UK to have a number of Ruth organs on the rally scene and at least I get the chance to hear them during the summer.
Romi Maier, in Switzerland, owns a model 46. The cassette tapes he has published are magnificent. Alas, I had the lot stolen in a burglary a little while ago and haven't had the chance to replace them yet, so I cannot give details. I will post them on the MMD when I can.
Nancy Fratti mentioned a few videos of music boxes. I append the text of a review that appeared in the FOPS Key Frame mag:
> Video Review by Anna Page
>
> The Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum, Seewen, Switzerland - An
> excursion to the world of mechanical instruments - Heinrich
> Weiss-Stauffacher and his collection.
>
> (The Musikautomaten-Museum Seewen is listed on the FOPS homepage hosted
> by Foxtail. )
>
> This is a video film lasting 40 minutes and, as the title suggests, is
> an excursion into the world of mechanical instruments, mainly the
> music box variety.
>
> There is a fairly lengthy introduction showing a girl skipping along to
> the museum through some spectacular Swiss scenery. She is allowed to
> handle the instruments by the two gentlemen in attendance (one of whom
> was Heinrich Weiss). At the beginning, the introduction is in German,
> but this soon changes to English. It includes a fairly detailed
> history of the collection and Heinrich Weiss showing the girl examining
> the different music boxes, (singing birds in cages, musical rings,
> jewelery boxes, watches and clocks), barrel organs, orchestrion and
> automata (including a magnificent acrobat). These are all filmed in
> close-up which quite clearly shows the parts moving while the music
> plays, all obviously the actual sound of the instrument being played.
>
> While describing the history and uses of mechanical instruments, the
> film shows a carillon musical clock in the streets of St-Ursanne, and
> also investigates the traditional and modern ways of producing pinned
> barrels for music box units - this I found very interesting. There are
> costumed period scenes showing the traditional use of music boxes as
> gifts and the buying of old ones from junk shops for restoration and
> addition to the collection.
>
> Organs were in evidence; the use of small barrel organs in a street
> setting and a roll playing Welte pipe organ which unfortunately sounded
> more like a reed organ because of the sound quality on the tape.
> However, the quality of the music box sound had not been compromised at
> all, possibly because music boxes are clearer and more bell-like in
> tone. Even the Wrede fair organ demonstrated in a gallopers (outside)
> and a large Ruth organ (played inside the museum) sounded rather boxy
> in tone.
>
> The film ended with the girl carrying a caged musical bird out of the
> museum in the company of Heinrich Weiss, who had given his entire
> collection of mechanical instruments (the largest in the world) to the
> Swiss Confederation.
>
> The tracking proved to be a slight problem but once adjusted, the
> picture and colour quality were good and clear although there were
> moments of relapse. I played the film to my parents-in-law and they
> found it informative and interesting. It would make a good present for
> anyone who likes mechanical music.
I'm working flat out at the moment getting articles ready for a more comprehensive FOPS homepage, starting, hopefully in a couple of weeks. As time goes on, as many reviews as possible will be posted and indexed.
Hope the info's of interest.
Phil Benson |
(Message sent Sat 8 Mar 1997, 19:59:40 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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