Scan 89
Musical instruments in the Great Industrial Exhibition of 1851, 1851
8 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1with the viola and the violoncello. It serves therefore not only for music of its own, but may also be used, in case of need, to play solos, or obligatos, written for other instruments of a different kind,—the tone and expression of which it will often imitate with tolerable effect.
3The free-reed has, however, received a more extended application. In the attempt to improve the accordion, by enlarging and completing its scale, it became so unwieldy that it could no longer be held conveniently in the hands, or played upon with ease; and, as a natural remedy for this difficulty, the plan was adopted of applying a regular clavier, and furnishing the wind by separate bellows as in an organ. The instrument thus became, in fact, transformed into an organ having a free-reed stop without pipes; a return very nearly to the original application of the free-reed. The instrument was early made, in this form, in England, by Mr. Green, of Soho-square, and called the seraphine; it had a compass of several octaves, and from its cheapness and small size soon became popular. It was extensively manufactured and considerably improved in France, and in 1842, M. Martin, of Paris, introduced an improvement of considerable importance, with the view of remedying a defect previously existing to some extent, namely, the want of promptness in articulation. It consisted of a small hammer, connected with the key, which gave a gentle blow to the reed at the moment of opening the valve; the effect of this was to make the note speak with a rapidity and precision very remarkable, and to give the tone a peculiarly brilliant and agreeable quality.*
5Many varieties of the free-reed clavier instrument have been made, both in England and on the continent, under various names; such as the seraphine, æolophon, physharmonica, harmonium, melodium, symphonium, poikilorgue, orgue expressif, æolomusicon, &c.; of which the Exhibition contains several examples; but, as they are all essentially the same instrument, it will be sufficient to give a description of one of the most modern and best known construction. The clavier has a compass of 5 octaves,—the lowest note being 8-feet C, corresponding with the fourth open string of the violoncello. It has four stops, divided into halves, and acted on by eight draw-stops, placed immediately over the clavier, so as to be
7* It is right to state, that M. Pape, in a patent taken out in France, in 1834, and subsequently in England, in 1839, describes springs struck by a hammer, the vibration being afterwards prolonged by wind, "according to the manner of a seraphine." The difference between this and M. Martin's contrivance appears merely to be, that in the former the principal effect is due to the blow, while in the latter the percussion is subsidiary.
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