ORCHESTRIONS

Introduction

Among collectors of automatic musical instruments, orchestrions have always occupied a place of fascination. This is due in part to the musical ability of these mechanical wonders and in part to the very idea of what they are: imitators of a human orchestra. Indeed, some of the more sophisticated orchestrions -- some of those produced in Germany during the 20th century being examples -- are to a human orchestra in apparent sound production what an Ampico, Duo-Art, or Welte reproducing piano is to a human pianist. Or course, not all or even most orchestrions are full orchestral in the sense that a human orchestra is, but such instruments are a lot of fun anyway. Hearing "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight" played on a snappy and well-regulated Seeburg KT Special or listening to "Turkey in the Straw" on a perky Coinola orchestrion is a musical experience that no collector should miss.

On a larger scale, the classic orchestrions made by Hupfeld, Weber, Welte, Popper, Philipps and other German manufacturers can produce creditable performances of entire symphonies, often with such magnificent presence of sound and overwhelming majesty that the listener tingles with excitement, admiration, and awe at the performance!

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What is an Orchestrion?

What exactly is an orchestrion? The term defies precise definition. For practical purposes most collectors today consider an orchestrion to be a pneumatically-operated instrument which contains a piano plus a number of other orchestral effects such as drums, a xylophone, a rank of pipes, or similar additions. Technically, these are known as piano orchestrions.

19th century orchestrions, for the most part, are based around a softly-voiced pipe organ, rather than a piano. The drums, xylophone, and other orchestral effects provide accompaniment to the music of organ pipes.

Other types of orchestrions are mechanically, rather than pneumatically, operated. Barrel pianos with xylophone, drums, and other effects added are sometimes characterized as orchestrions. Likewise, disc-operated pianos with orchestral effects are sometimes referred to as orchestrions.

Lewis Carroll in "The Hunting of the Snark" said, Whatever I tell you three times is true." Perhaps following this advice, many early manufacturers thought that calling any type of instrument an "orchestrion" would make it one! Hence, we have such diverse items as a small hand-cranked mechanical dulcimer being called a Piano Orchestrion and certain small paper roll organettes, the Orchestrion Harmonette for example, being given the same designation!

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Orchestrions in the 1920's

The coming of Prohibition in 1920 killed off the market for most large orchestrions. In fact, it played havoc with coin-operated instruments in general. Most firms went out of business or cut back production at that time. A few others fell victim to the 1921 business depression. By 1925 there were only a few makers left.

A sampling of the orchestrion trade in America in 1925 would have revealed that two makers had the lion's share of the business. Way out in front was the J.P. Seeburg Piano Company. Close behind was a secretly-owned Seeburg subsidiary, the Western Electric Piano Company. Behind these two leaders were several other makers, notably the Nelson-Wiggen Piano Company and the Operators Piano Company.

Orchestrions of the mid-1920's were different from the earlier styles. The most popular type was the small compact keyboardless style -- of which the Seeburg KT and KT Special are examples. These instruments were much smaller than the earlier keyboard-style orchestrions and were more suited for use in cabarets and speakeasies, the private, smoky, and intimate unofficial watering places of the Prohibition era. Indeed, this cabaret use sparked a small revival of the industry for a short time in the 1920's, so that in 1924 and 1925 the music trade papers were full of comments about "good times" in the business.

However, the days of orchestrions and coin-operated pianos were numbered during the 1920's. The radio, despite the fact that most were played for patrons free, became the star attraction of many public places. In 1927, talking pictures became a commercial reality. This, combined with the popularity of the radio, increased the demand for music as sung by famous personalities. The coin-operated phonograph, which entered service in the 1890's and which co-existed with the coin-operated piano for years, forged ahead. As if this was not enough, the Depression provided the finishing touch. By 1932, the business was, for all practical purposes, dead. The few companies that were still in existence at the time owed their lives to diversification into other fields. Wurlitzer and Seeburg became the two leading makers of juke boxes, or, as the makers preferred to call them, "automatic phonographs." Most other firms simply vanished.

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