The Hammond Novachord - Introduction

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"Introduction of The Hammond Novachord at the New York World's Fair 1939 - 1940.

THE NEW WORLD ENSEMBLE.
The story of the New World Ensemble revolves around three pioneers; Henry Ford, the sponsor; Laurens Hammond, the inventor; and Ferde Grofe, the director.

On April 30 1939, upon the opening of the World's Fair in New York the world heard its first electric orchestra.
It was the premiere of the New World Ensemble then newly formed especially for the Ford Exposition.
The same group, playing a Hammond Organ and four Novachords, led by Ferde Grofe, again appeared this year in daily concerts in the Garden Court at the Ford Exposition.

When plans were being laid for the Ford Exposition at the New York Fair, Mr. Hammond told Mr. Ford of his latest invention, an entirely new medium for musical expression - an instrument that could produce the tonal effects of many orchestral instruments.
The new Novachord was auditioned by Ford executives and the idea for the New World Ensemble was born.
Mr. Ford saw that a combination of Novachords and a Hammond Organ could play whole symphonies.

The next problem was to find a conductor - a man with the ability to uncover all the resources of the new instrument and to score music for it, a man to train and direct players to produce music up to the high Ford standards.
Ferde Grofe admirably filled these qualifications and was enthusiastic over the
possibilities of the unusual ensemble.
He, too. owned one of the first Hammond Organs and immediately grasped the musical resources of the new Novachord.


THE HAMMOND NOVACHORD

Although it was introduced only a few months before, the Novachord has excited more comment interest and enthusiasm then has ever greeted any new musical instrument.
This is partly due to the fact that it allows the player to completely change the character of its tones, and partly to the many different, beautiful tones it produces.
On the Novachord you can schwitch instantly from a percussive tone simulair to that of the piano to a sustained tone simulair to that of the organ, with many graduations in between.
And anyone who has heard the New World Ensemble has heard it producing such familiar effects as the violin, harpichord, flute, cornet, cello, Hawaiian steel guitar and others.
The Novachord has a conventional keyboard and is easy to play.
The Novachord uses no strings, no hammers, no reeds, is entirely electrical in operation, it creates its tones by means of standard vacuum tubes.
Its enormous number of beautiful effects has led many to predict that the Novachord wil become the populair home musical instrument.
It gives the musician a profusion of beautiful effects for creating entirely new musical interpretations.

Hammond.fRIENd - 2008"