Mark Twain on the Tellharmonium

This one was spotted and sent in by Gerard Pardeilhan.

Note that's not Mark Twain in the image as he was much older in 1907 as pictured here. The image appears to be "Musician playing at the Telharmonic Hall. The photograph originally appeared in Gunther’s Magazine, June 1907. Courtesy Reynold Weidenaar" according to Cabinet Magazine.

From the article on Cabinet Magazine:

"'The trouble about these beautiful, novel things is that they interfere so with one’s arrangements. Every time I see or hear a new wonder like this I have to postpone my death right off. I couldn’t possibly leave the world until I have heard this again and again.' —Mark Twain

The new wonder that Mark Twain described was the Telharmonium, a pioneering and immensely ambitious electrical musical instrument, the first to synthesize sounds from electrically generated waves. Conceived in the early 1890s by Thaddeus Cahill—whose original name for his invention was the Dynamophone—the instrument produced sound with dynamos that generated alternating currents. Because the sound was generated electrically, it was possible not only to synthesize sound but also to transmit it over telephone lines, making it possible to provide music to thousands of hotels, restaurants, and home subscribers."

I did a quick search for the quote and also found the following from The New York Times, December 23, 1906 on twainquotes.com via The New York Times.

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TWAIN AND THE TELEPHONE
He Hears the Telharmonium and Incidentally Tells a Story.

"The trouble with these beautiful, novel things is that they interfere so with one's arrangements. Every time I see or hear a new wonder like this I have to postpone my death right off. I couldn't possibly leave the world until I have heard this again and again."

Mark Twain said this as he lounged on the keyboard dais in the telharmonium music room in upper Broadway, swinging his legs, yesterday afternoon. The instrument has just played the "Lohengrin Wedding March" for him.

"You see, I read about this in THE NEW YORK TIMES last Sunday, and I wanted to hear it. If a great Princess marries, what is to hinder all the lamps along the streets on her wedding night playing that march together? Or, if a great man should die -- I, for example -- they could all be tuned up for a dirge."

"Of course, I know that it is intended to deliver music all over the town through the telephone, but that hardly appeals as much as it might to a man who for years, because of his addiction to strong language, has tried to conceal his telephone number, just like a chauffeur running away after an accident.

"When I lived up in Hartford, I was the very first man, in that part of New England at least, to put in a telephone --, but it was constantly getting me into trouble because of the things I said carelessly. And the family were all so thoughtless. One day when I was in the garden, fifty feet from the house, somebody on the long distance wire who was publishing a story of mine, wanted to get the title.

"Well, the title was the first sentence, "Tell him to go to hell." Before my daughter got it through the wire and through him there was a perfect eruption of profanity in that region. All New England seemed to be listening in, and each time my daughter repeated it she did so with rising emphasis. It was awful. I broke into a cold perspiration, and while the neighborhood rang with it, rushed in and implored her to desist. But she would have the last word, and it was "hell," sure enough, every time.

"Soon after I moved to New York; perhaps that had something to do with my moving. When I got there and asked for a fire-proof telephone, the company sent up a man to me. I opened up all my troubles to him, but he laughed and said it was all right in New York. There was a clause in their contract, he said, allowing every subscriber to talk in his native tongue, and of course they would not make an exception against me. That clause has been a godsend to me."

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I also found another write-up on Substack here.

See the Telharmonium label below for additional posts.

Auld Lang Syne on a Yamaha L-20D

video upload by Benjamin Dehli

"Playing an excerpt from Auld Lang Syne on a Yamaha L-20D electric harmonium / reed organ 🎹"

https://www.dehlimusikk.no

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Happy New Year everyone!

The above video by Benjamin Dehli went up yesterday on the 31st, and I figured it would be an appropriate start to the New Year - something vintage that harkens back to the pre-synth age, but new to the site. This is actually the first post to feature the Yamaha L-20D. Aparently it's an electric harmonium as opposed to an electonics-based harmonium like the Telharmonium (click and scroll down for additional posts). If anyone knows more about the Yamaha L-20D and/or when it was released, feel free to leave a comment.

I found the following brief discripton from this forum:

"Yamaha harmonium - looks like it dates from the 60's or 70's in great condition. I've tried to find out info about these on the net for ages but there doesn't seem to be ANYTHING out there on it. This plugs into the mains and it sort of whirs up - like a mini leslie rotating speaker and when you play you can feel the wind coming out of it. It also has a sort of knee pedal that you can use to alter the volume. sometimes there's a bit of a buzz overall but it seems to depend on the day and the weather but a great vintage sound.No outputs on this but has built in speaker so would be great for micing up and recording."

There is no mention of it on Wikipedia as of this post. That said, it sounds like the electric portion powers the airflow, so it's likely closer to a classic wind based harmonium (click for additional posts) than an electronics based harmonium like the Telharmonium. Note via 120years.net, "The Telharmonium can be considered the first significant electronic musical instrument and was a method of electro-magnetically synthesising and distributing music over the new telephone networks of victorian America."

I also found the following video from four years ago.

Music for a Found Harmonium (Cover) on a Yamaha L-20D

video upload by Benjamin Dehli

"Music for a Found Harmonium by Penguin Cafe Orchestra played on a Yamaha L-20D electric harmonium / reed organ. All the sounds is created with the organ and recorded with a matched pair of AKG C451E."

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Happy New Year!

Thank you to eveyone who enjoys the site, supporting members, and sponsors. You all keep me going each and every day.

The Tale of The Ondioline: Music's Oldest Synthesizer?

video upload by The Lemon Master

0:00 Intro
1:21 Design
5:50 History
7:46 Rise
10:39 Downfall
12:47 Revival?
14:24 Outro

Note the first "synth" is debatable. The Telharmonium (1897), Ondes-Martenot (1928), Mixturtrautonium (1936), Novachord (1939), amongst others predated it. The Theremin, although not a keyboard instrument, but the inspiration if not the basis for Bob Moog's creations arrived in 1921. For a timeline of electronic instruments see https://120years.net, and for more synth centric, as we know them, see The First Synth to.....

For reverything Ondioline see https://ondioline.com

And related posts:

Jean Jacques Perrey & Dana Countryman - The Good Old Days

New Website Dedicated to the Ondioline

Jean-Jacques Perrey et son Ondioline (pics of my copy here)

And of course, see the Ondioline label for additional posts.

THADDEUS CAHILL: A Preliminary Paper From the Creator of the Telharmonium

An amazing bit of electronic history just in today via Justin Maxwell @303

" Merry xmas, synth nerds. Here's a never-published 1934 bio of the inventor of the 1st electronic musical instrument, Thaddeus Cahill by his brother. I've been meaning to digitize this for 20 years.

https://code404.com/cahill [you don't need to sign in - give it a second to load]

@cdmblogs @matrixsynth @catsynth @mu_zines @BoingBoing"

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For those not familiar with Thaddeus Cahill and the Telharmonium, via Wikipedia:

"Thaddeus Cahill (June 18, 1867 – April 12, 1934) was a prominent inventor of the early 20th century. He is widely credited with the invention of the first electromechanical musical instrument, which he dubbed the telharmonium."

Also see: Electronic_musical_instrument#Early_examples, and http://120years.net.

See the Telharmonium below for related posts.

A Brief History of Synthesizers by Soundfly

Soundfly

"This video is from our in-depth Advanced Synths and Patch Design course on Soundfly.com. Preview for free here: https://soundfly.com/courses/advanced...

About Soundfly
Soundfly helps curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it — subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly: https://soundfly.com/subscription

About the Course
Tired of presets? Need more complex and interesting-sounding patches in your productions? Or maybe you want to be able to figure out the sounds from other artists' tracks? Whether you're a producer looking to level up your sound design chops or just want to have some fun diving down a synth-fueled rabbit hole, this course is designed to help you craft better synth sounds.

Throughout this course, we’ll look at popular synths, sounds, and post-processing techniques to help you develop strategies for creating better sounds from the ground up. From epic house leads to snarling dubstep basses and vintage '80s keyboard sounds, we’ll show you how to create patches step by step. Along the way, we’ll explain concepts related to subtractive synthesis, wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, and sampling. In the end, you'll have a better idea of what type of synth to reach for in a particular situation, understand the ins and outs of creating patches, how to program better parts, and make better sounds than you ever thought you could.

Ready to level-up your synth skills? Sign up now:
https://soundfly.com/courses/advanced...

Citations:
Elisha Gray - https://bit.ly/3kb0yAs
Telharmonium - https://www.popularmechanics.com/tech...
https://www.britannica.com/art/electr...
RCA Synthesizer - http://120years.net/the-rca-synthesis...
Harald Bode - http://120years.net/tag/harald-bode/
Microprocessor - https://computerhistory.org/blog/who-...
Sound Synthesis and Sampling by Martin Russ- https://books.google.com/books/about/...
Kurzweil K250 - http://www.vintagesynth.com/kurzweil/...
AKAI MPC60 - https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/...
http://www.vintagesynth.com/akai/mpc6...
http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com/"

Superbooth Berlin 2019 studentsmusic personal view

Published on May 12, 2019 studentsmusic

"excerpts from many things i found interesting, strolling around and checking. also liked GRP Vocoder - together with A2 and Sequencer makes aperfect system! errata: motor synth is a synth, not a distortion device..reminds me to cahills telharmonium in a way (microversion of a historical beast) Overssen Behringer RD 909...also 'new'"

The Telharmonium

flickr By dr.space
(click for more)

Top: "View of part of the generator room. The entire instrument was over 60 feet long and wieghed almost 200 tons."

Bottom: "A view of some of the wiring racks. They occupied an entire room one floor below the instrument console."

See the Telharmonium label below for more.

1906 TELHARMONIUM 1st Electronic Synthesizer

via this auction
If anyone pics this up, please make a proper scan and send it in.
"Original HARPER'S WEEKLY illustrated journal, dated March 10, 1906. COMPLETE in 32 pgs, lacking covers; 4to (13 1/4" x 9 1/4"). IN FINE CONDITION!

Featured in this issue is the DOUBLE PAGE+ article "ORCHESTRAL MUSIC FROM A DYNAMO" (Telharmonium, the FIRST electronic musical instrument) containing THREE (3) original photo image views: "THE KEY-BOARD OF THE TELHARMONIUM, WHICH CONTROLS THE FORMATION OF THE MUSICAL TONES" (5" X 7"), "THE GROUP OF ALTERNATORS WHICH PRODUCE THE MUSICAL TONES IN DR. (Thaddeus) CAHILL'S INVENTION" (4" X 7"), & "THE 'TONE-MIXER' BY WHICH IS CLAMED THAT A WIDE VARIETY OF INSTRUMENTAL TONE QUALITIES CAN BE PRODUCED" (5" X 4 1/4").

A sample of the article reads, "What are the qualifications of an ideal musical instrument?...Yet an instrument has been invented by Dr. Thaddeus Cahill, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, which seems to possess the qualifications called for to a notable degree, and in thses days of electrical invention it is not surprising to learn that the agent which accomplishes this remarkable result is electricity...".

Additional illustrated articles/photo image galleries in this issue include: "THE CRIME AGAINST NIAGARA (Falls)", "THE MISSIONARY AND THE AFRICAN SAVAGE", and MORE!"