Re: Street Organs and Draaiorgels
By Jan Kijlstra
In Digest 96.11.09 Robbie Rhodes wrote:
> Jan, can you tell us more about the differences between the English
> Fairground Organ, the Draaiorgel of Holland, the Drehorgel of Germany,
> and the Military Band Organ such as Wurlitzer sold in America?
Ingmar Krause wrote (10/11), answering a question of Robbie Rhodes about the differences between some types of mechanical organs.
Well, Ingmar is not quite correct: indeed you might encounter Dutch "draaiorgels" in England. And not only there, but all over the world, because of their unique qualities. But, apart from fairground organs who were exported as such, a typical dutch "pierement" is not suitable to act as a fairground organ. Let me explain.
As written in other messages: a fairground organ is a huge, massive organ, placed on a trailer or a truck, powered by steam (in old days) or electricity, and above all very loud.
Since the Dutch "straatorgel" or "pierement" is a small organ, powered by hand or a small motor, placed on a handcard and moved by hand as well, having a moderate sound, it is not quite correct to state: "the difference between a fairground organ and a "pierement" is the name".
I think the German "Jahrmarktorgel" Ingmar is speaking about can be compared to a fairground organ, since "Jahrmarkt" is the German word for "Fairground". And like a fairground organ a "Jahrmarkt organ" makes a lot of sound, is needing much energy to produce this sound, and will therefore not be powered by hand, thus cannot be a "draaiorgel".
So, since "Jahrmarktorgel" are "hmm... loud..." like faurground organs, and Dutch "pierements" are, as Ingmar wrote "mostly very sweet in sound" it may be clear that the differences are a little bigger.
These differences I did explain in my former message to Robbie Rhodes.
It is easy to say, like Ingmar does: buy Carl Frei's biography!
One should also tell where it can be bought, what the ISBN-number is, a.s.o. Apart from that: as far as I know this biography is written in German, not a commonly used and understood language outside very few countries in Europe.
I believe the word "Drehorgel" stands for all mechanical organs, powered by hand. Typically members of this type, and by far the best ones, are the Dutch "draaiorgel" of "pierement".
Fairground organs and dance organs are members of the same family. Having the same anchestors they do have a lot in common, but for sure are not identical to "draaiorgels".
To avoid misunderstandings: in earlier days you could find in Holland fairground organs as well. They were indeed found on fairs, in merry-go-rounds a.s.o. but were not powered by hand. A couple of them is still used at fairs, and other events. Some others did find a good place in museums.
You also could (and can) find dance organs, in pubs and dance halls. Never powered by hand. As a matter of fact: many dance organs could be used like a juke-box: putting coins in a slot did start the music.
This system was widely used, also on other mechanical musical instruments, like player pianos, music boxes, orchestrions, a.s.o.
May be that is where Wurlitzer (an european, may be german name) and other jukebox producers did get the idea from.
By the way: is a radio a mechanical music instruments, since it can play music from an external source, let's say a compact disk (which can be played quite far away from the radio itself)?
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(Message sent Mon 11 Nov 1996, 10:00:10 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.) |
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