Carillons and Glockenspiels
By Jan Kijlstra
In the MMD from yesterday Hauke Marxsen wrote about a leaflet he is producing in cooperation with Philippe Rouille: "How to take care of your music box." A lovely initiative. He gave three German words found in the WWW. I know at least one extra: a clock that plays a tune is called "Spieluhr", but you will also find "Musikuhr". (Just like "Spieldose" and "Musikdose", however "Spieldose" is not very common.)
In a bigger size a "Spieluhr" [chime-clock] can be found in towers. There you will have sounding bells, played by hammers. "Carillon" is what we in Holland say; in German: "Glockenspiel". Famous builders: Hofburg in Salzburg (Austria), Muenster in Strassbourg (Germany). In Holland you will find lots of these instruments. The Dutch were (the Hemony brothers) and still are famous for their carillons. There even is a school where one can study to play the carillon. (A carillon can be played auto- matically or by using a keyboard).
The jukebox, in my opinion a mechanical music instrument, has a nice German name as well: "Plattenkaroussel". This name gives a good impression of early jukeboxes, where a horizontally mounted "carousel" carried the records. To play a selected record the carousel would turn, in order to place the record opposite the playing station.
Nowadays Wurlitzer (and other brands) build reproductions of jukeboxes. They operate the same way, however no longer with records, but with compact discs as their music sources.
Jan Kijlstra
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(Message sent Tue 11 Feb 1997, 11:02:27 GMT, from time zone GMT.) |
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