Is the MMD Archive wonderful or what?  In MMD 96.03.22 I asked:

> Can anyone give me any information or references on the Tonograph?
> This was an instrument invented by Robert Gally around 1900, used
> to record performances on the organ or piano.

And now, in 2002, the answer comes to me from Michael Bell, who wrote,
"I came across a piece on the tonograph from an 1898 Harper's Weekly:"

  'A considerable local interest has been taken during some weeks in
  the "tonograph," an American invention for the perfect preservation
  of improvised or other compositions on the piano-forte or organ.

  'The patent-offices of various countries are by no means devoid of
  more or less elaborate contrivances by which a player may expect to
  find the music struck out by his wandering fingers duly set down, by
  one or another system; but this "tonograph" undoubtedly offers the
  most perfected as well as the simplest mechanism to such an end.

  'The invention comes from Mr. Robert Gally, of Brooklyn, well known
  among the new school of American organ-builders.  The music played
  is written down by a system of dashes and dots (transcribed at sight
  into ordinary notation), with instant automatism.

  'Not only is every note in each figure, in each embellishment or
  chord registered, but the quality of the organist's or pianist's
  touch, his phrasing and technical equipment as to both hands,
  are all mercilessly or graciously perpetuated, along with the
  piece's formal movement; and as it is played first, so is it played
  automatically again by the instrument.

  'At a recent exhibition, in this city, of Mr. Gally's admirable
  little device, improvisations or other pieces by Mr. Guilmant, Mr.
  Siloti, Mr. Pugno, Mr. William Mason, and a large group of other
  pianists and organists were reproduced with most interesting
  fidelity to their contents and to their original performance by
  their authors.'

 '(from Harper's Weekly, vol. XLII, No. 2156, page 366, col. 1;
  16 April 1898)'

Now all we need to do is locate the machine!

Fritz Gellerman

 [ "Dashes and dots" surely sounds like a music roll, except that
 [ the mark was ink instead of a hole in the paper.  Almost as fast
 [ as the ink dried, Mr. Gally or an assistant would transcribe the
 [ recorded performance to a hand-written manuscript which another
 [ pianist or organist would "play back" for the amazement of the
 [ bystanders and magazine reporters.
 [
 [ Does this seem trivial?  Perhaps, but an ink marking machine of
 [ this sort is the very devil to build and maintain, and I believe
 [ Mr. Gally deserves much admiration for his work.  Similar devices
 [ were used to record the signals transmitted from fire alarm boxes,
 [ and the Morse telegraph system briefly included an ink marking
 [ machine (until the operators discovered it was faster to simply
 [ listen to the clicks of the telegraph relay).  But Gally's
 [ Tonograph had to record a keyboard of at least 49 or 61 keys,
 [ and it had to be reliable enough to demonstrate at an exhibition.
 [ That's impressive!
 [
 [ Was it accurate?  A recording of the "play back" by another
 [ musician, on comparison with the first recording, could have
 [ demonstrated the accuracy of Gally's Tonograph but, sadly, the
 [ reporter makes no mention of this obvious proof.  Maybe Mr. Gally
 [ ignored the suggestion.  ;-)
 [
 [ Only a few years later Edwin Welte and Karl Bockisch built an
 [ ink marking machine to record performances for the Welte-Mignon
 [ reproducing piano system.  -- Robbie