Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info
MMD > Archives > March 2020 > 2020.03.03 > 06Prev  Next


Artist Signature on 88-note SM Roll 15603
By Julian Dyer

SM rolls were made by Felix Schüller in Leipzig.  The initials "SM"
stand for "Schüller-Musikrollen", as can be seen in an original advert
at http://www.faszinationpianola.de/notenrollen/typologie-der-notenrollen/1733539eae08bb633/d003.html 

You can read more about the company on the website of the
Excellent Grassi Music Instrument Museum at Leipzig University,
https://mfm.uni-leipzig.de/hsm/detail.php?id=81 

The rolls themselves never give any indication of who made them -
they just have a logo of SM with a crown above it, which has given
rise to various imaginative provenances.  It's clear that until recent
times few had access to the adverts in trade publications (such as
Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau) that gave the real details.
	
The SM output was always described as hand-played, and some rolls
carry facsimile signatures.  I have a few of these rolls.  One familiar
signature is Michael Zadora who recorded extensively for Hupfeld (also
based in Leipzig).  One or two others you can have a guess at, the
rest aren't intelligible to me and don't duplicate Hupfeld or Welte
names.  They probably couldn't compete with the Hupfeld and Welte
budgets for famous artists. I've never seen a catalogue for SM.

Weirdly, Ord-Hume suggests that SM created 88-note renderings of
Welte-Mignon rolls -- this in almost certainly nonsense!

And, in a similarly imaginative way, MMD 200301 erroneously stated
that SM rolls were produced by Choralion in Berlin (the Berlin Aeolian
operation) -- Choralion didn't make rolls but sold re-labelled
Aeolian rolls made in the USA or the UK, standard Themodist rolls.

Julian Dyer


(Message sent Tue 3 Mar 2020, 20:24:37 GMT, from time zone GMT.)

Key Words in Subject:  15603, 88-note, Artist, Roll, Signature, SM

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page