Orchestrion
Mechanical musical instrument that imitates the sound of an orchestra with reeds and additions.
What it means
An orchestrion is a mechanical musical instrument intended to imitate the sound of an orchestra. It combines organ pipes and reeds with percussion such as drum, cymbals and triangle and is controlled by a pinned barrel or later by perforated bands and music rolls. A mechanism, often with weights or springs, drives it.
Musical use
Such instruments arose in the early 19th century, for instance Johann Nepomuk Mälzel's Panharmonicon around 1805, for which Beethoven originally composed Wellington's Victory. In the Black Forest the orchestrion became a trade of its own, among others through the firm Welte. They stood in inns and salons. With the gramophone record and the phonograph in the early 20th century they lost importance.
The orchestrion should be distinguished from the barrel organ, which is smaller and hand-operated, and from the music box, which produces only a few notes with small metal tongues.
Performance practice
If you hear an orchestrion, pay attention to the combination of pipes, reeds and percussion: it shows how a whole orchestra was imitated with a machine. Historic instruments require careful maintenance.