 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
The origins of the music boxSince days of old, bells to announce the hours have been an integral feature of churches across Europe. While such bells were originally rung by church workers who would strike them with hammers, a mechanism soon evolved whereby a wooden cylinder with pins attached, as depicted in the diagram, could be rotated in such a way that each pin would cause a hammer to operate. The arrangement of numerous bells, each with its own unique tone and sound, enabled melodies to be automatically played. |
 |
|
|
|
|
The earliest documented existence of this mechanical arrangement known as a carillon is said to point to the instrument that was installed in the tower of Kirk of St. Nicholas in Brussels, Belgium in 1381. |
|
Invented by Peter Henlein in the early fifteenth century, the spring mechanism facilitated the rapid development of the technology used in mechanical clocks. The struggle to incorporate the carillon as a substitute for chimes, which constituted an important functional feature in mechanical clocks, led to the birth of the music box |
 |
|
Once it became standard practice to use chimes or bells incorporated in clocks as a method of announcing the time, it seemed inevitable that someone would come along and devise a means of playing melodies using a series of individually tuned bells working in conjunction with a mechanism involving a metallic cylinder embedded with pins connected to hammers. After years of undergoing a process of trial and error, Antoine Favre of Switzerland invented a system in 1796 based on the use of a metallic cylinder with embedded pins to pluck numerous thin steel sheets of different lengths to create melodic tunes. This system is believed to be the prototype for all cylinder-based music boxes, which thereafter enjoyed phenomenal growth. |
|
|
At any rate, clocks were a prized possession, and users sought increasingly sophisticated models housed in smaller, thinner cases. Music boxes that formed a part of such equipment were themselves made more sophisticated and technically capable of delivering beautiful sounds. |
| The earliest music boxes share essentially the same roots as clocks in terms of the technology that was used to produce them, and they developed in line with advancements in such technology. In 1830, however, the technology used in music boxes quickly began to diverge from the technology associated with clocks, and indeed, would henceforth evolve in a completely different field, one which emphasized the technology of musical reproduction. |
|
|
Due to Napoleon’s Russian campaign in 1812 and a military conflict with Prussia in 1831, French watchmakers sought to flee the flames of war and migrated in large numbers across the border into Switzerland and other countries. For this reason, places like Sainte-Croix, La Chaux de Fonds, Geneva, and Berlin came to be known as leading centers of music box production. |
