The Mechanical Orchestra: A World Guide to Automata, Music Boxes and Fairground Organs (The Mechanical Sacred: Studies in Musical Craftsmanship) - Tapa blanda

Sinopsis

The ultimate travel guide and historical companion to the world’s most magical machines—from the musical boxes of Switzerland to the fairground organs of Belgium and the world’s first chess computers.

In a Kyoto museum, author A. J. Smales discovered a mechanical orchestra that played itself. That spark ignited a seven-year, four-continent journey to find the finest examples of automata, music boxes, orchestrions, and fairground organs. The Mechanical Orchestra is the result: a comprehensive guide for the armchair traveller and the global pilgrim.

This book takes you inside the workshops of Swiss geniuses who built writing boys and singing birds for royalty. It reveals the hidden operators inside chess-playing “automata” like The Turk and Ajeeb, who fooled Napoleon and were once stabbed with a hatpin. You will learn how the Industrial Revolution turned music boxes from a luxury for the few into the jukebox of the masses, and how the orchestrion tried—and almost succeeded—in replacing a live symphony orchestra.

Featuring a continent-by-continent museum directory (including the Jaquet-Droz automata, the REX orchestrion, and the genuine chess automaton El Ajedrecista), plus a collector’s handbook and practical travel tips, this is the only guide you need to discover the universal language of gears and melody.

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