The
Telharmonium (also known as the
Dynamophone) was an early
electronic musical instrumentAn electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces its sounds using electronics. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical audio signal that ultimately drives a loudspeaker....
, developed by
Thaddeus CahillThaddeus Cahill was a prominent inventor of the early 20th century. He is widely credited with the invention of the first electromechanical musical instrument, which he dubbed the telharmonium. Cahill had tremendous ambitions for his invention; he wanted telharmonium music to be broadcast into...
in 1897. The electrical signal from the Telharmonium was transmitted over wires; it was heard on the receiving end by means of 'horn' speakers.
Like the later
Hammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ which was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard...
, the Telharmonium used
tonewheelA tonewheel is a relatively primitive apparatus for generating electronic musical notes. The tonewheel assembly consists of a synchronous AC motor and an associated gearbox that drives a series of rotating disks. Each disk contains a set of bumps that generate a specific frequency through a...
s to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by
additive synthesisAdditive synthesis is a technique of audio synthesis which creates musical timbre.The timbre of an instrument is composed of multiple harmonics or partials, in different quantities, that change over time...
.
Cahill built three versions: The Mark I version weighed 7 tons.
The
Telharmonium (also known as the
Dynamophone) was an early
electronic musical instrumentAn electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces its sounds using electronics. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical audio signal that ultimately drives a loudspeaker....
, developed by
Thaddeus CahillThaddeus Cahill was a prominent inventor of the early 20th century. He is widely credited with the invention of the first electromechanical musical instrument, which he dubbed the telharmonium. Cahill had tremendous ambitions for his invention; he wanted telharmonium music to be broadcast into...
in 1897. The electrical signal from the Telharmonium was transmitted over wires; it was heard on the receiving end by means of 'horn' speakers.
Like the later
Hammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ which was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard...
, the Telharmonium used
tonewheelA tonewheel is a relatively primitive apparatus for generating electronic musical notes. The tonewheel assembly consists of a synchronous AC motor and an associated gearbox that drives a series of rotating disks. Each disk contains a set of bumps that generate a specific frequency through a...
s to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by
additive synthesisAdditive synthesis is a technique of audio synthesis which creates musical timbre.The timbre of an instrument is composed of multiple harmonics or partials, in different quantities, that change over time...
.
Cahill built three versions: The Mark I version weighed 7 tons. The Mark II version weighed almost 200 tons. (as did the Mark III). Each was a considerable advancement over the features of its predecessor. A small number of performances in front of a live audience were given in addition to the telephone transmissions. Performances in New York (some at "Telharmonic Hall", 39th and Broadway) were well received by the public in 1906, and the performer would sit at a console (see picture) to control the instrument. The actual mechanism of the instrument itself was so large it occupied an entire room — wires from the controlling console were fed discreetly through holes in the floor of an auditorium into the instrument room itself, which was housed in the basement beneath the concert hall.
The Telharmonium foreshadowed modern
electronicElectronics is a branch of science and technology that deals with the controlled flow of electrons. The ability to control electron flow is usually applied to information handling or device control. Electronics is distinct from electrical science and technology, which deals with the generation,...
musical equipment in a number of ways. For instance, its sound output came in the form of connecting ordinary telephone receivers to large paper cones — a primitive form of
loudspeakerA loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical signal into sound. The speaker pulses in accordance with the variations of an electrical signal and causes sound waves to propagate through a medium such as air or water.Loudspeakers are the most variable elements in a...
. Indeed, Cahill was noted for saying that
electromagneticElectromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field, a field that exerts a force on particles with the property of electric charge and is reciprocally affected by the presence and motion of such particles....
diaphragms were the most preferable means of outputting its distinctive sound.
Although no recordings exist of the Telharmonium, observers reported that its sound was very clear and pure — probably referring to the sine tones it was capable of producing. However, it was not restricted to such simple sounds. Each tonewheel of the instrument corresponded to a single note, and, to broaden its possibilities, Cahill added several extra tonewheels to add
harmonicIn acoustics and telecommunication, a harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. For example, if the fundamental frequency is...
s to each note. This, combined with
organThe organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet...
-like stops and multiple keyboards (the Telharmonium was polyphonic), as well as a number of foot pedals, meant that every sound could be sculpted and reshaped — the instrument was noted for its ability to reproduce the sounds of common orchestral woodwind instruments such as the
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
,
bassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 1800s, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band, and chamber music literature...
,
clarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet...
, and also the
celloThe cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra...
.
The Telharmonium's demise came for a number of reasons. Its immense size, weight and power consumption (this being in an age before
vacuum tubeIn electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , thermionic valve, or valve is a device used to amplify, switch, otherwise modify, or create an electrical signal by controlling the movement of electrons in a low-pressure space...
s had been invented) caused obvious problems. In addition, problems began to arise when telephone broadcasts of Telharmonium music were subject to crosstalk and unsuspecting telephone users would be interrupted by strange electronic music. By 1912, interest in this revolutionary instrument had changed, and Cahill's company was later declared not successful in 1914.
Cahill died in 1934; his younger brother retained the Mark 1 for decades, but was unable to interest anyone in it. It was the last version to be scrapped, in 1962.
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