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MUSICAL INSTKUMEOTS, AUTOMATIC. 



MANTEL ORCHE8TBONB. 



struction a metronome governor, by means of 

 which the motor can be set to any exact me- 

 tronome time, or the time varied at the will 

 of the performer. 



OPTIONAL EXPRESSION. 



Mechanical Pianos. These are usually up- 

 right, with the strings struck by little ham- 

 mers acted upon by a pegged cylinder of mu- 

 sic-box construction. When the instrument is 

 new and in good tone, the name is appropriate. 

 When mounted on wheels and out of order, as 

 it is very soon sure to be, it readily degener- 

 ates into the common street piano. 



The Pianista is an appendage to a piano. Un- 

 der the name pianista it is a French invention, 

 although it had a predecessor in the form of 

 an automaton. In the earlier part of the cent- 

 ury, Maillardet, a Swiss mechanic, exhibited the 

 figure of a lady seated at a piano. By means of 

 skillfully arranged machinery, the lady would 

 bow and look around over her audience, while 

 with heaving bosom she rattled off airs and 



operas to the number of eighteen from her 

 finger-ends on the piano key-board. The lim- 

 ited action of ten mechanical fingers yielded of 

 necessity to the improvement of a finger for 

 every key, and the pianista was the result. It 

 consisted of a small cabinet case of a length 

 and height sufficient to stand up to any 

 piano key-board. It contained a cylinder 

 and tablets of slotted paper passing in con- 

 secutive order over it, each tablet dropping 

 down when finished, to give place to its fel- 

 low. The slots acted upon levers, which 

 controlled little hammers extending beyond 

 the cabinet and resting lightly on the kejs 

 of the piano. By the turning of the crank 

 and consequent moving of the paper, the 

 keys were played on as by hand. For a me- 

 chanical construction it merited praise, but 

 the expression that comes from the touch of 

 a skilled performer, and is the very life and 

 soul of all music, was wanting. There was 

 simply a succession of blows on the keys, and 

 although it was more elegantly constructed, 

 it was but a trifle better than its cousin the 

 street piano. The credit of this invention is 

 given to M. Fourneaux, of France, in letters 

 patent, 1863. In 1852 Gauntlet, of England, 

 exhibited an apparatus whereby the power was 

 applied by electricity, but otherwise the instru- 

 ment remained unchanged. 



The Pianist. In 1880 M. Gaily constructed 

 an instrument which he called the pianist. 

 It is a departure from the French system, in 

 that it secures the needed expression. A se- 

 ries of automatic pi ay ing-fingers is constructed, 

 one finger for each key of the piano. The 

 striking portion of the finger, which corre- 



