Harmony flute
Piano system: 37 keys (pressure wind instrument)
(Collection Oriwohl, Nr. IV-68)
Manufacture: Co. Busson (Paris) around 1855.
Range: f - f3; (individual tuning plates and reeds made of brass)
From organ building the first independent instruments with reeds were built around 1810. A decisive step in the development of this instrument was taken by Anton Haeckel from Vienna with his Physharmonika (in the picture a comparable later successor).
In 1821 A. Haeckel had patented asymmetrical reeds for this new type of instrument, which sounded only in one wind direction, but had a much better sound quality.
The keyboard and bellows had long been known from small portable organs (portatives).
In the new instruments (like the one pictured), free reeds were installed as tone generators instead of the usual organ pipes.
The leather air duct connecting the bellows to the windchet.
"Busson, ..., Paris" (manufacturer)
"Dumas Frère, Constantinopel" (probably a trader)
Back view
Comparable instruments operated by hand bellows are still played in in the traditional music of India.
The instruments with the finely shaped tones are often seen in old illustrations in the hands of ladys.
But gentlemen also press the bellows and reach into the keys.
"Holding the Harmony Flute with One Hand"
from a French game manual from 1863.
On instruments whose bellows were moved by means of a pedal, it was also possible to play two-handed.
Part of a painting by Thomas Graham from 1864:
"A young Bohemian" with a harmony flute in her hands.
The painting can be found in the National Gallery of Scotland.
