Pyrophone

The pyrophone is an organ -like keyboard instrument in which the glass pipes are excited by hydrogen flame to oscillate.

History

Originally invented the instrument in 1875 by Georges Eugène Frédéric Kastner. The instrument was offered by his mother at the International Exhibition of Inventions in 1885 in London. Among other things, Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross movement tried at the instance of Kastner's Mother Léonie Kastner boursault his luck in marketing this idea. However, he had not much success, because one of the first Pyrophone exploded at a concert organist and the injured.

Operation

The instrument used the so-called singing flames. As organ pipes glass tubes of different sizes were used, which were made ​​to vibrate instead of the usual organ building airflow over a labium means of small gas flame. Musical purity and increased sound volume was achieved by burner flames with several small ( 6 to 16, sometimes more ), whose extent was accurately measured for each tube. Depressing the keys then caused the division of burning in the corresponding tube a big flame in individual flames and brought in this way produce the desired tone.

The pyrophone comprised three chromatic octaves, corresponding to the 16 -, 8 - and 4- footed organ pipes. The tone was similar to the voice of a man. In the 19th century compositions include Wendelin Weißheimer works for flame organ, such as the pyrophone was also called. Even today, there are always artists that construct Pyrophone who then work up to date with propane gas and are equipped with MIDI interfaces.