Physharmonika
Alternate name(s)
- Physharmonica
- Reed organ
Maker
Anton Haeckel
Date1825 ca.
Place MadeVienna, Austria, Europe
Serial No.118
SignedPrinted paper label in a long oval cartouche on the interior of the lid over the keyboard: Mit k.k. ausschliessendem Privilegium verfertigt / und erfunden von / ANTON HÆCKEL. / Ungargasse No. 330. / WIEN.MarkingsPrinted paper label (with serial number handwritten in ink) pasted to the blue silk internal cover behind the keys: No. ii8 / Verfertiget die Physharmonika zu / 3 und 6 Oktav auch in Verbindung / mit Piano-Forte.
DescriptionCompass: G-a2 (3+ octaves)
Mahogany-veneered case in Biedermeier style. Naturals ivory with plain bone fronts; sharps ebony on black-stained pear wood. Brass reeds and reed plates.
The keyboard, reeds, and bellows are contained in a mahogany-veneered case.
Compass G to a2 (39 notes; 3+ octaves), at 4’ (octave) pitch; naturals ivory, with plain bone fronts; sharps ebony on black-stained pear wood.
Leather pads on the undersides of the distal ends of the keys serve as valves to let air escape through small slots directly over the reeds, thereby letting them sound.
The board supporting the keyboard on its upper side and holding the reeds underneath serves as the upper board of the wind chest.
The reeds, which are glued to the board, consist of individual slotted brass plates with brass tongues each held to its plates by a bar attached with two iron screws. They were fine-tuned by putting a small globule of wax at the free end and then scraping away small amounts.
The pitch (A = 439 hz) and equal temperament probably remain from Haeckel’s original tuning.
The upper board, with its attached pieces serving as the sides of the wind chest, is held down by L-shaped hooks passing through small slots in the lower board, which is part of the structure of the main case. Three round holes cut in this board and later sealed with cloth and leather beneath have no obvious function. Since the Haeckel physharmonika in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (no. 89.4.2496, examined by me in 1990/91), has a similar set of patched holes, these are certainly part of the original construction in both instruments. Perhaps they somehow served to admit wind from a large reservoir associated with a tuning bench.
Below the wind chest are the single-fold reservoir bellows with its lower board serving as the upper board of the single-fold feeder bellows, from which an arm extends through a slot at the left end of the case.
The bottom of the case is closed by a screwed-on board. Two pedals and associated levers are attached to the stand. The left pedal engages the arm of the feeder bellows, while the right pedal closes a valve over the hole through which wind enters the wind chest, possibly intended as a piano effect (see comment below). The valve can also be closed by pressing down the brass button in the bass endblock of the keyboard.
Decoratively, the instrument is in the comparatively plain Biedermeier style. There is a brass escutcheon plate with foliate detail on the front of the case for the lock. The stand, with its elegantly curved legs and stretcher, is stained black, with small brass spheres atop the feet of the three legs.
Example built by inventor. Case in Biedermeier style
Haeckel first obtained his Privilegium (patent) in 1821, when his address was an der Wien Nr. 68 (see Hopfner, op. cit.). By 1826 he had moved to Ungargasse Nr. 330. For NMM 12,353, a dating of circa 1825 is reasonable.
The right pedal (duplicated by the button in the bass endblock) is called a forte in the Haeckel physharmonikas described in the Hague and Leipzig catalogues. This would imply that the valve was normally closed until acted upon by the pedal or hand stop to increase the wind supply, but the drawings in the Leipzig catalogue show the same arrangement of levers as in NMM 12,353 and the example at the Metropolitan Museum, in which pedal and handstops close the valve, reducing the flow of wind. Thus, it would seem to have been intended a piano effect. One should note, however, that neither the pedal nor the hand stop has any perceivable effect on the sound.
DimensionsCase:
Length: 516 mm
Width: 175 mm
Height: 148 mm
Total height with stand and lid: 733 mm
Three-octave measure of the keyboard (width of 21 natural fronts): 418 mm
Length, natural heads: 28 mm
Length, sharps (at their bottom): 48 mm
Published ReferencesJohn Koster, "What the H'kel! A Rare Early Physharmonika Enriches NMM's Reed-Organ Holdings," National Music Museum Newsletter 33, No. 4 (November 2006), pp. 4-5.
Credit LineDe and David Knudson Fund, 2006
Object number12353
On View
On view
