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Choralcelo #4 Console

Date1915 ca.

Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America

Serial No.164

DescriptionA choralcelo console, with the usual upright piano action acting on strings, which could also be sounded by electromagnets. Two manuals (lower, compass AAA-c5; upper, compass AA to c4). Includes a roll-player mechanism. Inlaid decoration (rather than the usual carving, as on the consoles of NMM 11314 and 11315). The serial number 164 indicates that it was made in 1915, just after the Lake Mohonk instrument (NMM 11314), with serial numbers 156 (on the console) and 163 (on the remote string unit). Brass metal plate on front, just above roll-player opening that reads:

IN MEMORY OF / REGENE FARRINGTON / CHORALCELIST / EXTRAORDINAIRE / FOR / 67 YEARS / 1977

Wade Jenkins acquired this console separately and, as it is in better condition than the other consoles (of NMM 11314 and 11315, in which some of the internal parts are corroded), intended to use it with the other units of NMM 11315.

The original pedalboard of this console has been lost. (The pedalboard associated with this console in the NMM display was obtained by Wade Jenkins from an organ - see written tag on object for more info).

There is an original matching bench.
ProvenanceUncertain; however, a brass metal plate on front reads: "IN MEMORY OF / REGENE FARRINGTON / CHORALCELIST / EXTRAORDINAIRE / FOR / 67 YEARS / 1977."
Published ReferencesJohn Koster, “Choralcelo, The- An Electrifying Acquisition- A Personal Odyssey,” _National Music Museum Newsletter_ 34, No. 1 (February 2007), pp. 4-5.
errata: #11316 is switched with #11317

Credit LineGift of C. Wade Jenkins, 2006

Object number11317

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