How home audio developed – from song nights to the first mechanical players

Let’s talk about how the culture of musical consumption and what technological innovations contributed to this. We will start our story (in several parts) from the 17th century – then, in order to listen to music at home, we had to play it ourselves.


Photo Lex Aliviado / Unsplash

Tradition of making music

Music has long been a popular form of entertainment both in Russia and abroad. In Western Europe, a family music culture started to develop in the 17th century.

Music among friends was played by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and other famous composers. For example, home meetings in the Bach family always ended in a concert. He personally taught the children and was proud that the performance of the household could be organized.

Also at that time concerts in aristocratic salons became popular – eg, in the Chopin family. The composer’s father played the violin, and his mother played the piano. At the so-called “Chopin Thursdays” came many friends of the composer: both scientists and artists.

The culture of music salons was brought to Russia by Emperor Peter I. His decree “About Assemblies“From 1718 served as an impetus for the development of secular entertainment traditions, similar to those that already reigned in the West. The nobles began to organize amateur orchestras in order to, to the delight of the guests, perform the current European repertoire. Romances and Nocturnes sounded in musical drawing rooms of different families, and lyrical music has become an invariable part of the rituals of secular courtship.

Mechanical “self-games”

Given the social inequality of the eighteenth century, it is not surprising that such a kind of activity as home music playing was available exclusively to wealthy citizens. However, by the end of the 19th century, the situation began to change. Pianos have become popular among the middle class. At the same time, those who did not want to play had new ways to listen to music in the living room.

Perhaps the most budgetary of these methods was polyphoninvented by German engineers from Polyphon Musikwerke in 1870. The device was a kind of music box with removable disks. They were supplied to the European, Anglo-American and Russian markets. Basically they recorded various classic compositions and spiritual music.


Photo Alma pater / CC BY-SA

There were several versions of the polyphon for disks from 15 to 62 cm. Some models “built in»During floor hours to save space in the living room. Others – accommodated multiple discs simultaneously as CD changers. These are usually installed in public places to entertain guests.

Over time, polyphons have become obsolete. Polyphon Musikwerke, a development company, has joined Deutsche Grammophon and is already under the name Polydor engaged in the production of phonograph records. This label remains one of the most influential in the industry to this day.

The second tool that gained popularity at the turn of the century was mechanical piano. One of the first such devices was developed by Edwin Votey in 1895.

The system was equipped with a “reader” of perforated tapes with recorded compositions. At first, the slots were made manually, but at the beginning of the 20th century there was a technical opportunity to capture the game of real pianists on perforated paper. To the mallets of the piano connected A special device piercing the tape when a musician presses a key.

Owners of mechanical pianos were able to listen to famous performers from the comfort of home. On tapes for mechanical pianos, many unique musical artifacts have reached our days. There are recordings of performances by Debussy, Rachmaninov, Scriabin and their contemporaries.

There were other instruments for making home music – for example, disclavir. This is an automated keyboard instrument developed by Yamaha in 1982. The mechanical components were driven by electromechanical solenoids and optical sensors connected to the LEDs.

But devices like a mechanical piano were bulky and expensive. Not everyone could afford to own them. Therefore, at the end of the 19th century, audio systems began to appear that were more oriented towards a wide market – including phonographs and gramophones. We will talk more about this historical period in the next article.


Additional reading in the “Hi-Fi World”:

Bobbiniki: a brief history of reel tape recorders and a growing interest in the audio gadget today
Finds of an audio man: where to listen to the music of bygone eras
Forgotten audio formats: 8-track Stereo 8 tape
How speech synthesis appeared on PC


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