An Austrian organ grinder (locally called "Werklmann") with his paper-roll driven Berlin style barrel organ in Vienna

The organ grinder was a musical novelty street performer of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, and refers to the operator of a street organ. Download high resolution version (480x898, 89 KB)Barrel organ player in Vienna, Austria in 2002. ... Download high resolution version (480x898, 89 KB)Barrel organ player in Vienna, Austria in 2002. ... Location of Berlin within Germany / EU Coordinates Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE3 City subdivisions 12 boroughs Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD) Governing parties SPD / Left. ... A barrel organ player in Vienna, Austria. ... Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Busking is the practice of doing live performances in public places to entertain people, usually to solicit donations and tips. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... A Street organ is a mechanical organ designed to play in the street. ...

Period literature often represents the grinder as a gentleman of ill repute or as an unfortunate representative of the lower classes. Newspaper reporters would sometimes describe them cynically or jocularly as minor extortionists who were paid to keep silent, given the repetitious nature of the music. Later depictions would stress the romantic or picturesque aspects of the activity. Whereas some organ grinders were itinerants or vagabonds, many were recent immigrants who chose to be street performers in order to support their families. Those who actually owned their barrel organs were more likely to take care of them and pursue the "profession" more seriously. A few organ grinders still remain, perhaps most famously Joe Bush in the United States. For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... Joe Bush is a well-traveled organ grinder, one of the last in the dying business that reached its height in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ...

Exceptionally, the grinder could be a woman, or small child, cranking away on a smaller organ or on a large organ mounted on a pushcart that was sometimes pulled by a donkey. More often than not the grinder was a man, bearing a medium sized barrel organ held in front of him and supported by a hinged or removable wooden stick or leg that was strapped to the back of the organ. The strap around his neck would balance the organ, leaving one hand free to turn the crank and the other to steady the organ. A tin cup on top of the organ or in the hand of a companion (or an animal) was used to solicit payments for his performance. There was an endless variation in the size of the organ. The size varied from a small organ with only 20 notes weighing only 18 pounds to a huge barrel organ with hundreds of pipes weighing several hundred pounds. Larger organs were usually mounted on a cart, although organ grinders were known to carry an instrument weighing over 100 pounds. The most elaborate organs could even have mechanical figures or automata mounted on top of or in the front of the case. Binomial name Equus asinus Linnaeus, 1758 For other uses, see Donkey (disambiguation). ... A barrel organ player in Vienna, Austria. ... An automaton (plural: automata) is a self-operating machine. ...

The grinder would crank his organ in a public place (either a business district or in a neighborhood), moving from place to place after collecting a few coins or in order to avoid being arrested for loitering or chased by persons who would not appreciate hearing his single tune over and over again. The grinder would often have as a companion a White-headed Capuchin monkey to do tricks and attract attention. The monkey would collect the money from the audience and sometimes collect other shiny objects that attracted his attention. Other attractions might be parrots, dogs, dancing bears and members of the organ grinder's family who would dance and sing. Binomial name Cebus capucinus (Linnaeus, 1758) The White-headed Capuchin (Cebus capucinus), also known as the White-faced Capuchin or White-throated Capuchin, is a small New World monkey of the family Cebidae, subfamily Cebinae. ...

Many cities in the United Kingdom had ordinances prohibiting organ grinders. The authorities often encouraged policemen to treat the grinders as beggars or public nuisances. In Paris there was a limited number of permits for organ grinders, and entry in that reserved circle was based on a waiting list or seniority system. In New York City (USA), there were as many as 1500 organ grinders on the streets at a time - one on almost every block. City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

Music lovers usually hated the organ grinders, since most grinders seemed to be tone deaf and lacking any sense of rhythm. They apparently were not interested in keeping their instrument in tune or cranking at a rate suited to the music which was "programmed" in their barrel organ. This was most likely true of the organs that were rented for the day from "organ liveries". The organ grinder would pick up an organ in a small store-front shop and then walk or take the streetcar to his chosen neighborhood. After moving from block to block throughout the day, they would return the organ to the livery and pay a portion of their take to the owner. Often, they would make more money than was earned by the people who made donations. Of course, they dressed shabbily to conceal this fact. City dwellers who needed some measure of quiet for their writings or their scientific reflections could absolutely loathe organ grinders. Charles Dickens wrote to a friend that he could not write for more than half an hour without being disturbed by the most excruciating sounds imaginable, coming in from barrel organs on the street. Charles Babbage was a particularly virulent enemy of the organ grinders. He would chase them around town, complain to authorities about their noisy presence, and forever ask the police to arrest them. Yehudi Menuhin on the other hand is quoted to have said: "we musicians must stick together" while handing an organ-grinder some change. For the popular Tamil film, see Rhythm (film) Rhythm (Greek = flow, or in Modern Greek, style) is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events. ... Dickens redirects here. ... Charles Babbage (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English mathematician, philosopher, mechanical engineer and (proto-) computer scientist who originated the idea of a programmable computer. ... Yehudi Menuhin album cover Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE (April 22, 1916 – March 12, 1999) was a Jewish-born, American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom and eventually became a British citizen. ...

According to Ord-Hume the disappearance of organ grinders from European streets was in large part due to the early application of national and international Copyright laws. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century European publishers of sheet music and the holders of copyrights to the most popular operatic tunes of the day often banded together in order to enforce collection of performance duties from any musician playing their property in any venue. When faced with notaries and the hounding of other legal representatives of the "music industry" of the time, in addition to the other sources of hostility mentioned above organ grinders soon disappeared. In Germany organ grinders were banned by Adolf Hitler. Street organs were banned in New York City in 1936 by Fiorello LaGuardia. An unfortunate consequence was the destruction of hundreds of organs. This was unfortunate because the barrels in these organ contained a record of the popular music of the day. Before the invention of the cylinder record player, this was the only permanent recording of these tunes. The law that banned barrel organ in New York was repealed in 1976 but that mode of musical performance had become obsolete by then. However, organ grinders did return to New York on the 9th of April 2006, when the first organ rally in the area was held on Coney Island. Articles with similar titles include copywrite. ... Hitler redirects here. ... New York, NY redirects here. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (December 11, 1882–September 20, 1947) was the Mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

There are still persons, at the beginning of the 3rd millennium, who own and sometimes operate a barrel organ on a street. They have very little in common with the calling of the organ grinder of yore. For instance, it is considered lucky for a couple in Denmark to have a barrel organ playing outside on the morning of their 25th wedding anniversary, thus creating a small niche for professional musicians or musicologists capable of tuning one of the few surviving barrel organs, and interested in maintaining an old tradition in their spare time.

In addition to a few antique barrel organs, there are many more modern organs that have been built. These do not operate on pinned barrels anymore, but use perforated paper rolls (analogous to player pianos) or perforated cardboard book music (this method is mostly to be found in France Orgue de Barbarie, Holland or Belgium) and sometimes even electronic Microchip- and/or MIDI-systems. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Piano roll. ... The player piano is a type of piano that plays music without the need for a human pianist to depress the normal keys or pedals. ... Book Music is the European version of making mechanical music medium for organs in Europe and it is actually similar to piano rolls, but book music is produced by thick cardboard, with perforated holes, and it is presented and played in a folded zig-zag style. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ...

The picture on this page is a good example for a modern organ grinder, as he is very well dressed. Some organ grinders like to dress in period-costumes, albeit not necessarily the period-clothes of an organ-grinder. He would be found at an "organ rally" (in case of the picture the "MEMUSI"-event in Vienna), where lots of enthusiasts would come together and entertain on the streets, but equally so at a wedding (usually performing the "Lohengrin"-tune) or at any other event where he might be chosen over hiring an entire band or a deejay. Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... A Deejay (in a dancehall context) sings or toasts to an instrumental riddim (rhythm). ...

Larger organs are not usually turned by hand, but use an electric motor. Such larger instruments are called a fairground organ, band organ or orchestrion. Fairground organ A fairground organ is a pipe organ which is not played from a keyboard, but rather by mechanical means such as music roll or book music, and designed originally to be used on a fairground or in the United States on a carousel or in a dance-hall... The name orchestrion has been applied to three different kinds of musical instruments: A chamber organ, designed by Abt Vogler in 1785, which in a space of 9 cub. ...

An organ grinder appears in the 1932 "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" movie entitled "Scarface." The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ... Scarface (also known as Scarface, the Shame of the Nation and The Shame of a Nation) is a 1932 gangster film of the Pre-Code era which tells the story of gang warfare and police intervention when rival gangs fight over control of a city. ...

References

• Ord-Hume, Arthur W.J G. Barrel Organ: The Story of the Mechanical Organ and Its Repair. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978.
• Reblitz, Arthur A. The Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments. Woodsville, New Hampshire: Mechanical Music Press, 2001.
• Reblitz, Arthur A., Q. David Bowers. Treasures of Mechanical Music. New York: The Vestal Press, 1981.
• Smithsonian Institution. History of Music Machines. New York: Drake Publishers, 1975.
• Mechanical Music Digest. http://mmd.foxtail.com (since 1995).

See also

• Mechanical organ
• Street organ
• Joe Bush

A Mechanical organ is an organ that is self playing, rather than played by a musician. ... A Street organ is a mechanical organ designed to play in the street. ... Joe Bush is a well-traveled organ grinder, one of the last in the dying business that reached its height in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ...

External links

• A photo of a 1930's American organ grinder
• Musique Mécanique ~ THE HISTORY OF MECHANICAL MUSIC