Welte'sWonder-Invention
Welte's orchestrion, with three figures in Biedermeier dress
Welte's Orchestrion
Michael Welte
The Clockmaker of Freiburg
To Michael Welte,
the chiming clock-
maker of a dreamy
hamlet in Germany,
belongs the distinction
of conceiving and build-
ing an instrument that would reproduce the
actual playing of a great pianist.
Though a clock-maker by trade, Welte
was given to study and invention
and being
called on to design a musical chime for a
clock, he conceived the idea of having the
chimes play a tune.
On the
accuracy and novelty of his chim-
ing clocks, Michael Welte, in 1832, founded
the firm of M. Welte & Sons, a venerable in-
stitution now located at Freiburg, Germany.
The years elapsed and Welte's clocks
chimed the passage of the hours from man-
tles in every nook of Europe, while the firm
that had begun so humbly had acquired a
continental prestige.
In 1849, after three years of patient toil,
Michael Welte brought forth his first Orches-
trion, the clumsy forerunner of the marvelous
Philharmonic Organs of the present day.
"It
was a wonder of mechanical perfection, con-
taining eleven hundred pipes, that were
brought to playing by thousands of small
pins, representing the harmonies and melo-
dies of musical compositions thus 'written'
on three large wooden cylinders, that moved
with a startling precision as had been thought
impossible before."
Many years before Edison dreamed his
thrilling dream of the phonograph the fame
of Welte's new invention had traveled
through all Europe
and soon the business of
chiming clocks gave way to the making of
mechanically operated musical instruments.
Dukes and statesmen, musicians of low rank
and high rank, came from afar to listen and
marvel at Michael Welte's astounding crea-
tion. The firm expanded and the business of
M. Welte & Sons attained large proportions.
In 1865, Emil Welte, a son of the founder,
Welte's Wonder Invention
came to America where success was instan-
taneous. The demand for Welte's Orches-
trions, coming now from two hemispheres, led,
in 1872, to the removal to Freiburg, which
thus became the musical shrine of Europe.
Eight years later Michael Welte, the clock-
maker, closed his eyes forever, leaving his
sons endowed with his own inventive genius.
In 1887, Emil Welte
startled the world by the
invention of a paper music-roll in connection
with a pneumatic action,
thus eliminating
the bulky wooden cylinders and giving the
instrument an unlimited repertoire.
Portrait of Michael Welte
Michael Welte
Welte's workshop: Michael Welte and visitors around an orchestrion
Welte's Workshop - The Mecca of Great Musicians
A woman and a man sitting, listening to
a Welte Grand.
Welte's Dream of Living Music -- A Reality
It was only natural that the artistic develop-
ment of Welte Orchestrions and Philhar-
monic Organs should have led the thoughts
of the Weltes onward and upward to the idea
of recording the playing of the musician
and applying to the piano a new principle
-that of reproducing the artist's playing
by means of an automatic instrument.
Thus was conceived Welte-Mignon* (pro-
nounced Well-tee Meen-yon) or "Little
Welte," as it was designated to distinguish
it from the large instruments on which
the Welte reputation and business had been
established.
Thus M. Welte & Sons were the origina-
tors of the idea of reproducing the playing of
pianists, and were granted the original, basic
patents on reproducing mechanisms now em-
ployed in the Welte-Mignon* Reproducing
Action manufactured by the Auto Pneumatic
Action Company, under a license granting
the unrestricted use of these patents in manu-
facturing reproducing actions for the piano
industry.
Perfect Reproduction – The Secret of Welte Mignon*
The Welte-Mignon* method of recording
a player's performance is photographic.
Through this
secret photographic process
-
possessed only by Welte-Mignon,* available
only to Welte-Mignon* - the artist's play-
ing is actually photographed – his tempo, his
speaking notes, his dynamics,
those subtle
things that infuse an artist's very soul into
his playing.
These photographs show precisely the pres-
sure with which the artist strikes the keys,
whether ever so lightly-pianissimo-or with
the vigor of fortissimo.
And this photo-
graphic record is so perfect–so identically
the physical impression of the master's per-
formance,
that he is never called upon to edit
or arrange the recording. Thus, editing the
recording of a great pianist is not necessary
with Welte-Mignon* and only with Welte-
Mignon* is it not necessary.
Herein lies the vast difference between
Welte-Mignon* recordings of great pianists
and those of all other reproducing mechan-
isms.
The World's Greatest Pianists record for Welte-Mignon*
Many musicians and masters whose names
gleam like stars in the firmament of music
have paid glowing tribute to Welte-Mig-
non.* From every corner of the world come
musicians to inscribe their matchless art on
the imperishable pages of Welte-Mignon's*
ever-growing library of music.
De Pach-
mann,
Paderewski,
Bloomfield-Zeisler,
Levy,
Singer,
Pouishnoff,
Gieseking,
Liebling,
Saar and
Boguslawski
are but
*Licensed under original Welte-Mignon patents
a few of the great artists whose playing you
may hear on Welte-Mignon.*
The famed Welte-Mignon* Library of in-
terpreted music is without a doubt the most
comprehensive in the world of music, con-
taining more than two thousand selections,
embracing practically every musical compo-
sition through which the master composers
of the past two centuries have immortalized
themselves.
Semi-transparent pianist sitting at an opened
Welte Grand.
phantom hands of the Masters on your keyboard
Welte Mignon Puts the Phantom-
Hands of the Masters on your keyboard
Welte-Mignon* brings you living
music. Welte-Mignon* makes hu-
man the mechanical reproduction of
music.
It supplies the soul and the
personality which the individual art-
ist puts into his playing.
No one sits
at the piano.
Only the phantomhands of the masters touch the keys
-and you listen to the music as
masters play it-rhythm, tone, col-
or, quality, individuality. Just lis-
ten!
You will be amazed and con-
vinced because the spirit of Michael
Welte, the chiming clock-maker of
Freiburg lives in every Welte-
Mignon Reproducing Action.
Welte Mignon*
The Reproducing Piano
With the Welte-Mignon* Re-
producing Piano-i.e., any piano
*Licensed under original Welte-Mignon patents
equipped with the marvelous Welte-
Mignon Licensee Action - a selec-
tion is played for you
with all the
skill, warmth and color, and all the
delicate shades of tone as though
the pianist were seated at your piano
in person.
In this respect the Welte-
Mignon Reproducing Piano stands
supreme. It has no peer. It is per-
fection.
112 reasons why you should select
a piano equipped with the
Welte Mignon*
Reproducing Action,
Select a Welte-Mignon* Repro-
ducing Piano first of all because it
embodies the genius of Michael
Welte, and then, again, select it be-
cause 112 of America's most promi-
nent piano manufacturers have se-
lected Welte-Mignon* as the only
reproducing action for their piano.
This fact in itself is ample testimony
of the greatness of Welte-Mignon.*
Auto Pneumatic Action Co.
W.C. Heaton, Pres.
653 West 51st St., New York
Welte-Mignon
(Licensee)
The Master's Fingers on your piano.
Portraits of pianists.
Framed vignette: a hand at a piano keyboard