As Q. David Bowers so eloquently
states in his Encyclopaedia of Automatic Musical 
Instruments,
"What makes an old-time automatic
musical instrument interesting?...It may be the elusive, never-to-be-recaptured
feeling of an earlier era...an era that, somehow, seems to be wistfully
carefree and nostalgic...The sound produced by a carefully restored instrument
is the exact sound that our ancestors heard and enjoyed. The performance
that delights you today may have delighted in exactly the same way Napoleon,
Queen Victoria, the King of Siam, a San Francisco theatre, or a Paris streetwalker
years ago. The emotions of another time, another place...the entertainment
of another era comes to life unaltered and undimmed today."
Thousands of visitors,
young and old, have been captivated by this incredible collection of automatic
music machines spanning two centuries. Nickelodeons pound out the tunes
of Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan and John Philip Sousa. Intricate,
beautifully-tuned music boxes, created by nineteenth-century German and
Swiss craftsmen, tinkle enchantingly in the same manner as they did one hundred
years ago. Merry-go-round band organs roar to life with explosions
of melody.
|
