The collection features nearly 700 rare, beautiful and intriguing mechanical musical instruments and automata dating from the late 16th to the early 20th centur, as well as more than 5,000 programmed media (ranging from player piano rolls to pinned cylinders). The musical boxes, mechanical organs, orchestrions and mechanically-activated lifelike figures reflect exquisite craftsmanship, innovative technology and dynamic sound.

A Music and Entertainment Technology Milestone
A major milestone in the evolution of music and technology, the mechanical musical devices encompass the first form of music-on-demand, serving as a precursor to today’s technology of recorded sound.

Mechanical musical instruments, including musical boxes, carousel organs and player pianos, effectively paved the way for today’s sound entertainment industry. While mechanical music is centuries old, it is cylinder boxes – the core of the Murtogh D. Guinness collection – that first put automatic music in the hands of more people. First made in Switzerland and France during the late 17th century as expensive luxury items, surviving cylinder musical boxes provide a living link to the arias, overtures and waltzes of the time. The production of disc musical boxes in the 19th century was expanded to Switzerland and Germany as well as to the United States, where New Jersey became the home of America’s most important musical box makers. Disc boxes were relatively affordable and offered more popular music, enhancing their access and appeal. Eventually, mechanical musical instruments gave way to changing leisure habits and new sounds, including that of the phonograph, which ushered in a new era of recorded sound.

Automata, mechanical figures that mimic human and animal behavior often accompanied by music, were born out of a European clock-making tradition and were designed for the entertainment of adults and children alike. In the 18th century, showmen and magicians put handmade French automata on display for enthusiastic crowds who marveled at their life-like qualities. While the automata of the 18th century were intended for exhibition in various public and private places, those of the 19th century were made for enjoyment in the home as well. These pieces ranged from mechanical acrobats who performed routines to small animals that walked across the floor. The popularity of automata peaked in the mid-19th century when most of the famous French manufacturers flourished, including Blaise and Seraphim Bontems, the Decamps, Gustave Vichy, Jean Roullet and Alexandre Theroude, among many others.

Together, mechanical musical instruments and automata represent the first form of “entertainment-on-demand” and a pivotal point in the history of music and entertainment technology.

The Murtogh D. Guinness Collection

Mechanical Musical Instruments
The Murtogh D. Guinness collection of mechanical musical instruments is one of the most extensive and diverse collections in the world. It features every category of musical box made between the late 16th century and the early 20th century, with cylinder and disc musical boxes providing the core of the collection. Mr. Guinness preferred Swiss musical boxes of the comb and cylinder type, and therefore, they constitute one-third of his collection. In all, objects in the collection range from the simple to the elaborate and include a veritable sea of machines, from musical boxes and street organs to orchestrions (automatic orchestras). The mechanical instruments play a wide variety of musical genres including opera, folk, ragtime and polka.

Highlights of the mechanical musical instrument collection include:

• Limonaire "Orchestrophone": With its “art noveau” design and loud and colorful musical arrangements, this fairground organ – known as an "Orchestrophone" – was made to entertain the public in such outdoor locations as fairs, carousels, and festivals. Sometimes called a "carousel" or "band" organ, this mechanical musical instrument boasts 108 pipes, enabling a melody to be carried on flute, violin, and clarinet pipes, accompanied by trombone, piccolo, and trumpet pipes. A snare drum, bass drum and cymbal add to the mix. This stunning piece was made by Limonaire Freres, Paris, France c. 1910.
  
  
• Street Organ with Animated Figures: Dating c. 1820-1840, this street organ (also called a barrel organ) offers a rich, social snapshot of street life during the early 19th century. It is a hefty piece containing the hand-driven mechanism and four ranks of (85) organ pipes, but the organ grinder was obliged to carry it from place to place with the aid of a leather strap fitted to its side handles. The lid opens to reveal a display of 16 animated characters, including Napoleon! The 22-key organ plays ten tunes, including the Bonaparte March. Both the music and the animations are activated by the pinning on a rotating, wooden music cylinder, or barrel. The moving figures were an aid to the organ grinder and a part of the act, as the grinder would recount entertaining stories about each of the characters to those, young and old, who were gathered about. This organ’s maker was probably Ignatz Blasius Bruder of Simonswald and Waldkirch in the Black Forest, Germany, whose family descendants continued to build organs well into the 20th century.
  
  
• Cylinder Musical Box with inset Clock and Bells: Though the earliest cylinder musical boxes of the late 1700s and early 1800s generally had plain cases, later makers made increasingly elaborate (and expensive) boxes like the one displayed here. Its burled walnut lid with inlaid banding and floral decoration is as much a work of art as a mechanical musical instrument. This musical box plays six operatic tunes, each accompanied by six saucer bells. The clock can be set to play a melody just before it strikes the hour. It was likely made by L. Ducommon et Cie, Geneva, Switzerland in 1863.

Automata
Mr. Guinness gathered a collection of automata that remains one of the largest and finest in the world. It begins with an automaton clock made before 1600 and extends through the 19th century. Their meticulous craftsmanship and profoundly realistic movements showcase the awesome talents of their ingenious makers from both an artistic and technological perspective. The stunning collection features an array of magicians, acrobats, animals, dancing girls and singing exotic birds, just to mention a few. The mechanical luxury toys, intended to amuse youngsters, are often a simpler type of automata. These include a menagerie of walking animals such as lions, tigers, bears, cats, dogs, monkeys, crocodiles, elephants and pigs.

Highlights of the automata collection include:

• "Mephistopheles, Model No. 1" (from the opera Faust): Made c. 1886-1900 by Léopold Lambert in Paris, this large figure is styled after the devilish character in Charles Gounod’s opera Faust. To a waltz from Faust and the Aida March, “Mephisto” turns and nods his head and blinks his eyes. While his right hand moves as if strumming the music, his lower jaw moves as if he is singing a song (the music is actually provided by a concealed, cylinder musical movement). Lambert exhibited this particular model at the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris.
  
  
• Clown Illusionist: An adorable clown performs a trick that results in his head disappearing and then magically reappearing on a table with his eyes blinking. A gentle wave of the feather fan and the head reappears on the clown's body. Made by Phalibois in France c. 1890-1900, the piece stands 33 ½ inches high.

Murtogh D. Guinness (1913-2002): Capturing the Magic of Music and Technology
A descendant of the prominent Guinness brewing family, Murtogh D. Guinness developed a fascination with mechanical musical instruments and automata from an early age. Widely traveled, he was exposed to the arts, music and architecture while he was very young. In the 1920s, his mother took him to Breguet in Paris, a well-known shop that sold clocks, watches and related items, and offered him the opportunity to select just one piece. He chose a pop-up mechanical singing bird in a silver case bearing his initials. This purchase launched a lifelong passion and marked the genesis of one of the world’s most important collections of its kind.

While Mr. Guinness was always attracted to technical innovation, it was not until 20 years later that he began collecting mechanical musical instruments and automata in earnest. At that point, he moved first to Bermuda before settling in Barbados and New York City with his wife Anne and their two Yorkshire terriers. He tried to integrate his musical box collection into the Caribbean house, but owing to the balmy climate, he ultimately had a portion of his collection travel back and forth with him to Barbados before all were finally kept in New York City.

In the 1940s and ‘50s, New York City was rife with opportunities to expand and upgrade Mr. Guinness’ collection. His first residence was a home on East 35th Street, where he cultivated relationships with the flood of antique dealers and people descended from the golden years of disc box production in New Jersey. As a result, his collection began to flourish. In 1960-61, Mr. Guinness purchased a townhouse on East 80th Street and converted the bottom floor to accommodate his collection. Before long, he built not only the largest but also one of the most important known collections of these devices in the Western hemisphere. In 1967, he purchased and added on to the twin townhouse on East 80th Street to make room for his accumulated marvels. In the process, Mr. Guinness had acquired an astonishing collection of musical boxes, fairground organs, orchestrions (featuring player pianos, cymbals, and bells) and more from all over the world.

Murtogh D. Guinness is remembered not only for his fantastic collection, but also for his overwhelming graciousness and hospitality. Mr. Guinness said it best when he concluded his collection booklet with the following statement: “Let me acknowledge the deep satisfaction that the gathering of this collection has afforded me, a satisfaction all the richer for having been shared with fellow enthusiasts.”