Welte Mignon - The MIDI Of The Last Century

In the technical wonderworld of today, we take it for granted to use all kinds of recording and sound-reproducing techniques, as CD's, audio tapes, MP3, MIDI, Wave, iPod's, etc. ...! It's normal for us to listen to the interpretations of our favorite artists, whenever and wherever we are.

But a hundred years ago, this was impossible! There was no radio and no player at home. If you wanted to listen to a performance of your favorite artist that time, you had to go to a concert, he/she was given, sometimes many miles away from your home! In 1877 Thomas Alva Edison invented the first phonograph, but the results were not exactly brilliant and pleasing to the ear.

So, two young german men in Freiburg/Germany, Edwin Emil Welte and his brother-in-law Karl Bockisch thought about other and better methods to record and to reproduce piano-music. They founded "M.Welte & Sons" and after some years of development, they presented the first "Welte-Mignon reproducing piano" in 1905:

This apparatus consisted of a reconstructed Steinway-Grand Piano combined with a flexowriter.

This technique might remind us of the well-known Western Saloon Pianos, but with this apparatus it was not only possible to record the melody and chords, someone was playing on the piano, but also all dynamic and Pedal nuances.

Of course, this was a sensation that time and a lot of composers and pianists took the chance to record on this new technical achievement. Fortunately, a lot of those piano rolls have been well-preserved and in the 1990's, a lot of them were digitally recorded and released in a 5-CD-Set. So this ancient technical marvel gives us the chance to get an impression of the musical aesthetics of the time of the turn of the century. We can be very thankful, that the genius of those two german engineers gives us the possibility to listen to authentic interpretations of piano music of that era.

It's not so easy to find audio-examples in the WorldWideWeb, but after some time of searching, I found the following examples; so enjoy and while listening keep in mind, that this music was recorded a hundred years ago...:

Note: The examples are MP3 files and should work with "Microsoft Media Player" and "WinAmp" as well as "Real Player". You can also just click on one of the links and save it on your computer!

Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dance No. 1, Pianist: Arthur Nikisch, recorded: Feb.9.1906

(File size: 5 MB)

Franz Liszt, Étude of the Concert No.3 "Un Sospiro", Pianist: Frederick Lamond, recorded: Sep.27.1905

(File size: 7 MB)