1904 foot-pump Angelus Orchestral Piano Player reed organ Tannhauser paper roll p/b B. van Vliet

Bastiaan van Vliet foot-pumps his 1904 Angelus Orchestral Piano Player (which includes a reed organ) in a roll performance of the Overture to Wagner's Tannhauser. The arrangement was created ca. 1900 to take advantage of the musical capabilities of this costly and complex hybrid instrument.

Van Vliet operates manual controls in order to introduce dynamic modification, tempo adjustment, and to trigger the reed organ component of the Angelus at the appropriate moment. Van Vliet's Angelus was restored by him in collaboration with harmonium restorer Louis Huivenaar. It is positioned over the keys of van Vliet's 1895 Erard piano.

As seen in the video, a lengthy paper piano roll triggers the wood and metal fingers to "play" the piano as well as signal reed organ sounds via holes perforated in the paper. Foot-pumping drives the mechanism, causing the roll to travel across the tracker bar.

This brilliant roll arrangement of the Tannhauser Overture is unattributed, so we do not know the creator. It is a superb example of music created for this type of mechanism.

For additional related videos, see the Artis Wodehouse YouTube page at:    / @artiswodehouse  

Video was captured 8/29/22 by Artis Wodehouse, using an iPhone.