The mélophone is a portable free reed instrument first constructed by Parisian watchmaker Pierre Charles Leclerc in 1837.[1] After persuasion from Leclerc, composer Fromental Halévy included the instrument in his 1838 opera, Guido et Ginevra and briefly popularized the instrument.[2] However, by 1855, the novelty had worn off and the instrument faded into relative obscurity.[3]
References
edit- ^ Libin, Laurence (2015). "Mélophone". The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780199743391.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-974339-1.
- ^ Lavoix, Henri Marie François (1878). Histoire de L'instrumentation: Depuis le Seizième Siècle Jusqu'à Nos Jours (in French). Firmin Didot. p. 155. OCLC 751505.
- ^ Snoeck, Cesar Charles (1894). Catalogue de la Collection D'instruments de Musique Anciens ou Curieux (in French). Vuylsteke. p. 18. OCLC 902879877.
External links
edit- Media related to Mélophone at Wikimedia Commons
- Details from the Metropolitan Museum of Art