Obsolete Instruments

[MaestroDJS]

Of all the many and various musical instruments which have come and gone, relatively few have become firmly accepted. Therefore the question is probably not "Why are the many no longer used?" but instead "Why have the few succeeded?" The reasons are probably as many and as varied as the instruments themselves: saxhorns, serpents, viols etc. etc. etc.

The most famous obsolete instrument may be the arpeggione, remembered almost exclusively for the sonata which Franz Schubert composed for it. Invented in 1823 by the Viennese guitar maker Johann Georg Staufer (1778-1853), the arpeggione was essentially a bowed guitar. It was a 6-stringed, fretted instrument and was tuned just like a guitar, but held between the knees while it was played with a bow.

This web site has a concise description of the arpeggione:

The Arpeggione
http://www.discordia-music.com/Arpeggio ... ggione.htm

Equally importantly, this web site explains why the arpeggione failed to catch on.

"The arpeggione's rapid extinction could have occurred for many reasons. Any luthier who has attempted to design, build, and then introduce a new instrument to classical performers will tell you that it is an uphill battle; the likelihood of failure is extremely high. In the case of the arpeggione, Staufer's miscalculation was twofold, both of mechanics and aesthetics. Like the viola da gamba and other fretted stringed instruments with more than four strings, the arpeggione was a delicate instrument, whose bridge curvature was very slight, making it difficult to apply pressure on a single string without touching off adjacent strings. The late 18th century proliferation of the brighter (and louder) pianoforte as the keyboard instrument of choice (surpassing plectrum- based keyboard instruments like the harpsichord) demanded more volume from solo instruments in order to achieve the appropriate balance between the instruments. The absence of an endpin also made it awkward to play and hold."

[MaestroDJS]

This might have a counterpart in recorded musical formats. Why have some formats become established and others obsolete or not established at all?

In 1948, Columbia records produced the first commercially-viable LP (long playing) record. At a speed of 33 1/3 RPM and a fine groove, the LP could hold up to a half-hour of music per side. This was of course a tremendous advantage over the 4- or 5-minute limitation of 78-RPM record sides. Apparently the speed of 33 1/3 RPM was determined by the calculation that exactly 30 minutes represented exactly 1000 rotations of the turntable.

However the LP technology had been available at least a decade earlier, during the 78-RPM era. Unfortunately the depression-era economy of the 1930s would not support a switchover to the LP medium, because then consumers would need to throw out their 78-RPM record players and buy LP record players. At the time, a maximum duration of 4 or 5 minutes per 78-RPM side was considered adequate for popular music, which had the greatest sales anyway. Nonetheless, many radio broadcasters used 12-inch or 16-inch 33 1/3 RPM or 16 2/3 RPM discs to record their broadcasts for archival purposes. It was not until the post-World-War-II prosperity of the late 1940s that conditions were right for the LP to assume its place in mainstream recorded music.

Columbia Records was so eager that their new LP system become the market standard for recorded music that they did not patent the technology. In fact, Columbia executives including William Paley demonstrated their new LP technology to RCA executives including Robert Sarnoff, in the hopes that RCA would join forces with them. Instead, RCA decided to develop its own technology in the hopes that they could upstage Columbia. This resulted in the 45-RPM record. Apparently this speed was also a simple calculation, out of spite to Columbia: 78 RPM - 33 RPM (rounded down to an integer) = 45 RPM.

The years from 1948 to 1951 saw a series of marketing skirmishes and battles between Columbia and RCA. Both companies marketed their formats in 7-, 10- and 12-inch discs, with large and small spindle holes: Columbia at 33 1/3 RPM and RCA at 45 RPM. After a few years, a surprising truce was reached. The 12-inch, small-spindle-hole 33 1/3 RPM LP clearly showed its superiority as a format for record albums, such as complete symphonies or concerti. Meanwhile the 7-inch, large-spindle-hole, 45-RPM format proved ideal for singles, both for homes and for jukeboxes. By 1951 RCA capitulated and began to produce their own 12-inch 33 1/3 RPM LPs, and by 1958 Columbia also caved in and began to produce their own 7-inch 45-RPM singles. Countless other record labels joined in as they saw fit. Another format of 12-inch, 16 2/3 RPM discs was also briefly used for spoken word recordings.

In the 1980s the market saw another great shift as CDs entered the market, which gradually supplanted most (but not all) LPs and audio cassettes. Nowadays another change is taking place as analog televisions are gradually phased out in favor of digital broadcasts.

I always knew my engineering degree might come in handy.

Harmoniously,

Dave

[absinthe]

In the 1980s the market saw another great shift as CDs entered the market, which gradually supplanted most (but not all) LPs and audio cassettes. Nowadays another change is taking place as analog televisions are gradually phased out in favor of digital broadcasts.

I always knew my engineering degree might come in handy.

Harmoniously,

Dave

Yes, and thankfully the main players decided to create standards for various types of CD, the red book initially, so that a common standard would prevail. Perhaps they were influenced by the standards wars that had afflicted Quadraphonic LPs and video (and for that matter the Elcaset marketed by Sony that died its death almost at once when various noise reduction systems were (reasonably) successfully applied to the audo cassette along with metal tape.

I understand that Phillips had in mind to create a 30cm CD but concluded it would not be a good marketing proposition, trying to sell about 20 hours of music on a double-sided CD. They had gained enough experience with early video discs to do it too. The video disc is another format that died its death fairly quickly.
.

[piston]

The world is such a cruel place! The Octobass should have survived because Berlioz wrote about it!

[MaestroDJS]

The world is such a cruel place! The Octobass should have survived because Berlioz wrote about it!

True, but apparently it was a dangerous instrument.

Q: What is 3½ meters tall, brown and would kill you if it fell onto you out of a tree?
A: An octobass.

Alternatively, an octobass is a unit of measure used by fishermen who have caught eight bass, or one octobass.

[slofstra]

The world is such a cruel place! The Octobass should have survived because Berlioz wrote about it!

True, but apparently it was a dangerous instrument.

Q: What is 3½ meters tall, brown and would kill you if it fell onto you out of a tree?
A: An octobass.

Alternatively, an octobass is a unit of measure used by fishermen who have caught eight bass, or one octobass.

Yes and then there is the octosquaredpus a unit of measure used by fisherman who have caught eight octopus or one octosquaredpus.

What is the tuba-like instrument popular in the early 18th C? There's a thread on it somewhere.

[living_stradivarius]

Hmm, a lot of these obsolete instruments tend to be very complex and have far too many parts/strings

[Ken]

The viola da gamba (or at least music written for the gamba) is seeing a bit of a resuccitation after years of relegation to specialty ensembles. I spotted three of them at last year's Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival.

[Gurn Blanston]

What is the tuba-like instrument popular in the early 18th C? There's a thread on it somewhere.

That would be, I believe, the ophecleide. In some venues it was the replacement for the serpent, also (sadly) obsolete.

One of the instruments that became obsolete at the turn of the 19th century and has had some sort of revival today, happily, is the bassett horn. No doubt in my mind, Mozart's works that were originally written for this instrument but played on others since his time do sound better on the original.



----------------
Now playing: Consortium Classicum - Bia 041 Op 103 Octet in Eb for Winds 3rd mvmt - Andante

[CharmNewton]

However the LP technology had been available at least a decade earlier, during the 78-RPM era. Unfortunately the depression-era economy of the 1930s would not support a switchover to the LP medium, because then consumers would need to throw out their 78-RPM record players and buy LP record players. At the time, a maximum duration of 4 or 5 minutes per 78-RPM side was considered adequate for popular music, which had the greatest sales anyway. Nonetheless, many radio broadcasters used 12-inch or 16-inch 33 1/3 RPM or 16 2/3 RPM discs to record their broadcasts for archival purposes. It was not until the post-World-War-II prosperity of the late 1940s that conditions were right for the LP to assume its place in mainstream recorded music.

While RCA introduced its LP in the depths ofthe Great Depression (1931), another factor that influenced its success was the state of playback equipment at that time. The Early RCA LPs were pressed on a vinyl like material that couldn't stand up to the tracking force by heavy tone arms. Prior to the RCA long-playing record, Edison had introduced one that could play forty minutes a side at 80 RPM. Edison's disc was microgroove (although it wasn't called that) and traced undulations in the bottom of the groove rather that the sideways motions of the discs we know today.

Columbia may have been inspired by those early LPs, although I suspect it was the extensive broadcast experience of CBS that led the recording division to use long-playing discs as recording masters in 1938 or so. Consequently most American Columbia 78 RPM albums issued after this time are dubbed from these masters and generally sound terrible when compared to later LP issues. Beecham went as far as suing CBS to prevent the release of some recordings because they sounded so bad as dubbings (the Masterworks Heritage CDs let us hear how good they really sounded).

Another factor that helped the early LP to succeed was the introduction of magnetic tape as a recording medium.

When seeing that Columbia had the foresight to see the emergence of the LP, it is surprising that RCA wasn't able to connect the dots, at least as far as using the long-playing medium as recording masters. Their decision may have been influenced by the state of dubbing technology at the time.

Columbia Records was so eager that their new LP system become the market standard for recorded music that they did not patent the technology. In fact, Columbia executives including William Paley demonstrated their new LP technology to RCA executives including Robert Sarnoff, in the hopes that RCA would join forces with them. Instead, RCA decided to develop its own technology in the hopes that they could upstage Columbia. This resulted in the 45-RPM record. Apparently this speed was also a simple calculation, out of spite to Columbia: 78 RPM - 33 RPM (rounded down to an integer) = 45 RPM.

I believe they did patent the technology but issued licenses royalty-free to use it.

45 RPM was the speed used by Keller in his early stereophonic recording experiments for Bell Labs in the early 1930s conducted at Philadelphia's Academy of Music. I believe he thought this the ideal recording speed. If RCA had introduced 12" 45 RPM discs, the battle with Columbia might have been interesting. If you have any of the Angel 45 RPM discs from the late 1970s, the sonic improvement over their conventional counterparts is palpable.

John

[Ralph]

I know that the theremin will make a comeback!

[absinthe]

The world is such a cruel place! The Octobass should have survived because Berlioz wrote about it!

True, but apparently it was a dangerous instrument.

Q: What is 3½ meters tall, brown and would kill you if it fell onto you out of a tree?
A: An octobass.

Alternatively, an octobass is a unit of measure used by fishermen who have caught eight bass, or one octobass.

Ah! That's why you don't see them round here - we're a bit land-locked - quite aside from needing a truck to carry it round in - no hope of getting it on a bus.
.

[absinthe]

There's also the treble bassoon. Twice as much piping as a double bassoon but played in the soprano register.

.

[Lance]

Then there's the Hardanger fiddle, which few seem to know about. According to an article by Mary Remnant in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians [1980], "The Hardanger fiddle [Harding fiddle] ... [is] a folk violin of Western Norway, generally having four melody strings above the fingerboard, four or five wire sympathetic strings below, and characteristic national decoration. The earliest known example, which has only six strings altogether, is ... dated 1651. ... During the 19th century the instrument's shape became nearer to that of the violin ..." The entire article is quite illuminating, brief as it is.

It seems to me that I have a recording of Yehudi Menuhin playing something on the Hardanger fiddle, which appeared on LP in a multi-box LP set issued by RCA Victor for the purposes of teaching.

[Ken]

^ Grieg was quite fond of the Hardanger... I wonder if he was able to play it?

[arglebargle]

I'll admit to a liking for Haydn's works for the baryton, an instrument also with sympathetic strings and well and truly obsoleted.

[pizza]

I was going to mention the Jew's Harp, but it seems it's far from obsolete; there's a Jew's Harp Guild that celebrates the instrument and calls attention to current performances:

http://www.jewsharpguild.org/

It's rarely used in classical symphonic music. Ives (who else would have?) introduced the Jew's Harp into symphonic use with Washington's Birthday from Holidays' Symphony. There's a wonderful performance by James Sinclair conducting the Northern Sinfonia on Naxos and the sound of the Jew's Harp in the barn dance is striking!

[Bösendorfer]

There's a nice concerto for Jew's Harp by Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1770?). I have it on cassette somewhere. I wonder how often that is performed...

Florian