Clavilux is the term coined by the artist
Thomas Wilfred
Thomas Wilfred (June 18, 1889 in Naestved, Denmark - August 15, 1968 in Nyack, New York), born Richard Edgar Løvstrøm, was a musician and inventor. He is best known for his light art, which he named '' lumia'', and his designs for color organs ...
to refer to his mechanical invention that allowed the creation and performance of
lumia, which was Wilfred's term for
light art.
From
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, Clavilux means "Light played by key."
Wilfred built his first Clavilux, Model A, from March to May 1919.
While Wilfred intended the term to refer to any device that could be used to perform Lumia, the name Clavilux was not widely adopted by other artists working with light. As such the term is closely associated with Wilfred and his mechanical vocabulary. The only other artist known to have built a Clavilux is W. Christian Sidenius, who was an ardent admirer and later good friend of Wilfred's. Sidenius built a theatre behind his home to house his Clavilux and host Lumia recitals during the summer months.
Wilfred also built sixteen smaller home Clavilux models which he also called "Clavilux Juniors." There are seven known to be extant, most of which are in private collections.
Two full-sized Claviluxii, Model E, (1924) and Model G (1936) were rescued in 2003. A 501(c)3 not-for-profit, Clavilux.org, has been formed to restore the Model E to working condition, and it plans on holding public recitals as soon as the machines are functional.
See also
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Color organ
The term color organ refers to a tradition of mechanical devices built to represent sound and accompany music in a visual medium. The earliest created color organs were manual instruments based on the harpsichord design. By the 1900s they were ele ...
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Visual music
Visual music, sometimes called colour music, refers to the creation of a visual analogue to musical form by adapting musical structures for visual composition, which can also include silent films or silent Lumia work. It also refers to methods o ...
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Music visualization
Music visualization or music visualisation, a feature found in electronic music visualizers and media player software, generates animated imagery based on a piece of music. The imagery is usually generated and rendered in real time and in a way ...
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Oskar Fischinger
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Mary Hallock-Greenewalt
Mary Elizabeth Hallock-Greenewalt (Sept. 8, 1871 – Nov. 27, 1950)Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: Pennsylvania (State). Death certific ...
External links
Website on history and restoration of Clavilux devices
{{Visual music
Visual music