The Orthotonophonium is a
free reed aerophone similar to a
Harmonium with 72 (sometimes 53) keys per octave, that can be played all
diatonic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize Scale (music), scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, Musical note, notes, musical sty ...
key intervals and
chords using
just intonation
In music, just intonation or pure intonation is the tuning of musical intervals
Interval may refer to:
Mathematics and physics
* Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers
** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to ...
. The instrument was created in 1914 by
German physicist
This is a list of German physicists.
A
* Ernst Abbe
* Max Abraham
* Gerhard Abstreiter
* Michael Adelbulner
* Martin Aeschlimann
* Georg von Arco
* Manfred von Ardenne
* Peter Armbruster
* Leo Arons
* Markus Aspelmeyer
* Felix Auerbach
* Br ...
Arthur von Oettingen to advance his theories of
harmonic dualism (now knows as
Riemann theory).
Etymology
The word ''
'Orthotonophonium is a
portmanteau of the
Greek words ορθός = ''correct,'' τόνος = ''tone'' und φωνή = ''sound''.
Background
The concept of true intonation
keyboards traces back to the 16th Century, with the work of Italian
musicologists
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some ...
Gioseffo Zarlino and
Nicola Vicentino. Zarlino tried to reproduce
meantone temperament in all keys on a single instrument, without having to retune it. To this end, Zarlino created an instrument called the
Archicembalo, which used
19 tone equal temperament
In music, 19 Tone Equal Temperament, called 19 TET, 19 EDO ("Equal Division of the Octave"), or 19 ET, is the tempered scale derived by dividing the octave into 19 equal steps (equal frequency ratios). Each step represent ...
. The instrument used two
manuals and thirty six
keys
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
per octave.
Around 1850, American inventor
Henry Ward Poole an
enharmonic organ, which did not require
finger substitution
Finger substitution is a playing technique used on many different instruments, ranging from stringed instruments such as the violin and cello to keyboard instruments such as the piano and pipe organ. It involves replacing one finger which is depr ...
upon note changes. In 1863,
Perronet Thompson
Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783–1869) was a British Parliamentarian, a governor of Sierra Leone and a radical reformer. He became prominent in 1830s and 1840s as a leading activist in the Anti-Corn Law League. He specialized in the grass-root ...
built an organ with 65 keys per octave, which could be played with pure intonation in 21
major and minor keys. The German physicist
Hermann von Helmholtz also experimented on this theme during this period, using his own instrument - the Reinharmonium.
German physicist
Arthur von Oettingen became interested in microtonal tuning in the 1870s, later developing the idea for a
harmonium using 72 or 53 keys, with which almost any chord using
thirds,
fourths, and
fifths. The first Orthotonophonium was built in 1914 by German instrument manufacturer Schiedmayer.
[Klaus Gernhardt, Hubert Henkel, Winfried Schrammek: ''Orgelinstrumente, Harmoniums,'' Katalog, Band 6, Musikinstrumenten-Museum der Karl-Marx-Universität, Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig (1983); Beschreibung des Orthotonophoniums im Museum für Musikinstrumente der Universität Leipzig]
Functionality
When playing in
equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...
,
beats are unadvoidable due to the
Pythagorean comma. This
interference can be advoided playing on an Orthotonophonium, since the
pitch of a
tone can be chosen such that only
pure intervals are played. This is achieved by using a different tuning system -
72TET. Unlike a piano, where there are only twelve keys per octave, on an Orthotonophonium, the player has the choice of several pitches per tone. This eliminates
enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...
s, since for example, a G♯ can be altered several
cents higher than an A♭.
Further reading
* Karl Traugott Goldbach:
Arthur von Oettingen und sein Orthotonophonium im Kontext'' in: ''Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung, Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung Berlin,'' S. 192–227, Band 2008/2009, Mainz (2009)
References
{{Reed aerophones
Musical tuning
Free reed aerophones