The Sphärophon or a Spherophone is an electrical musical instrument that was first made as the "Electrophon" around 1921 by

Jörg Mager Jörg Georg Adam Mager (6 November 1880 - 5 April 1939) was a German musician and inventor, who was a pioneer of early electronic music. Mager was born in Eichstätt in Bavaria, in 1880. An idealist by nature, he worked as a schoolteacher and or ...

, later modified, renamed and exhibited in 1926.

Two variants of the Sphärophon

Mager invented two different variants of the Sphärophon. The first version was similar to a

Theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

, but Mager's design had the capability to change the

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...

of the sound that was produced as well as utilize discrete pitches. His second prototype was

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

-based but used a

radio frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the upp ...

oscillator Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

as well. This instrument was capable of producing

quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...

s of an

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

. In many of his instruments, including the Sphärophon, Mager experimented with the drivers in the

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or " ...

s to achieve different sounds as well.

Public demonstration

Mager premiered his special new instrument at the

Donaueschingen Festival The Donaueschingen Festival (german: Donaueschinger Musiktage, links=no) is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany. Founded in 1921, it is considered the oldest festiva ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1926. The festival had been started in 1921 to promote new types of music and still continues to this day in the town of

Donaueschingen Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar '' Kreis''. It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river Da ...

in southwest

, just north of Zurich,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, All that is known about the Sphärophon is from pictures, witnesses’ accounts, and written records. There are no Sphärophons in existence today because they were all destroyed along with all of Mager’s instruments such as the Partiturophon and the Kaleidophon during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Notes

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External links

Jörg Mager's instruments at '120 Years of Electronic Music'
Electronic musical instruments Continuous pitch instruments

Two variants of the Sphärophon

Public demonstration

See also

Notes

External links