Anton Haeckl was a musical instrument builder in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, who built the first physharmonica in 1818. Two of his instruments from 1825 (refs. Inv. Nr. 19.480 (20 white keys) and Inv. Nr. 38.956) can be seen in the Vienna Technical Museum. The physharmonica looked similar to the hand

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

still in use in

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today, with a piano-style keyboard. Smaller examples of this type of instrument rested on the left arm, and were played with the right hand. The range of notes was from B to g". A newspaper advert of 14 April 1821 in the "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung" says: "The master also makes very small versions which rest comfortably on the left arm, and which the right hand plays." A

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

(''"privilegium"'') was granted to Anton Haeckl for such instruments on 8 April 1821.

Similar instruments

Similar early instruments, built in

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, looked somewhat like an oversized modern piano-accordion, but were placed, like pianos, on a stand so one could use both hands on the keyboard. The bellows were operated by foot pedals and a string mechanism. The instrument had no bass section, so though it looked like an accordion it is treated as forerunner of the harmonium. One such instrument, made by "Busson Brevete" (Paris) in 1880, can be seen in the Vienna Technical Museum (ref. Inv. Nr. 15.289).

Similar instruments

Notes

See also