Gavioli
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Gavioli & Cie were a FrancoItalian
organ builder Organ building is the profession of designing, building, restoring and maintaining pipe organs. The Organ builders , organ builder usually receives a commission to design an organ with a particular disposition of Organ stop, stops, Manual (mu ...
company that manufactured fairground organs in both Italy and later
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.


History

Gavioli was founded in 1806 in Cavezzo,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, by Giacomo Gavioli (1786–1875). Giacamo's hobby was the development of automatic playing musical instruments like bird organs and flute clocks. In 1818, he moved to
Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
, where he repaired Carillons and Tower Clocks. His son Lodovico Gavioli (1807–1875) was a very clever inventor; he built a large orchestrion organ the "Panharmonico" for the Duke of Modena, who refused to buy the instrument. Ludovico then took it to London and Paris. Additionally, he designed and build the Modena's Palazzo comunale, the city hall. In 1845 Ludovico moved the business to the trade capital of the organ trade,
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. From 1858 on he started his own organ building company in the Rue d'Aligre. Ludovico had three sons: Anselme, Henry and Claude. Each contributed to the business, but it is Anselme Gavioli (1828-1902) whose name is remembered. In 1878 he invented the frein, a piece of metal that allowed pipes to produce a sound similar to a
cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
or
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
. In 1892 he patented the use of book music to play organs. Up until this point, pipe organs were played by a large wooden cylinder, using a system akin to the modern
musical box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...
. This limited the length of music which could be played to the size of the cylinder. Another inconvenience of cylinders was their size, which limited the number of tunes that could be played. Book music us a series of zig-zag folded sheets of cardboard in a folded book, which allowed mechanical arms to "feel" the holes and hence open the valves to allow compressed air to play the pipes of the organ. The development marked a turning point in the history of the mechanical organ, by allowing music to be almost infinitely long, and allowed Gavioli to become the most famous and prolific fair organ builders. The Gavioli family had branches in cities such as
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Waldkirch Waldkirch is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located 15 kilometers northeast of Freiburg im Breisgau. While the English translation of its name is ''Forest Church'', it is known as the "town of mechanical organs", where fairground organs ...
. After Anselmo's death in 1902 the business passed to Anselme's son Ludivico II. Then the business took a series of tragic circumstances. Gavioli ceased making organs in 1912 and the remainder of the business was transferred to
Limonaire Frères Limonaire Frères were an amusement ride, street organ and fairground organ builder, based in Paris, France, during the 19th and early 20th century. History 1839 to 1886 Started by the Limonaire brothers Joseph and Antoine in 1839, as piano and ...
of Paris. Afterwards, a number of their engineers went on to build their own organ companies, including Carl Frei. The Steam Carousel in the Efteling theme park in the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
features one of the many surviving Gavioli organs. Many Gavioli organs still exist, mainly in the UK, but there are also organs in the U.S. and in Japan. The Gavioli organ from Euclid Beach Park in Cleveland, Ohio still survives and is being restored.


Gallery

File:L. Gavioli "De Aalster Gavioli" (1900) dance organ, Museum Speelklok.jpg, A 65 Key Gavioli Dance Organ in the Museum Speelklok File:White's Mammoth Gavioli Coliseum Organ (1909).jpg, White's Mammoth Gavioli Organ, an historic organ originally from
Barry Island Pleasure Park Barry Island Pleasure Park is an amusement park situated on the coast at Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan, about south west of the capital city Cardiff, Wales. The park opened annually at weekends from Easter onwards and daily during the sc ...
, Wales File:Gavioli 62 key trumpet barrel organ (1880s) Mr Fields Steam Circus, Hollycombe, Liphook 3.8.2004 P8030045 (10354107024).jpg, An earlier style of organ, playing form a pinned barrel. File:Detail of barrel organ (2).JPG, An example of a pinned barrel File:Book music put out from reader - Gavioli & Cie fairground organ - rear left - Birkenhead Park Festival of Transport 2012.jpg, Book music and reader from a Gavioli organ


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavioli Organ builders Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Italy Musical instrument manufacturing companies based in Paris