Player piano – Phonola

Manufacturer: Hupfeld

Place and time of production: Leipzig, Germany, around 1900

Dimensions (cm): 310 . 150 . 220

Inventory number: Т:12.15

The first player pianos appeared in late 19th century in USA. In 1900, Aeolian Company from New York patented Pianola, a player piano that could play 65 piano notes. A new type of pneumatic player piano called Phonola, was presented by Ludwig Hupfeld from Leipzig in 1902.

Phonola is a device that is attached to the piano. Pneumatic system drives a perforated paper roll that contains music notation. It is then transferred to wooden hammers lined with felts that hit on the piano keys. 

In 1905, Hupfeld Company also developed a music recording system. It constructed melograph, a device for “recording” piano performance on a paper roll, which is then perforated and from which the music notation is reproduced using a Phonola.

The Phonola, probably the only such surviving automatic music machine in the region, was donated to the Museum by Dr Petar Marković in 2014.