tags: mus-407 early-electroacoustic-instruments

Telharmonium

Active from 1897-1914

• invented by Thaddeus Cahill, American inventor/lawyer
• First true electronic music [synthesizer]
• Six octave polyphony, touch sensitive, some [timbre] control

Timeline

• 1897: patent acquired
• 1900: Washington DC: first prototype and demonstration; sponsors acquired
• 1902: lab established at Holyoke, MA; first proper Telharmonium constructed; NY/New England Electric Music Company established
• 1904: Cahill Telharmonium Co. established
• 1906: "Telharmonic Hall" on 39th and Broadway, NYC; numerous public concerts/transmissions
• 1907: legal/infrastructure complications
• 1908: public transmissions slow and gradually cease
• 1910: sponsor support wanes. Telharmonic Hall closes
• 1911-12: third Telharmonium constructed with several improvements, final debut stream to Carnegie Hall
• 1914: Cahill Telharmonium Co. declares bankruptcy

Specs

• only three Telharmoniums ever constructed
• 60-foot mainframe
• 10 switchboard panels, 2,000 switches
• 145 rheotomes ('tone wheels' acting as alternators)
• appearance of a power generator station
• 200-ton weight
• $200,000 value, $5 million value

Operating principles

• twelve rotating shafts, one for each chromatic [pitch]
• several cogged 'tonewheels' on each shaft for [fundamental] and [overtones]
• shafts driven by one belt, preventing tuning drift
• cog wheels as alternators, producing [AC] by periodically completing circuits

Decline

• expensive: $1M spent from 1897-1914 (not inflation-adjusted)
• rapidly obsoleted by technological advancements:
  • wireless radio transmissions
  • [vacuum tube] amplifiers
• infrastructure challenges: disruption/interference with existing telephone lines
• Telharmonium parts eventually sold for scrap

TODO: add picture, clean up notes

Sources

• MUS 407 History of Electroacoustic Music: Early Instruments