A Brief Glimpse at the History of Welte
From the beginning, Welte orchestrions were the premiere automatic musical
instrument of choice for Royalty and the very wealthy, a trend that began
circa 1849, when Michael Welte exhibited his immense automatic pipe organ
(pictured at left), receiving generous critical acclaim and numerous awards
for the device. At the time, his invention was an astounding advancement in
technology, and reportedly, the fame of the huge automatic musical
instrument drew crowds from near and far. The public nicknamed the
instrument "orchestrion," because it successfully imitated a many-voiced
orchestra. Since that time the term orchestrion has become synonymous with
virtually any automatic musical instrument attempting to imitate a small to
large orchestral ensemble. Thus it is that Michael Welte's early pioneering
accomplishments in building spectacular, mammoth self-playing orchestras
paved the way for his company's rapid climb to fame and fortune, with his
handsome orchestrions being renowned on a worldwide basis.
Michael Welte began very modestly, after five years of apprenticeship
with the master craftsman Joseph Blessing, by opening a small factory in
Vöhrenbach, Germany, the town that was his birthplace in 1807. The little
factory began business in 1832, with Michael Welte constructing musical
clocks and other small musical cabinets on his own. The Welte firm prospered
by word of mouth, quickly becoming well known and respected for not only the
architectural beauty of its products, but for the quality of workmanship,
too. In 1865, Michael Welte's oldest son, Emil Welte, established a Welte
showroom in New York City, where he exhibited a number of large
orchestrions, along with flute playing clocks, which the company still
manufactured in small numbers. Immediately successful, or so it was stated
by Welte advertising literature, the addition of the new American showroom,
coupled with other already established markets for Welte products, soon
compelled the company, in 1872, to move to nearby Freiburg. Here a new and
larger factory was erected alongside railroad transportation. This allowed
immediate access to rail transportation, enabling the company to better
accommodate the wildly growing demand for Welte instruments, and, in
addition, Freiburg had a much larger workforce to draw from than did tiny
and relatively remote Vöhrenbach.
By 1905 the line of products grew to include the soon to be acclaimed
Welte Mignon Reproducing Piano, as well as retaining may of the older style
products, such as the extensive line of Cottage and Concert Orchestrions.
During the next few years Brass Band Orchestrions, Philharmonic
Orchestrions, "Brisgovia" Piano Orchestrions, residential pipe organs,
theatre organs, home player pianos, and other related items would be added
to the Welte roster. All in all, as most historians and enthusiasts of
automatic musical instruments will concur, instruments built by Michael
Welte & Söhne were among the most eye-appealing, magnificently ornate, and
stunningly beautiful of all the large orchestrions ever manufactured. Thus,
it is no wonder that they were so appreciated and treasured by the Royalty,
wealthy industrialists and fine commercial establishments that sought the
privilege of owning a fine Welte instrument.
Revolutionizing the Industry
Paper Music Rolls versus Heavy Pinned Music Cylinders
In the year 1887 the firm of M. Welte and Söhne began using inexpensive,
easy to mass produce and handle paper music rolls, the first orchestrion
manufacturer to do so. The new music roll system soon replaced the use of
the very expensive, cumbersome, and easily damaged heavy wooden pinned music
barrels or cylinders. Another advantage, by switching over to the easily
mass produced, lightweight, and interchangeable paper rolls, a huge
repertoire of inexpensive music became available, extending the
functionality and enjoyment of the large orchestrions many fold, something
that had been impossible to accomplish with the heavy, individually
manufactured and pinned music cylinders.
Still, even with its technologically innovative music roll system, the
Welte orchestrions remained largely the same, relying upon techniques and
methods that had been developed during the earlier pinned music-barrel era.
The heavy music cylinders and clumsy mechanical tracker linkages were
completely replaced with new, fast acting pneumatic actions, all operated
from the music roll, which was beautifully displayed in an ornate cast-iron
music roll mechanism. Nearly all else, however such as the massive pipe
chest, a foundational component of the orchestrion, remained essentially
identical. The revolutionary pneumatic valve-chest system was constructed so
as to easily be connected by thin wires to the old tracker style lever and
pallet-valve pipe chest. To accommodate the vacuum requirements of the new
pneumatic stack system, another set of feeder bellows, which created a
partial vacuum, was added to the older, already established pressure system,
both remaining separate, but interconnected by modifying the mechanical
linkages that once powered only the pressure bellows.
The "Refined" Sound of Welte
Generally, the music associated with Welte Cottage, Concert, and
Philharmonic orchestrions -- the focus of this section of my web site -- is
what a connoisseur might call "refined." This term, "refined," in this case,
was meant to infer that the volume and style of the music was ideal for a
home or concert situation, where the raucous or barroom style music of the
"ordinary" commercial orchestrion would not have been considered appropriate
or appreciated. Indeed, Welte music has a refined and enduring quality, and
tends to be classical in styling.
While the Welte family, in one form or another, manufactured many, many
styles and types of automatic musical instruments, circa 1832 to 1950, it is
mainly the Welte Mignon Reproducing Piano, followed by the Cottage, Concert,
and Philharmonic instruments, that have survived in the greatest numbers.
Although considered rare today, that so many Welte instruments have
survived, especially the very large examples that are difficult to move or
store, is indeed a testament to the both the musical and visual qualities of
these instruments. As you browse through the Welte pages, you will probably
also concur that it is in part due to the extraordinary beauty of the large
Welte machines that has contributed greatly to the survival of so many of
these early pinned-barrel and paper roll operated mechanical devices.
Compared to "ordinary" commercial orchestrions, the staying power of the
early Welte instruments is remarkable, with at least one specimen (the Nidd
Hall Welte - described elsewhere) remaining in its original location, and in
some kind of playing condition, for nearly one-hundred years!
How Old is That Welte
| Welte Dating Guide |
| Serial # |
Mfr. Date |
Welte Style |
| #57 |
1893 |
Welte Style 4 |
| #134 |
1894 |
Welte Style 2 |
| #157 |
1894 |
Welte Style 2 |
| #198 |
1895 |
Welte Style 6 |
| #202 |
1895 |
Welte Style 4 |
| #262 |
1898* |
Welte Style 5 |
| #273 |
1897 |
Welte Style 2 |
| #340 |
1899 |
Welte Style 7 |
| #342 |
1899 |
Welte Style 6 |
| #454 |
1901 |
Welte Style 1 |
| #530 |
1902 |
Welte Style 2 |
| #695 |
1905 |
Welte Style 2 |
| #705 |
1905 |
Welte Style 4 |
| #1631 |
1908 |
Welte Style 3 |
| #1897 |
1908 |
Welte Style 2 |
| #2816 |
1910 |
Welte Brisgovia C |
| #3542 |
1912 |
Welte No. 2 Philharmonic |
| * Welte #262 has a penciled date inside of 1898, which does not conform to the date sequence of other items in the list. The reason is unknown, but sales contract or unanticipated manufacturing delays have been known to cause serial number assigned instruments to be completed and/or shipped out of order by as much as a year or more. |
One of the first things that normally comes up for any mechanical music enthusiast is how old is a particular machine, when was it made, and especially in the case of a successful collector, how old are my various acquisitions. Accurately dating exactly when an instrument was manufactured can be a vexing issue, especially so for Welte orchestrion due to the scant literature and documentation that survives, and the dearth of surviving specimens, which at best only leave behind a sketchy trail of clues to follow. Oftentimes a date range can be guessed based upon a person's knowledge of the evolving, incremental mechanical innovations and improvements that took place for a particular category of instrument types over its beginning to end manufacturing cycle. For instance, all early Welte Cottage and Concert Orchestrions (Styles 0 through 10) demonstrate a definite mechanical relationship and easily observed similarity, all more or less following the basic, underlying design and layout, with any mechanical improvements throughout the manufacturing cycle being reflected across all of the styles.
In contrast, the Welte Philharmonic Organ styles, although there is a certain carryover from earlier design practices, have a very different mechanical character and layout, which makes them easy to distinguish from other Welte instrument lines. And, like the predecessor ornate Cottage and Concert Orchestrions, the newer Philharmonic Organs, introduced circa 1910, display their own distinct evolutionary patterns. And the same is true for the Welte piano based orchestrions, also introduced circa 1910, which are again similar but different from all other Welte types.
Being that Welte orchestrion styles are generally rare, and some of the larger and more elaborate styles now non-existent, only a relatively few dated signposts remain that can be used to extrapolate a possible manufacturing date. And so in the few instances where serial numbers and the corresponding manufacturing dates are both known a rough dating guide for Welte instruments can be ascertained. The simple table shown here is such a generalized guide, where the approximate date of instruments bearing other, but unlisted serial numbers can be roughly extrapolated.
But be forewarned, the apparent or penciled manufacturing and/or shipping date of an instrument does not necessarily sequentially coincide with other nearby serial numbered machines of the same style or type. There are myriad reasons why the building of a particular instrument initially assigned a serial number might be delayed. For instance, perhaps an order was received and a serial number was assigned, but no actual manufacturing commenced, or was completed, until sufficient payment was received. Or for a certain style of orchestrion perhaps a delay occurred due to cabinet manufacturing issues, or maybe production was held up while having to wait for the delivery of special pipework rank that was peculiar to that machine. Whatever the case might have been, do be aware that any extrapolated date using the Welte Dating Table could be off by a year or more, depending upon long ago but now lost circumstances that today cannot ever be known or anticipated.
