The original rock music. Guest post by Sally Rumsey

Johnson volunteer Sally Rumsey continues her series of posts inspired by musical instrument ephemera in the John Johnson Collection

Asked to name rock musicians and most people would probably think of Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Freddie Mercury or some other great name from the rock music hall of fame. I suspect few would come up with Mr. Joseph Richardson.

To be fair, while Jagger and Co created music that is stylistically ‘rock’ music, the enterprising Mr Richardson was making music using real rocks. He was described as the inventor of the rock harmonicon (although note the previous work of Peter Crosthwaite), an instrument built using pieces of rock, more accurately, hornfels, collected from Skiddaw in what was then Cumberland, in the English Lake District. Richardson, a stone mason, hailed from Keswick, so the hills of the Lakes would have been close by.

I say ‘inventor,’ but using stones to make musical sounds was not new. The term ‘lithophone’ (from the Greek ‘lithos’ – stone) is the term for a musical instrument formed of a rock or pieces of rock which are struck to produce musical notes. The use of stone as the basis for musical percussion instruments may date back even as far as the neolithic period (New Scientist, P8, 10/1/1957) and has been used across the globe (for example a performance from Vietnam)

Having built his rock harmonicon, Mr Richardson set about demonstrating his glorious curiosity across the land. This was something of a family enterprise – father, Joseph being the builder of the instrument, and three of his sons engaged to perform a selection of pieces to show off its capabilities.

The John Johnson collection holds a number of items that shed light on the unconventional and notable contraption. The items are primarily advertisements enticing people to attend demonstrations of the instrument, or reviews of those demonstrations. They not only provide evidence of the sound and capabilities of the instrument, but also illustrate the elaborate prose and poetry of writing at the time – around 1840.

 

Advertisement for the Rock Harmonicon
Fig 1. Advertisement for the Rock Harmonicon. JJ Musical Instrument 3 (14)

One advertisement describes the instrument as an “Extraordinary musical novelty!” (fig. 2). The parts (the rocks) having been sourced in the Lake District, he took his invention to London and arranged demonstrations. The items in the John Johnson collection indicate that Richardson travelled to Ramsgate and Liverpool where ‘every variety of composition’ was ‘played upon this singular instrument.’

An 1842 advertisement for Richardson’s three sons’ demonstration at Mr. Stanley’s Rooms in Old Bond St suggest that they performed a wide-ranging programme daily from ten o’clock until seven – a full 9 hours per day. The sons are depicted in an engraving, seated on stools, two of them in tailcoats, before a colossal contraption which looks like rows of French baguettes on a stand. They appear to be tapping the ‘sticks of rock’ with mallets as a percussionist would play a xylophone. Equally notably, alongside such esteemed names as Mozart and Parry, is the item on their programme, ‘Mazurka and Galoppade’ composed, no less, by HRH the Duchess of Kent.

Compared to modern publicity materials, the advertisements are text heavy and verbose, but an entertaining read for the 21st

century reader.

The more fulsome critiques of the instrument that were published in the press demonstrate rich and colourful Victorian language. For example:

The rock harmonicon – The source of its effects is implied in its name; and thus, for the first time, are we made aware that after forcing all manner of treasures from the bowels of the earth – that after successfully ransacking stones for fuel, precious gems, not less precious metals, and even sermons, there is still music to be won for the trying.”

The Cumberland Packet from Whitehaven waxed even more lyrical:

This was a work of immense labour and time, and required much determination and industry for its accomplishment, and after many hard days’ labour in the mountains, Mr. Richardson denied himself the repose which exhausted nature required, and spent whole nights, after his family had retired to rest, in hammering and chiselling the rough stones, and in selecting and arranging them, ere he brought to its present state the sweet-toned instrument which cost him thirteen years of unwearied labour and perseverance, under circumstances such as few minds, not possessed of uncommon fortitude, could have surmounted.”

Imagine reading such a long and picturesque description in the reviews section of today’s newspapers. It makes one feel exhausted in sympathy with the industrious and tireless Mr. Richardson.

We learn that Mrs Edward Thomas was so moved on hearing the instrument that she broke into verse, penning 22 lines of romantic poetry extolling the ‘organ of passion, anger, love,’ and praising the ‘glorious triumph’ of Mr Richardson.

Advertisement for Extraordinary Musical Novelty (rock harmonicon)
Extraordinary Musical Novelty. JJ Musical Instruments 3 (14)

Three of the items in the John Johnson (JJ) collection state that they were produced on the ‘Steam-press of W.H. Cox, 5 Great Queen Street’, highlighting other technology that had captured the Victorian imagination. A steam powered press was patented by Koenig in 1810 and became an early component in the production of mass newspapers.

Joseph Richardson died in 1855 aged 66 and, according to an obituary held in the JJ collection, “the surprising performances by the inventor’s three sons on these unique instruments have, in all parts of the country, created the greatest astonishment to all who have beheld their thrilling powers.” Joseph Richardson’s rock harmonicon can still be seen, and played, in its home at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. There is a book about the instrument written by one of Mr Richardson’s descendants (Phillips, J.H., The Rock, Bell and Steel Band – the story of Joseph Richardson and his Musical Stones, 0645141313). The melodious tones of the instrument live on – try a search for Keswick musical stones in a search engine to find more writings and videos.

 

Playing the pianola – the perfect pastime

We are absolutely delighted to welcome Sally Rumsey as a Johnson volunteer with special responsibility for blog posts. Sally is a musician, so where better to start than some of the uncatalogued, undigitised musical treasures in the Collection!

As autumn set in, the comfortably-off 1920’s family could happily bid farewell to their summer pursuits – angling, punting, golf, camping, playing cricket. They could contentedly leave behind their outdoor activities – hiking wearing the latest stylish plus fours and camping – knowing that their pianola awaits in their living room.

Front cover of a 4 page leaflet advertising the pianola John Johnson Collection: Musical Instru
Front cover of a 4 page leaflet advertising the pianola, 1928
John Johnson Collection: Musical Instruments 2 (17)

Having dressed for dinner, the whole family could be entertained by the concert at home on their very own Pianola. No musical skill was necessary – the instruments were self-playing by means of a perforated roll of paper and some pedal-power.

Although the beautifully attired lady is poised in this illustration as if she were playing the piano – her hands are resting near the keys – in fact it is her feet that are doing the ‘playing.’ By operating the two pedals, a suction mechanism operates the instrument. A rotating drum holds a perforated paper roll, the ‘music,’ which is loaded in the front of the piano.

The advertisement is a in fact a 4-page leaflet, with colourful prose – waxing lyrical about the heady days of summer and anticipating the ‘hygge’ of autumn. It entices potential buyers by tantalising images of what they would be able to play, if they only purchased ‘the cheapest luxury of a luxury loving age….Why not start now and let your home be a ‘Pianola’ home this winter?

If you missed your chance when the weather turned inclement in the Autumn, there was always the opportunity to purchase, or even hire a pianola, from the Orchestrelle Company in time for Christmas (A pianola for Christmas). Clearly the Orchestrelle pianola was an instrument for the more discerning player. When writing to request details one had to ask for the “Connoisseur” catalogue. At £65 in 1902 it would have been a significant purchase – equivalent to over 6 months wages of a skilled tradesman (source: TNA)

The earlier advert must have been produced when the Orchestrelle Company was an American firm with a branch in London, before it was taken over by the British Orchestrelle Co. Ltd. in July 1912 (Hoffman, 2004).

An Orchestrelle Company advertising leaflet promoting pianolas for Christmas. John Johnson Collection: Musical Instruments 2
An Orchestrelle Company advertising leaflet promoting pianolas for Christmas, 1902
John Johnson Collection: Musical Instruments 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In both adverts the individual playing the instrument was a woman. During the Victorian period ‘it was women who dominated home music-making, a fact acknowledged by Macmillan’s Magazine: ‘our young ladies . . . are the principle interpreters of our domestic music.’ (in Scott, D.B.2001). This practice appears to have continued into the early 20th century when entertainment was often home created. In the earlier image from 1904, all were wearing sizeable hats of lustrous rich fabric – no lady would have been seen without her hat in polite company. By the 1920’s the hats have gone, and it is possible to make out what is bobbed and Marcel waved hair on the women – the height of fashion – created using heated tongs.

The 1904 advert is decorated with an Art Nouveau style border, very much in vogue at the time. The sales pitch is a lyrical description of how the purchase of this magnificent instrument enables anybody, even non-pianists, to ‘grasp the idea of a musical composition’ in the same way one would ‘appreciate the plot of a story.’

Although it is easy to dismiss such an instrument as a folly and deception for those who cannot play a ‘real’ piano, later player pianos enabled lifelike performances by such greats as Rachmaninov and Debussy to be captured. In the days when audio recorded music was in its infancy and, to be frank, the result was far from hi-fidelity, having a piano roll of a musical maestro really was like listening to live music played by a professional. These were known as reproducing pianos because they captured the nuances of the performer – pedalling, rubato and dynamics. For example, there is a remarkable recording of ‘Rhapsodie in Blue’ released in 1976 by the Columbia Jazz Band under Michael Tilson Thomas, accompanying the real George Gershwin at the keyboard in the form of a piano roll he recorded in 1925.

The paper rolls were either created by ‘recording’ the playing of a pianist performing the piece, or they could be created artificially by manually punching holes into the paper.

This opened up another opportunity presented by player pianos: that of being a superhuman pianist – performing works that can be captured by punctuated paper rolls that a human being could not physically play.

In a move that would be approved by modern standards enthusiasts, an agreement was made for a standard size of paper roll and the numbers of holes punched to the inch.

The history of the paper piano roll player piano like the ones in these adverts is relatively short. The first instruments were created around the 1890’s, they reached their heyday in the 1920’s, and went into decline in the depression of the 1930’s. This coincided with the rise in broadcast music (the BBC is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, 2022) and music electrically recorded for capture on discs.

Watch this space for some weird and wonderful examples from the John Johnson Collection’s boxes of ephemera relating to Musical Instruments.