【口琴汇--搬运经典】Who invented the harmonica?
今天搬运外文网站的一篇关于口琴是谁发明的文章
Who invented the harmonica?
C. F. L. Buschmann
Sadly, the early history of Western free reed instruments is somewhat cloudy, but if we are defining the harmonica as a mouth-blown free reed instrument where the notes of the scale are selected by the player's mouth, rather than his or her fingers, then the usual answer to this question is that it was invented by sixteen year old Christian Buschmann in 1821. Buschmann called his new instrument the "Aura" or Mundaeoline". However, most of what we are told about Buschmann comes from a book written about him by one of his descendents, Heinrich Buschmann. Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann, der Erfinder der Mund- und der Handharmonika was written in 1938, during a time when Germany was very keen to demonstrate its superiority over other nations. Because of this, many of the books written during this period tend to downplay the achievements of other countries, often to the point of deliberate falsification. (The Germans are far from the only nation guilty of this. British reference books proudly identify Sir Charles Wheatstone as the inventor of the harmonica and older American texts often used to credit Benjamin Franklin - this is doubly erroneous as he was associated with the glass harmonica, an entirely different type of instrument and far from inventing it, he merely added some improvements to it.) The date this book gives for Buschmann's invention is 1821, a date repeated in almost every history of the harmonica written since then, describing the aura as being four inches long and having 15 steel reeds mounted side by side, perhaps intended merely as an aid to tuning, rather than as a musical instrument. However, independent confirmation of this date is lacking and in fact, a letter from Christian Buschmann written in 1828 to his father (who was living in Britain at the time) mentions a harmonica-like instrument that Buschmann Junior had only recently invented. It is described as being four inches high and four inches in diameter (suggesting a circular shape, although some have speculated that the instrument may have been shaped like a cube), with 21 reeds capable of playing in six part harmony. It is possible that this is a development of an earlier design, but in the absence of any contemporary documentation, any surviving examples of these instruments or even pictures of them, or any details about Buschmann's alleged patent, the whole story is best taken with a very large pinch of salt.
In the 1820s many other people were experimenting with similar instruments so it is probably unwise to credit any single person with its invention. In Vienna in 1824, Georg Anton Reinlein was granted a patent for the "fabrication of a harmonica in the 'Chinese manner'", although this actually refers to a bellows-driven instrument, rather than what we would today call a harmonica. However, he was certainly making "mundharmonikas" by 1828, as this article from the Wiener Zeitung of September that year clearly shows:
Austria, Vienna in particular, was an early centre of harmonica production which came to be somewhat overshadowed by the German companies. By the mid-1830s, the company founded by Wilhelm Anton Thie (who invented the Wiener System, or Viennese style tremolo harmonica) was one of the most successful manufacturers of harmonicas and continued to dominate the market for several decades.
Sir Charles Wheatstone
In Britain in the 1820s, noted scientist Charles Wheatstone was busy studying free reeds, although he was mainly concerned with instruments that used buttons to select notes, such as his Symphonium (patented in 1829), which later evolved into the concertina family of instruments. His company had also imported and later manufactured the recently invented aeolina, or aeolian. Little is known for certain about the origins of this simple instrument, but Johann Tobias Eschenbach, of Hamburg, Germany is often credited with its invention.
James A. Bazin
Over in the USA in that same decade, an organ builder called James Amireaux Bazin was also building free reed instruments. In an issue of The Musical World and Times dated April 9th 1853, it is claimed that Bazin was inspired after studying a German-made free reed pitch pipe that was sent to him for repair in 1821. At the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, there is an example of one of Bazin's harmonicas, dating from something like 1830. It is a two octave diatonic instrument in the key of B, having 15 blow reeds, much like Buschmann's aura. The MFA example has the word "patent" engraved upon it, although there are no records of any patents being awarded to Bazin for mouth blown free reed instruments and it is doubtful that he produced instruments in any great quantity.
Around the same time, Lewis Zwahlen of New York was also manufacturing (or perhaps simply distributing) harmonica-like instruments, such as this one from the Alan Bates collection. Although often described as "chord harmonicas", these were actually intended to be played melodically. According to an book from that period, Instructions for the Æolina (published by Bourne of New York, 1830), the player is expected to pick out individual notes from each group of reeds, jumping from one group to another as the tune progresses, something that must have required considerable dexterity.
Shortly after the invention of the Aura, Buschmann began to make bellows-driven instruments he called the "Handharmonika", or "Handaeoline", which were some of the earliest members of the accordion family. Accordions had two sets of reeds - one responding to positive pressure, the other responding to negative pressure. A Bohemian called Richter (whose first name may have been Joseph, Anton, Jacob, or perhaps none of the above) is supposed to have borrowed this idea to make the modern diatonic harmonica with both blow and draw reeds, as well an accordion-inspired note layout - an arrangement which to this day is called the "Richter System". Various dates are given for Richter's innovation, ranging from 1826 to 1857. (For more on this topic, please see this page.) Also involved in the production of harmonicas in Germany from the late 1820s onwards were Christian Messner in Trossingen, Johann Wilhelm Rudolph Glier in Klingenthal and Ignaz Hotz in Knittlingen (father of Friedrich Hotz, who later developed the Knittlinger System octave harmonicas).
Christian Messner, from a 1905 catalog
These novel instruments became very popular very quickly and many factories opened to fill the demand for mouth organs. Christian Messner opened one of the first ones in Trossingen in 1827. Johann Christian Seydel and Christian August Seydel began making harmonicas in 1847 and founded a factory in Klingenthal shortly afterwards, which is currently the oldest harmonica factory in the world.
Matthias Hohner, from a 1902 catalog
The most famous of all harmonica makers, Hohner, set up business in Trossingen in 1857 and subsequently bought out many of the smaller companies.
Initially, harmonicas were made by hand - combs were carved from wood, reeds were hammered from brass wire and fitted individually to reedplates. This all changed in 1878, when Julius Berthold, a Klingenthal-based supplier of machinery to the musical instrument industry, introduced the first reed milling machine.
Illustration from German Patent 6974
This was soon followed by machines for cutting combs, stamping reedplates, riveting reeds, etc., which had a tremendous impact on the harmonica industry. In their first year in business, Matthias Hohner's family business made 650 harmonicas. However by 1880, Hohner had set up mass production assembly lines to turn out harmonicas in unprecedented quantities. By 1887 they were making one million of them annually and by 1920, the figure had risen to 20 million! That same year, the total output of harmonicas from Germany exceeded 50 million - of these, 22.8 million went to the US, 5.4 million to the UK, 3.1 million to India and 1.3 million to Italy. In fact, there were very few countries to which the harmonica was not exported and factories were also being set up in many parts of the world to try to keep up with the demand.
In addition to the Richter System harmonicas, many other types were developed, probably the most important one being the slide chromatic harmonica. There were several attempts at creating chromatic harmonicas in the late 1800s. Hohner advertised their first chromatic model in 1898, the "Up To Date Chromatically Tuned", but it quickly vanished without trace. More than a decade later, Hohner re-entered the chromatic area with their "Chromatic Harmonica". Essentially these are two diatonic harmonicas in one casing, one tuned a semi-tone above the other with a button operated slider to swap between them. Hohner's patent for their design was granted in 1928 (US patent 1671309) to David Newman, an employee of Hohner USA). Given the model number 260, it was pictured in the January 1910 issue of Music Trade Review and described as the "latest style" from Hohner. It was also featured in Hohner's 1911 catalog, but does not seem to have become readily available until the 1920s, its name being changed to the "Chromonica" later in that decade.
From Music Trade Review, January 1910
Other harmonicas were designed to play chordal accompaniment, bass lines or special effects, with new designs still coming out even today, although the basic diatonic and chromatic models account for most harmonicas in use.
译文如下（谷歌翻译，对付着看吧）：
可悲的是，西方自由簧片乐器的早期历史有些模糊，但如果我们将口琴定义为一种口吹自由簧片乐器，音阶的音符由演奏者的嘴而不是他或她的手指来选择，那么这个问题的通常答案是它是由16岁的克里斯蒂安·布希曼在1821年发明的。布希曼称他的新乐器为“光环”或“蒙达欧林”。然而，我们所知道的关于布希曼的大部分信息都来自于他的后代海因里希·布希曼写的一本关于他的书。克里斯蒂安·弗里德里希·路德维希·布希曼，《世界与和谐》写于1938年，当时德国非常热衷于展示其对其他国家的优越性。正因为如此，这一时期写的很多书往往会淡化其他国家的成就，往往到了刻意造假的地步。(德国人远不是唯一对此负有责任的国家。英国的参考书骄傲地认定查尔斯·惠斯通爵士是口琴的发明者，而美国更古老的教科书常常把这归功于本杰明·富兰克林——这是双重错误的，因为他与玻璃口琴，一种完全不同的乐器，他并没有发明它，只是对它做了一些改进。)这本书给出的布希曼发明的日期是1821年，这一日期几乎出现在自那以后所写的口琴的每一部历史中，描述了气场有4英寸长，15个钢筘并排安装，也许只是为了帮助调音，而不是作为乐器。然而，缺乏对这一日期的独立确认，事实上，克里斯蒂安·布希曼在1828年写给他父亲(当时他住在英国)的一封信中提到了一种类似口琴的乐器，小布希曼只是最近才发明的。它被描述为高4英寸，直径4英寸(暗示一个圆形形状，尽管一些人推测该乐器的形状可能像一个立方体)，有21个簧片能够以六部分和声演奏。这有可能是早期设计的发展，但在没有任何当代文献、这些仪器的任何现存例子甚至照片，或者任何关于布希曼所谓专利的细节的情况下，最好是半信半疑地看待整个故事。
在19世纪20年代，许多其他人也在试验类似的仪器，所以把它的发明归功于任何一个人可能都是不明智的。1824年，乔治·安东·莱因在维也纳获得了“以'中国方式’制造口琴”的专利，尽管这实际上指的是风箱驱动的乐器，而不是我们今天所说的口琴。然而，到1828年，他肯定已经在创作《世界和谐》了维也纳日报那一年的九月清楚地表明:
奥地利，尤其是维也纳，是早期的口琴生产中心，后来被德国公司掩盖了。到19世纪30年代中期，威廉·安东·蒂耶(他发明了维纳系统，或维也纳风格的颤音口琴)创立的公司是最成功的口琴制造商之一，并在几十年内继续主导市场。
在19世纪20年代的英国，著名科学家查尔斯·惠斯通正忙于研究自由簧片，尽管他主要关注的是使用按钮来选择音符的乐器，比如他的交响乐(1829年获得专利)，后来演变成手风琴类乐器。他的公司也进口并制造了最近发明的aeolina、或风成。人们对这种简单乐器的起源知之甚少，但德国汉堡的约翰·托比亚斯·埃申巴赫经常被认为是这种乐器的发明者。
在同一十年的美国，一个叫詹姆斯·阿米瑞克斯·巴赞的风琴制造商也在制造免费的簧片乐器。在…问题上音乐世界和时代日期为1853年4月9日，据称巴赞是在研究了1821年送给他修理的德国制造的免费芦苇沥青管后受到启发的。在波士顿的美术博物馆，有巴赞口琴的一个例子可以追溯到1830年。这是一种B调的双八度全音阶乐器，有15个打击簧片，很像布希曼的气场。MFA的例子上刻有“专利”一词，尽管没有任何记录表明巴赞获得了口吹自由簧片乐器的任何专利，也令人怀疑他是否生产了大量乐器。
大约在同一时期，纽约的刘易斯·兹瓦赫伦也在制造(或者可能只是销售)类似口琴的乐器，例如这一来自阿兰·贝茨收藏。虽然经常被描述为“和弦口琴”，但它们实际上是为了有旋律地演奏。根据那个时期的一本书，“奥琳娜”的使用说明(纽约伯恩出版社，1830年出版)要求演奏者从每组簧片中挑出单个音符，随着曲调的发展从一组跳到另一组，这肯定需要相当的灵巧。
在“光环”发明后不久，布希曼开始制造风箱驱动的乐器，他称之为“汉德哈耳摩卡”，或“汉德欧莱恩”，这是手风琴家族中最早的一些成员。手风琴有两组簧片——一组响应正压，另一组响应负压。一个叫里克特的波希米亚人(他的名字可能是约瑟夫、安东、雅各布，或者可能不是上面的任何一个)被认为借用了这个想法来制作现代的全音阶口琴，既有吹簧也有拉簧，还有一个手风琴式的音符布局——这种布局直到今天还被称为“里克特系统”。里克特的创新有不同的日期，从1826年到1857年。(有关此主题的更多信息，请参见本页。)从19世纪20年代后期开始，参与德国口琴生产的还有《特罗辛根》中的克里斯蒂安·梅斯纳、《克林根塔尔》中的约翰·威廉·鲁道夫·格列尔和《针织品》中的伊格纳斯·霍兹(弗里德里希·霍兹的父亲，他后来开发了针织品系统八度口琴)。
这些新颖的仪器很快变得非常受欢迎，许多工厂开业来满足对口腔器官的需求。克里斯蒂安·梅斯纳于1827年在特罗辛根开设了第一家。约翰·克里斯蒂安·塞德尔和克里斯蒂安·奥古斯特·塞德尔于1847年开始制造口琴，不久后在克林贡塔尔建立了一家工厂，这是目前世界上最古老的口琴工厂。
所有口琴制造商中最著名的霍纳于1857年在特罗辛根建立了公司，随后收购了许多较小的公司。
起初，口琴是用手工制作的，梳子是用木头雕刻的，芦苇是用黄铜线锤打的，并单独安装在芦苇板上。这一切都在1878年发生了变化，当时位于克林根塔尔的乐器工业机械供应商朱利叶斯·贝特霍尔德推出了第一台簧片铣床。
随后很快出现了切割梳子、冲压芦苇板、铆接芦苇等机器。，这对口琴行业产生了巨大的影响。在他们创业的第一年，马提亚斯·霍纳的家族企业生产了650支口琴。然而到了1880年，霍纳建立了大规模生产流水线，以前所未有的数量生产出口琴。到1887年，他们每年赚一百万，到1920年，这个数字上升到两千万！同年，德国的口琴总产量超过5000万只，其中2280万只销往美国，540万只销往英国，310万只销往印度，130万只销往意大利。事实上，很少有国家不出口口琴，世界上许多地方也在建立工厂来满足需求。
除了里克特系统口琴，还开发了许多其他类型的口琴，可能最重要的是滑音口琴。19世纪后期，人们曾多次尝试创作半音阶口琴。霍纳在1898年宣传了他们的第一个彩色模型，“最新的彩色调谐”，但它很快消失得无影无踪。十多年后，霍纳带着他们的“半音阶口琴”重新进入了半音阶领域。本质上，这是两个全音阶口琴在一个外壳里，一个在另一个上面调一个半音，用一个按钮操作的滑块在它们之间切换。霍纳的设计专利于1928年被授予(美国专利1671309)致霍纳美国公司的雇员戴维·纽曼)。鉴于型号为260，这张照片出现在1910年1月的音乐贸易评论并被形容为霍纳的“最新风格”。它也出现在霍纳1911年的目录中，但似乎直到20世纪20年代才变得容易获得，在那个十年的晚些时候，它的名字被改为“色罗尼卡”。
其他的口琴被设计用来演奏和弦伴奏、低音线或特殊效果，即使在今天，新的设计仍在出现，尽管基本的全音阶和半音模型占了大多数使用中的口琴。