Vizy Rezsó's Large Orchestriona, Budapest, Hungary

(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

This photograph of Vizy Rezsó's Large Orchestriona was received by Durward Center in correspondence from Rezsö Weiser in 1986. The illustration of Rezsó's Orchestriona in the book Muzsikálo Szerkezetek Tortenete (on page 190) is identical, but cropped so that it does not show what appears to be the corner of Rezsö's Philipps Pianella Model 3 Paganini Geigen Piano. While the focus of the photograph is on the Welte, it is understood that the Paganini and Welte were somehow interconnected, and that both orchestrions could be made to operate together as one. The letter in which this photograph was included was delivered to Durward by way of a Canadian sister-in-law of a neighbor of Rezsö Weiser.

(Photograph courtesy of Durward Center)

Vizy Rezsó's (a.k.a. Rezsö Weiser) 1986 Letter to Durward Center. This letter was delivered to Durward by way of a Canadian sister-in-law of a neighbor of Rezsö Weiser. The letter was translated, but that translation has been lost. Durward replied to Rezsö but never got a response. In 1988, Durward began trying to contact Rezsö again. His translator's mother lived in Budapest and did some investigation there, but by that time the ownership was determined to be Mrs. Jozef Meyer. So Rezsö must have died sometime between 1986 and 1988. Several more attempts were made to contact Rezsö through 1989, but with no favorable results.