Philipps / Wurlitzer Orchestrions

The Philipps Pianella and
The Wurlitzer PianOrchestra

Author's Preface

This author grew up playing with and exploring the mechanisms of a Chickering baby grand with an Ampico A mechanism that sat in a corner of the living room in my parent's home. Thus, I was familiar with roll played pianos from infancy, but the first coin operated automatic musical instrument I remember seeing, and that instantly imbued me with an undying love of mechanical music, was a Wurlitzer Style 30-A Mandolin PianOrchestra. It stood tall, almost touching the ceiling, and was stationed just inside and along one wall of Playland, which was one of three penny arcades located in the Fun Zone on the Newport Beach Peninsula, Newport Beach, California. It was probably during the summer of 1944 when I first encountered this awe inspiring mechanical device, and thereafter whenever my parents would visit close friends on nearby Balboa Island I would coax them or someone to take me across the bay on the little ferry boat to the Fun Zone, where I would stand in front of the towering and utterly magnificent looking (albeit relatively poorly playing) PianOrchestra and feed dimes into its makeshift coin slot.

I would stand spellbound, peering through the clear glass panes, while admiring its fascinating mechanisms, such as the xylophone, the tambourine and drums, the clear toned orchestra bells, and the piano action standing upright along the backside of the big machine, all of which were controlled by the music roll, me gazing in utter amazement at its marvelously intricate innards. And front and center was a beautifully machined automatic music roll changing device, which always seemed to function flawlessly. My reverie would go on without pause, until my parents or some other chaperone would tire of standing by waiting for me, and pull me away, insisting that we depart. Although there were two other coin pianos in another arcade—a Nelson-Wiggen Style 6 Cabinet Orchestrion and a Seeburg Style H Solo Orchestrion—it was the singular discovery of the seemingly immense Wurlitzer PianOrchestra that left me with an indelible fascination for mechanical music, one that has lasted to this very day. At the time, way back in the early 1940s, I knew nothing of the Philipps Musikwerke-Fabrik, nor anything about the Wurlitzer Company for that matter, and now almost 80 years later I am still writing about the firm and the legacy it left behind that was to unknowingly ignite a lifelong passion.

An Introduction to the Pianella Orchestrion

Bringing to fruition this particular Philipps Pianella/Wurlitzer PianOrchestra project was the fulfillment of a childhood fascination with what was known in America as a Wurlitzer PianOrchestra. My initial immersion into the fascinating world of large cabinet orchestrions began in the mid-1940s, when, as a small lad, I discovered what looked to me to be some kind captivating automatic musical machine—a Wurlitzer Style 30-A Mandolin PianOrchestra, located in the Playland arcade, on the Newport Beach Peninsula, California. At that time, I only knew that it was some kind of big Wurlitzer, which was obvious because of the Wurlitzer name carved into the case at eye-level (for little me). The people my family were visiting knew the Wurlitzer name, and were familiar with Wurlitzer theater organs, and when talking about the subject might utter the old phrase “Gee Dad, it’s a Wurlitzer,” a still popular idiom during the 1940s. And so I grew up knowing the big Wurlitzer as the big Wurlitzer piano, or alternately, some would call such music machines a “nickelodeon,” which is an incorrect term because a nickelodeon was a 5-cent movie house, usually with piano accompaniment, or in later years the better houses could afford a Photoplayer.

It was not until I met Ruby Raney, in 1955, who sold me a Wurlitzer Bijou Orchestra, my first coin piano, that I got to hold and read though a Wurlitzer color catalogue, and it pictured and described a wide variety of PianOrchestras. This is the moment when I first got to see the official name designation and the instrument specifications for the Playland Wurlitzer, whereupon the big Playland Wurlitzer I had so admired as a young lad was now known to me as a Wurlitzer Style 30A Mandolin PianOrchestra. Then, circa 1966, I met Q. David Bowers, who was finishing up writing his new book, Put Another Nickel In. This is when I became aware of the German firm of Johann Daniel Philipps & Söhne A.-G., and the Frankfurter Musikwerke-Fabrik, located in Frankfurt a. Main, Germany. Wurlitzer had imported the big Playland PianOrchestra as a Philipps Model 30 Pianella (also known as a Philipps Monopol-Xylophon Pianella), manufactured by J.D. Philipps and Sons, Bockenheim (a suburb of Frankfurt-am-Main), Germany. Wurlitzer continued to import Philipps Pianella orchestrions up into 1914, when importation was halted due to World War I. Since the majority of my experience with Philipps machines relates to the American experience of the Pianella, the dominant naming conventions used in this project (unless there was never an imported Wurlitzer equivalent) utilize terms popularized by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, with headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio and, as of January 1909, a growing factory complex located in North Tonawanda, New York.

The Frankfurter Musikwerke-Fabrik

Johann Daniel Philipps & Söhne A.-G.
Frankfurter Musikwerke-Fabrik in Frankfurt a. Main, Germany

Oswald Philipps, Director (youngest son of J.D. Philipps).	Johann Daniel Philipps, Founder.	August Philipps, Director (oldest son of J.D. Philipps).
Photographs and positional layout from Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, July 15, 1927.

Located in Bockenheim, a suburb of Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, the firm of J.D. Philipps & Sons, founded in 1877, manufactured barrel operated pianos and orchestrions. It was about 1900 when the company first began producing a line of paper music roll operated instruments, utilizing a wide paper music roll, probably very similar in appearance to the wide style of music rolls used by other manufacturers of the time, such as with the firm of Michael Welte and Sons, Vöhrenbach, Germany.

The trade name "Pianella" was registered by Phillips in Germany on April 17, 1903, and was to represent a line of improved self-playing, paper roll operated pianos and orchestras. The Pianella line featured a newly devised, fairly narrow music roll, almost half the width of traditional rolls, which, according to Philipps, resisted the tendency to be rendered useless due to swelling from excess humidity and moisture. This narrow music roll, with its slender and closely spaced perforations, immediately identifies Philipps Pianella music rolls from those of all other major European manufacturers.

Although the Pianella line, as such, was first commercially produced in 1903, the revolver mechanism (roll changer), devised in 1903-04, and patented in 1905, did not become a more or less standard fixture on large and expensive Pianella orchestrions until probably 1908-09. Up until that time large Pianella machines regularly shipped with only a single roll mechanism, playing a single roll and then automatically rewinding itself, the roll-changer being available as an option, at extra cost. It was common in Europe to have an attendant operate the orchestrion, with patrons paying the attendant to play a favorite selection. Thus, having an expensive orchestrion with only a single roll mechanism was not unusual. In America, however, customs were different. The idea of having to hire an attendant was an added expense and inconvenience, whereupon an automatic roll changing device and a machine that could play a variety of selections unattended was more or less considered normal and a necessity

In America, the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, who had acquired the American agency for Philipps in 1902, applied its own trade name, "The PianOrchestra," to the new line of large Pianella orchestrions. The early imports were all simply known as PianOrchestras. It was not until later years when the term Style 17 PianOrchestra, Mandolin PianOrchestra, and Concert PianOrchestra came about. Starting in 1902, imported Pianellas would have been shipped to the Wurlitzer Company headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, possibly a few going directly to a major branch office, such as the one in Chicago. But beginning in January of 1909, imports would have gone mainly to the Wurlitzer factory facilities in North Tonawanda, New York. An estimated 1000 Pianella orchestrions were brought into the USA by Wurlitzer, who imported them between 1903 and 1914, until the outbreak of World War I prevented any further business dealings with German manufacturers.

Wurlitzer did not import 100% completed machines. They were, according to Farny Wurlitzer, minus the drums and electricals, except for the pneumatically operated cut-off switch and the pneumatic/electric start button, which was located next to the roll mechanism. Wurlitzer already manufactured and sold drums, and so naturally thought is sensible to use its own American made units. The electrical standards and requirements in America were quite different than in Germany, so Wurlitzer fitted the Pianellas with American motors, electrical wiring and lighting fixtures, often decorating the exterior cases with many candelabra base colored electrical lights.

Once importation ceased Wurlitzer maintained PianOrchestra sales by selling off it remaining stock of imported Pianellas, along with used PianOrchestras (Pianellas) that had been taken in on trade and refurbished. Additionally, many PianOrchestras were assembled by Wurlitzer in its North Tonawanda, New York, factory. By using some combination of an already imported Philipps chassis, along with other Philipps parts, Wurlitzer would manufacture the exterior case, add the electricals and drums, as well as make up for any missing Philipps mechanical mechanisms by inserting its own American brand of technology.

Pianella Product Categories

All Wurlitzer PianOrchestras (whether complete Philipps Pianellas or made up out of Philipps and Wurlitzer components) can be said to fall into one of following general categories:

1. Philipps Pianella orchestrions, circa 1903-05:

Originally imported and advertised by Wurlitzer as "The PianOrchestra, The Greatest Music Wonder of the Age," once the importation of the later and more mechanically sophisticated Mandolin and Concert PianOrchestras had begun, these earlier machines were referred to as “Regular PianOrchestras.” No examples of the very earliest first-generation PianOrchestras are known to exist, although a few later (Style 17) Regular PianOrchestras did continue to be listed in the Wurlitzer catalogues for several years, right alongside their more modern brethren, the more mechanically sophisticated Wurlitzer Mandolin and Concert PianOrchestras. However, the older Style 17 Regular PianOrchestra holdovers were newly re-branded as Style 17 PianOrchestras, which still used the same music roll as did all of the earlier Regular PianOrchestras.

2. Philipps Pianella Model "Special" orchestrions:

Designated the “Style 17 PianOrchestra” by Wurlitzer, the music roll featured separate tracker-bar holes for each of the thirteen orchestra bell notes. This same music roll was apparently used on the earlier "Regular PianOrchestras" as well, the style 17 being a relatively modernized version of the original PianOrchestra line. A number of early original red paper Wurlitzer music rolls have been noted bearing the name “PianOrchestra,” “Regular PianOrchestra” or “Style 17 PianOrchestra.” All three designations seem to be interchangeable, with identical looking music roll layouts.

3. Philipps Pianella Mandolinen (P.M.) orchestrions:

Designated the “Mandolin PianOrchestra” by Wurlitzer, this series used the Philipps “P.M.” (Pianella Mandolinen) music roll or the Wurlitzer Mandolin PianOrchestra roll, both essentially identical, except for the style of music arranging.

4. Philipps Pianella Cäecilia (P.C.) orchestrions:

Designated the “Concert PianOrchestra” by Wurlitzer, this large and elaborate series of self-playing orchestras used the Philipps “P.C.” (Pianella Cäecilia) music roll or the Wurlitzer Concert PianOrchestra roll, both essentially identical, except for the style of music arranging. Basically, the Mandolinen and Cäecilia series of orchestrions differ in these respects: The large "P.C." machines can turn on and off the piano thereby permitting pipework solo work, they do not have a mandolin attachment, and the pipework is usually much more extensive and includes the addition of a wind-pressure tremolo mechanism. Moreover, music for the “P.C.” machines tended to favor “classical” music, with less emphasis on popular tunes, although music rolls of all types were plentiful, and were also used on certain large Wurlitzer Photoplayers.

5. Philipps Pianella Paganini (P.P.) orchestrions:

Designated by Wurlitzer as the Paganini (Solo) Violin Piano, or in the case of the larger instruments representing a string orchestra, the Paganini Violin Orchestra, the Philipps Paganini-Geigen-Pianos and Paganini-Geigen-Orchestrions represented the ultimate in musical refinement and sophistication, or so it was said. Although they were considered to be the next step forward in automatic music technology, they still incorporated some of the more ruggedly designed mechanical features of the earlier line of Philipps “P.M.” and “P.C.” machines. For the most part, however, the new flagship Paganini models embodied some radically new designs, while making excellent use of the high-quality violin pipes common to these more expressive music machines. Compared to the PianOrchestra, the Paganini instrument was a much more complex device, requiring a greater degree of careful regulation, whereas the earlier Pianella orchestrions, being of a straightforward and relatively simple design, tended to be more rugged and durable in commercial applications.

All Philipps Pianella Paganini machines were basically built around the Philipps Duca expression piano technology, incorporating at least two ranks of beautifully voiced violin pipes (which included solo capabilities) and usually a harmonium having up to three registers. The elaborate piano expression mechanisms and a sophisticated swell shutter system afforded a high degree of musical realism. The large Paganini Violin Orchestras contained orchestral pipe voices other than just the basic violin and flageolet tones, adding flute, piccolo, clarinet, oboe, et cetera, as well as various trapwork items, such as drums, triangle, castanets, bells, xylophone, and so on. The Paganini instruments use the “P.P.” (Philipps or Pianella Paganini) roll, or a special “P.D.” (Philipps Duca) roll, which only played the piano.

6. Other Philipps Machines:

While Philipps’ orchestrions are well known in the United States under the Wurlitzer PianOrchestra and Wurlitzer Paganini brand names, the Philipps company was a large and diversified organization, building of many types of automatic musical instruments. At one time or another, their product line included such things as:

• The Pianetta (a comparatively small barrel or cylinder operated piano-orchestrions powered by a weight escapement energized clockwork motor).
• The Pianella series of (P., P.M., P.C., and P.P.) machines equipped with paper music roll operated pneumatic pianos ranging from simple keyboard pianos with a mandolin attachment up to large keyboard style orchestrions and then further upwards to the large and elaborate Mandolinen and Cäecilia series of piano-orchestrions, and lastly the sophisticated Philipps Pianella Paganini series of expressive Geigen (Violin) Pianos and Orchestrions.
• The Kunstspiel-Klavier (P.A. and P.C.a.) artist playing upright and Flügel (Wing/Grand) Pianos.
• The Duca and Ducanola (D) full reproducing piano system, the Ducanola being a foot-pumped reproducing system).
• The Philipps Pianella Model P.E. Violinen-Orchester, an odd and rare instrument with a 29-note piano, 17-note ratchet type mandolin mechanism, 25 wooden violin pipes, snare drum, bass drum, and crash cymbal.
• The Philipps Hawaian Band* (sic) mentioned only once in an article in Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau on September 15, 1926, page 1131.
• The Art Deco styled Philipps Jazz-Band Piano orchestrions were in vogue during the late 1920s, and were the last major popular design variation before the company more or less exited the automatic musical instruments business in the early 1930s.
• The Philipps Pianella Modell P.F. 10 Violinen-Orchester. This instrument is noted only once in an article in the March 1, 1929, issue of Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau on page 502, as follows: “As a special novelty in this area, the company is showing its interested parties a new Philipps jazzband (model 4a) and a "Philipps Pianella Violin Orchestra" (model P. F. 10), which are offered to dealers in the very best version at particularly advantageous prices.”

An Orchestrion Related Timeline

• 1902: U.S. Patent Application filed on November 28, 1902, for a Pneumatic Action for Musical Instruments (a.k.a., stack or windchest) for Johann Daniel Philipps; Patent No. 730,565, granted on June 9, 1903. This is the stack as used in the first Pianella orchestrions imported by Wurlitzer, and used up into the circa 1907-1908 range, when this early design, where tiny pneumatics lifted the secondary valves in the stack, was abandoned in favor of a button type primary (which operates inversely as compared to the secondary valves) directly ported to the pouch (diaphragm) of the larger secondary valves.
• 1903: The trade name “Pianella” was registered by Phillips in Germany on April 17, 1903.
• 1903: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, December 11, 1903, has an advertisement for the J.D. Phillips’ Frankfurter Musikwerke Fabrik saying that they have offices in Frankfurt; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Chicago, Illinois, the latter two U.S. territory offices were the obvious result of the company’s new sales relationship with the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company.
• 1905: Revolver Mechanik 1905, Patent 1906.
• 1906: On 21 February 1906 in Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, Phillips, trading as the Frankfurter Musikwerke Fabrik, stated that the latest items were the Pianella Spezial, Brilliant, Gloria, Mandolino, Monopol, and Cäecilia. And also the Pianella-Corona, which was a line of upright keyboard pianos ranging from a simple piano with a mandolin/harp effect, up to taller pianos incorporating a xylophone, violin pipes, and a tympani effect.
• 1908: The revolver mechanism was advertised in Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, On August 21, 1908. Philipps also advertised the Concert Pianella, a huge orchestrion.
• 1910: Paganini, including keyboard models and large orchestrions, all first appeared in 1910.
• 1910: Duplex roll system for theaters in 1910
• 1912: April 1912, in Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau ad, duplex 12-roll revolver mechanism on Paganini orchestrions.
• 1915: Estimated introduction date for the odd, smallish Philipps Pianella that plays type P.E. music rolls.
• 1926: The Philipps Hawaian Band* (sic) was mentioned only once in an article in Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau on September 15, 1926, page 1131.
• 1926: The Philipps Jazz-Band Piano was first mentioned in an article in Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau on September 15, 1926.
• 1926-1927: The Philipps Super Jazz Band Orchestra, as mentioned in the 1927 Philipps 50-year celebration booklet and described as: “This technical masterpiece replaces a first-class jazz band of 12 artists. It consists of an excellent cross-string piano, harmonium, several violins, cello, string bass, lotus flute, Clarinets, saxophones, and complete jazz band drums.” This may also have been known as the Modell 4 Jazz-Band Piano.
• 1929: The Philipps Pianella Modell P.F. 10 Violinen-Orchester, noted in an article in Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau on March 1, 1929.

Beautiful Philipps fallboard decal for keyboard style pianos and orchestrions showing many of the awards received over many years.

The Philipps 50-Year Jubilee

It was on July 2nd and 3rd, 1927, that the Philipps Musikwerke-Fabrik celebrated its 50-year jubilee, and it is from an article in Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau recalling the history of the firm that much of the information herein was derived. This was a momentous occasion, where the history of the firm was spelled out in some otherwise not so easily found detail. The story begins in 1877 when 23-year old Johann Daniel Philipps ...

50th anniversary of Philipps A-G. in Frankfurt a. M. Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, No. 20, 15 Juli 1927, 47. Jahrg (Year), Page 993.
In addition to our insert in No. 20 of July 15, 1927, we are publishing a group photo of the festival participants after the academic celebration on July 2, 1927.

50th Anniversary of Philipps-A.-G.

The Party.

The famous Philipps A.-G., Frankfurt a. M., whose products, especially “Duca” and “Ducanola,” enjoy a world-wide reputation, celebrated on July 2nd and 3rd of this year its fiftieth anniversary. On the morning of July 2nd, an academic celebration brought together representatives of the city, the various employers' and trade associations with the company's relatives and business friends in the rooms on Solmsstrasse 9. Director August Philipps, who successfully continued his father's work with his younger brother Oswald, was able to thank him for many words of deserved praise and for many good wishes, especially from the workers and employees of the large companies. Artistic performances in which only the products of Philipps A.-G. came to honor themselves and provided an atmospheric setting for the celebration. After a tour of the production facilities, the hosts and guests stayed together for a long time over a festive breakfast. A banquet in the evening was all about jubilee conviviality and was enhanced by performances by Frankfurt artists Friedrich Ettel, Fritz Malata and Alois Resni. Sunday had already started well when the dancing group dispersed. In the afternoon they reunited for a joint "anniversary car ride" through the beautiful city, then via Bad Homburg and Usingen to Bad Nauheim, where a coffee table was waiting at the Hotel Bristol. On the return trip, the Saalburg was visited. Finally, in the evening, a closing ceremony took place Frankfurt-style beer evening in the small hall of the “Zoological Garden.” There was also plenty of humor and dance to be had here.

The anniversary celebration will always be fondly remembered by all participants, especially as it proved that, despite war and inflation, even today, in large, successful companies, the friendliest possible understanding can still exist between employees and employers, between customers and representatives and suppliers, if both parties are on good terms they are willing and pull together in mutual, trusting consideration.

The History of the Philipps Ventures

Director August Philipps provided valuable information about the history of the Philipps works in a warm welcoming speech at the academic ceremony on July 2nd. However, the management believed that the interested parties and friends of the Philipps family could not be pleased with a more beautiful celebration than with the commemorative publication, which was published for the 50th anniversary celebrations in a splendid presentation and with rich images and which chronicles the career of Philipps A.-G. clearly illustrated. As a source work on the history of one of the most important companies in the German music industry, the anniversary publication deserves a very special appreciation in a magazine such as this one. At the same time, we would like to point out the most remarkable things from the history of Philipps A.-G. brought to attention.

The picture of the founder, Johann Daniel Philipps, is placed in front of the font as the cover image; A bright, spiritual eye has preserved a rare freshness in the 81-year-old pioneer of the German music industry; a sense of purpose speaks from the traits of this German entrepreneurial nature. At the age of 23, J. D. Philipps came to Frankfurt from the provinces, where, after a musicians' strike, he quickly decided to set up one of those old and primitive orchestras in his dance hall, whose loud mechanical playing triggered the entrepreneurial experience in him one day, so that in 1877 he decided to found one Orchestrionfabrik, and thus laid the foundation for the diverse work of the Philipps companies.

The year 1896 marked the turning point for the young Philipps production: abandonment of the roller orchestration and transition to pneumatics, which had already been used in the organ in the form of the pressure wind system for centuries. This year, J. D. Philipps and his two sons, August and Oswald, showed the entire German music industry new paths.

August Philipps made the first pneumatic experiments using paper music rolls. This was the first step in creating the right foundation on which, in principle and in practice, the production methods of Philipps and all related companies are still based today. The first usable design of an apparatus for piano orchestras that could be played pneumatically with paper music rolls, the combination of piano and pipe orchestras, was achieved.

Just two years later, in 1898, the first piano that could be played pneumatically, also with paper music rolls, followed.

A triumph of inventive spirit and tenacious determination now led to new improvements in short periods. At the turn of the century, the first electrically operated Philipps piano was built. Although humanity living at the beginning of the twentieth century was not easily astonished by technical advances and surprises, the new "electric piano" was seen as offering completely new future possibilities, which the Philipps brothers subsequently exploited with skill and foresight.

Oswald Philipps, who was always fraternally involved in helping and advising the improvements that the last decade of the nineteenth century in particular brought about, can above all claim to have had an almost seditious effect through the invention of the so-called “narrow grading system.”

When the Philipps factory first brought an apparatus and music rolls with narrow pitch onto the market in 1903, the competition in particular tried to brand the new system as completely wrong. People went so far as to deny the clever inventor common sense. A judgment that he has the honor of sharing with many, including the greatest pioneers! In any case, the invention survived all honest and all jealous opposition. Yes, the competition soon had to adopt the narrow division, the eighty-eight-note role. This alone enabled the pneumatic mechanism to rise to the level of sonorous artistic achievements that characterize and distinguish all Philipps instruments today, despite the ever-increasing tonal range of modern compositions.

Oswald Philipps knew no technical obstacles: the small openings in the narrow music band required some kind of reinforcement of the incoming air flow. By switching on a “pre-station” between the sheet music and the main apparatus, the desired success was achieved, and even a particularly precise touch was achieved.

Of the inventions for which the brothers August and Oswald Philipps are to be thanked, only the so-called note block should be mentioned here, which has the extraction holes for the pneumatics directly on the block.

In the further history of Philipps A.-G. The year 1905 deserves special mention, in which the brothers August and Oswald took over the management of their father's business. The period that began with this was one of the most successful creative years and brought an almost endless chain of further improvements and technical innovations, such as the sensational revolver mechanism—mainly thanks to Oswald Philipps—which was set up right from the start to accommodate six music rolls and over the next few years it was still being designed in a variety of meaningful ways.

1907. Another special milestone on the successful path! “Duca” and “Ducanola” are now known and famous throughout the musical world. Twenty years ago, the name “Duca” was heard for the first time. A special commemorative celebration within the fiftieth anniversary celebrations! The first reproduction piano, or in German “artist’s play piano,” came onto the market under this name. With this artist's playback instrument, the Philipps company had once again provided a stimulating and forward-looking service to an entire industry.

“Duca” was tasked with completely transforming the domestic musical life of educated circles. With a clear, far-sighted eye for the commercial development potential of this invention, the company's managers established connections with the greatest of the greats of piano playing; everyone came, heard, and the Duca won. Personalities like d'Albert, Carreno, Scharwenka, Schapira, von Paüer, Busoni, Ripper, Schnabel, Gabrilowisch, Saint-Saens, Pfitzner, and many others are recorded for posterity for all time through the Duca artists, and the enthusiastic approval and recognition not only of these artistic greats, but also of all other music-loving circles, were an incentive to continue restless, diligent work on the artistic perfection of this amazing invention. With the active collaboration of experts and performing artists—Prof. Willy Rehberg, Fritz Malata—a selection of sheet music was created that, in addition to the masterpieces of classical music, contains the pearls of modern music literature from all over the world and is able to meet all wishes in its versatility.

The period from 1905 onwards also saw an almost unprecedented expansion of operations. The rooms had to grow, and the house had to expand with increasing demand and staff. At that time, Philipps' factory undoubtedly had the highest turnover among the other young companies in the mechanical-pneumatic industry.

In 1908, the factory facilities were expanded to include large, modern new buildings on Ohmstrasse.

In 1905 they started with 25 workers. By 1910 the number of workers had increased eightfold. At the same time, there were already own shops with modern showrooms in Berlin, Essen, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Metz and Brussels.

After the “Ducanola” artificial piano was brought onto the market in 1911 after years of development, the Philipps company was at the forefront of the German musical instrument industry. All types of devices previously known in the field of pneumatics instruments such as: Pianella pianos and orchestras, playable electrically, Paganini violin pianos and orchestral works, playable electrically, Ducanola art pianos and grand pianos for pedal operation, Duca artist playback reproducing pianos and grand pianos for electric drive were manufactured and marketed by the Philipps company.

It should be particularly pointed out that over time the Ducanola and Duca devices were installed in almost all of the most well-known German piano brands and these instruments were sold in all parts of the world.

The strong, healthy growth of the company meant that the previous form of a general partnership went beyond the scope and required a foundation that was even better suited to the importance of the company. As a result, by contract dated March 2, 1911, the Frankfurt music works factory J. D. Philipps. & Söhne Aktien-Gesellschaft, Frankfurt a. M., established and entered into the commercial register in Frankfurt a. M. on March 21, 1911. Since 1918 the name has been converted to Philipps A.-G.

Management was taken over by the founder's two sons, August and Oswald Philipps, who are still at the helm of the company today.

In 1920 Philipps A.-G. in Frankfurt a. M.-Bockenheim and Rödelheim properties with a total size of 10,760 square meters, on which the factory buildings and accessories such as administration buildings, machine house, storage building, wood storage hall, etc. are located. The built area was 5853 square meters. The factory facilities were equipped with a 250 hp steam engine and an electric lighting system, with a machine park equipped with the most modern machine tools, of which special machines for note production deserve special mention. Proper care of the wood used in production ensured that new drying systems were set up in an exemplary manner.

The year 1923 once again marked particularly outstanding progress on the development path of Philipps A.-G., which allowed the company to increase not only in size but also in internal value as a result of merging with other companies. Rationalization, as a result of savings in freight expenses and other expenses in the manufacture and delivery of instruments by establishing a new manufacturing and shipping location. This measure was particularly necessary because the art playing machines to be delivered to many Berlin and northern German piano factories were made in our own workshops and in their own workshops Pianos had to be installed.

Philipps A.-G. for this purpose, the old company Frati & Co., A.-G., was taken over by way of a merger in Berlin, Kastanienallee 32, which had also been producing artificial pianos and orchestral works for around 50 years.

However, another merger agreement, which undoubtedly gave the year 1925 special significance in the history of Philipps A.-G for all future years, had a much greater influence on Philipps' ventures, secures on January 1, 1925, Wilhelm Arnold A.-G. in Aschaffenburg became the property of the company. Close ties of friendship had existed between the two companies for three decades, with Philipps A.-G taking over for a time more than half of Arnold's total annual production of “Bülow pianos,” which enjoy a worldwide reputation, for their built-in instruments.

As a result of this merger, both companies have already grown together; such that the hundred-year history of the House of Arnold can rightly be viewed as part of the history of the House of Philipps.

This is how Philipps A.-G., although not now, can only celebrate her actual fiftieth birthday, but she will in the future also proudly, like her own, celebrate the centenary of Arnold A.-G in three years.

The Philipps Products.

An endlessly long, arduous path leads from the orchestrion, which Johann Daniel Philipps set up in the 1870s, to the artist's playback instruments that meet all artistic and technical requirements and which are the products of Philipps A.-G. mark today; from the small factory that made Orchestrions par excellence, to the enormous enterprise whose diverse manufactures are now to be found in all parts of the world and are generally very popular. In addition to Philipps grand pianos and Philipps pianos, manufactured in Frankfurt, which the growing expansion of the company forced us to include because it no longer allowed us to rely solely on third-party piano brands for the installation of the devices, Philipps A.-G. in the Aschaffenburg factory, formerly Arnold'sche Werken, the world-famous "Bülow" upright and grand pianos, which emerged from almost a hundred years of experience, and the also well-known, well-established Arnold uprights.

The instruments are cross-stringed and have three choirs, have a continuous iron armor frame with doweled peg holes and are equipped with the finest under-damped repetition mechanics, as well as keyboards from the first factories. Vocal posture, noble tone and beauty of sound; combined with special balance in the transitions between the individual tones are their recognized strengths. Only first-class, selected components, well-dried and professionally and carefully cared for wood is used. The instruments are crafted with the utmost conscientiousness and care, taking into account all practical innovations and advances in the field of piano making.

There are—although closer to the pianos than to the actual orchestrions and similar works—the pianella pianos and orchestral pianos as well as jazz band pianos; Crossings, so to speak, of the piano part with the mandolin (harp); The mediators of today's inevitable jazz band hits are the more arid ones, who achieve spirited effects with the greatest delicacy and bring the moody secondary melodies to the same effect as any well-drilled jazz band through clever use of new mandolin sounds and drums.

The Paganini pianos represent the combination of first-class cross-string pianos with violin tones. The Paganini violin pianos go one step further, as the large tonal range of the “Paganini violin,” which also allows the harmonic tones to be heard with euphony and natural melody, enables a reproduction of natural violin playing that had never been achieved by any other instrument until then. The instrumentation is effectively complemented by a 44-note “harmonium.”

The Philipps Paganini Orchestra represents the line-up of selected chamber music with first-class piano, harmonium, violins, viola, string bass, flute, harmonics, clarinet, percussion, timpani, bass and snare drum. It can be described as a true-to-life reproduction of a complete symphony orchestra.

The Paganini artist-play orchestra work, a giant 341 cm high, 240 cm wide and 165 cm deep, features violins and string instruments in all shades, string bass, violon and cello, which has never been offered before: flutes, piccolo, harmonics, clarinet, harmonium, cross-string piano, complete percussion consisting of timpani, bass and snare drums, glockenspiel, triangle, tambourine and castanets. And then as the “last novelty:” Philipp's Super Jazz Band Orchestra! This technical masterpiece replaces a first-class jazz band of twelve artists. It consists of an excellent cross-string piano, harmonium, several violins, cello, string bass, lotus flute, clarinets, saxophone and complete jazz band drums. The fact that a whole series of other models are being manufactured is only hinted at in the end. Only briefly mentioned are the instruments marketed under the name "Fratinola" by the Berlin branch, which have also been available since they shared the good reputation of other Philipps brands for more than 50 years. Given the astonishing versatility of the products, their scope should not be completely forgotten, even if numbers can only have a certain value with such extremely high-quality works. Each individual is a “personality” that outweighs large masses of products from other related industries in terms of importance. —Taking this reservation into account, numbers speak for themselves here too.

The total production of electric pianos, orchestral works, Ducanolas, built-in devices, handheld pianos and grand pianos since the beginning of the company and including the acquired works was more than 40,000, and the number of handheld pianos and grand pianos alone was over 15,000.

Heads alone are enough to create a company of the type and importance of Philipps A.-G. and for it to be constantly developed in an ascending line. Such successes are only possible if the leaders understand how to win over a loyal core of employees and maintain them in a friendly and social sense. But Johann Daniel Philipps and even more so his sons succeeded in this.

The heads of the individual departments and branches, with whom the two men on the board have long-standing ties of friendship and personal cooperation, have been working in the musical instrument industry for 25, 30, or more years and are well-versed in all circles of customers and suppliers known and popular. A number of factory employees have already celebrated their 20th, 25th, and 30th working anniversaries. Two of them have already celebrated their 40th anniversary: the master floor maker Karl Schäfer from the Aschaffenburg factory and the music artist Xaver Merz from the Frankfurt factory, both of whom the Reich President von Hindenburg congratulated in a special certificate of honor.

We can probably say that Philipps A.-G., as we move into the second half of the secular world, would like to say a fresh “good luck” and conclude with the hopeful words of the commemorative publication:

If we look back at the founding, development and current status of Philipps A.-G. could be a look back at a work that has constantly grown from a modest nucleus with the fresh, indestructible vitality of a healthy organism that has overcome the bad years since 1914 without ever being seriously threatened in its internal and external existence — if today, after 50 years, a company with a world reputation full of youthful striving continues to work in a ceaseless effort to always achieve and deliver only the best of the best — we can hope without exaggeration that in the future half century and beyond “Blessing of effort will be the price...”

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