The German piano and harpsichord maker Jean Tobie Schmidt (Johann Tobias Schmidt) made this monochord with keyboard. Based in Paris from the early years of the French Revolution, Schmidt became known for, amongst other things, perfecting the guillotine, used extensively from 1792 to 1795. The quality of his musical instruments was commended at the Exhibition of Products of French Industry in 1806 and 1819. This monochord’s single chord is struck by hammers activated by the keyboard. It was used more to demonstrate sounds produced by vibrations than to perform pieces of music. It bears the inscription ‘Made by Tobie Schmidt for M. Charles in 1819’, a reference to the scientist Jacques Alexandre César Charles, who very probably ordered this monochord for his famous physics cabinet.
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