Episode 07 – Symphonium – C. Wheatstone, 1827/1829

Around 1829, in England, Charles Wheatstone, a physicist, invented a musical instrument with free metal reeds into which one blows: the Symphonium, the Patent is taken in 1829 for a “wind musical instrument”, n°5803.It is a small metal box with an oval opening on the front as a mouthpiece and a system of keyboards with buttons, arranged on the sides, to play it.

It is from this instrument that, a few years later, Charles Wheatstone created the concertina, replacing the user’s breath with a bellows, but this is another story…

To be continued…