The Android Clarinetist and the search for its missing clarinet
In the age of AI and rapidly increasing technologies, robots are becoming commonplace.
But what if I told you that there is a 187-year-old robot clarinetist, and it’s missing its clarinet?
Due to the mass manufacturing of clockwork devices at the beginning of the 19th century, inventors began creating toys and other automatons using these technologies. Although The Android Clarinettist was quite advanced for its time, there were other automaton musicians of other instruments such as flute, drums, and even organ.
In 1838, Dutch inventor Cornelis Jacobus van Oeckelen (1798-1865) created an automaton clarinetist (named The Android Clarinettist) which performed, bowed, and even wet its reed in preparation for its performance!
Clarinet historian Albert Rice describes The Android Clarinettist:
“Originally, the android clarinetist was a man 6′ 5¾” tall (1.975 m) standing on a thin iron platform holding a pseudo-clarinet (hereafter called clarinet), dressed as a medieval troubadour in a silk, gold trimmed velvet cape, neck ruff, formal shirt, pantaloons, stockings, and buckled shoes (fig. 4) .20 In the illustration, the android clarinetist has a striking, friendly facial expression. Its clarinet had a conical bore and is wider than normal to accommodate the reeds placed inside. Its length is about 30″ (76.2 cm), the length of a modern G clarinet, with a bell diameter of 4.92″ (12.5 cm).21 Its finger and key holes are covered by sixteen plateau keys, allowing the free reeds in the instrument to vibrate when air is pumped through tubes concealed in both thumbs while the fingers open the plateau keys.”
Albert Rice
The Android Clarinettist was created to play many works, including some by Weber and Beethoven. Van Oeckelen would accompany The Android Clarinettist, who would signal to its creator to begin the piano introduction. While the piano played, it would bow, wet its reed, and begin performing at the correct entrance. The performance lasted one hour, and it would bow at the end to its audience.
Van Oeckelen embarked on a tour with his creation, and they performed at several cities in the Netherlands, with 30-50 performances in each city. The tours expanded to wide geographic areas, and the duo even made it to the United States in the mid-19th century.
A concert announcement in Boston describes the clarinetist:
“The peculiar characteristics of the Automaton consist in the flexibility of the body, though a weight of 200 pounds; the motion of its head and eyes, which turns in all directions and appear to take notice of the company. When there is a sentimental passage to perform, it lifts its eyes as if it felt the intention of the composer.”
During the mid-19th century, van Oeckelen moved to the United States. After his death, The Android Clarinettist changed hands, and it is believed that its clothes were damaged during a fire at J.P. Barnum’s Museum. The automaton disappeared after this for a few decades until it was purchased by Frederick Stearns in 1898. After Stearns’ death, his musical instrument collection was donated to the University of Michigan. It is believed that the clarinet was lost while moving the Stearn collection from one location to another during the 1980s. In 1996, John Gaughan bought The Android Clarinettist from the curator of the Stearns Collection.
To this day, The Android Clarinettist’s missing clarinet has never been found (although Gaughan spent several years to create a new clarinet for this automaton).
For more details and information on The Android Clarinettist, I highly recommend reading this article by Albert Rice (which includes several photos and diagrams).