Amor & Echo, spe­cial ex­hi­bi­ti­on

Why an echo valve for the cornet? Should a clarinet be played electronically? And how can the organ be given a breath of fresh air? Musical instrument making has developed countless innovations to fulfill the wishes of musicians and composers - or to challenge them with new inventions...

Over 3000 years ago, it was possible to cast pipes from bronze and assemble them into wind instruments. Around 250 years ago, clarinettists were looking for a bass instrument and an inventor drew an "Amor-Schall", a horn with a covered bell that produced a "love sound". Around 200 years ago, a "double-pipe push valve" was developed in Vienna. for brass instruments were patented and trombones with dragon heads became fashionable. A good 100 years ago, a flutist developed the "Aerophor" sound-binding device to be able to play long phrases better and a physicist invented the first electronic instrument that can be played without contact: the theremin.

And today? The organist Daniel Glaus is looking for a "wind-dynamic" organ on which he can vary the volume ("dynamics") by pressing a key, and Ernesto Molinari is developing the "CLEX", a contrabass clarinet with mechatronic "extension".