Music & Musical Instruments - Overview
The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Several of these rare instruments can be heard in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players and in other public programs. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the Museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician.
"Music & Musical Instruments - Overview" showing 2 items.
Stroh Violin
- Description (Brief)
- This instrument was patented (English Patent #9418) by John M.A. Stroh in London England on May 4, 1899 and manufactured by George Evans & Co. from 1904–1942. John Matthias Augustus Stroh was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1828, and was an apprentice watch and clock maker, who immigrated to England in 1851. In this instrument, the Stroh patent for amplifying a vibrated string is adapted to the violin. Stroh invented many acoustical devices, and the concept of this patent originated from work on the mechanical sound-box of the gramophone. This violin is made of a solid cylindrical body built of two pieces of half-round mahogany, an aluminum shoulder rest, diaphragm and horn, traditional violin neck, pegbox, and scroll of maple, and a dark red-brown varnish.
- Description
- To overcome the lack of sound–carrying power in string instruments, John M. A. Stroh introduced new “violins” like this one in England in the early 1900s. Stroh replaced the violin's usual wooden body with a metal resonator to produce a louder, more penetrating sound. The aluminum horn at the end of the fingerboard directed this sound either into the recording horn or into the ear of a singer. The performer placed the smaller aluminum horn at his or her ear in order to hear what was being played more distinctly. In 1986, Washington, D.C. resident Jeffery R. D. Crockett donated this Stroh violin to the Smithsonian. “My mother purchased this Stroh violin,” he wrote in his October 2, 1986, letter of donation, “in the 1930s in the town of Gravesend, Kent County, England. She used it when playing in a small local orchestra.” Mr. Crockett continued, “I give this violin to the Smithsonian Institution,” then adds—apparently unwittingly— “with no strings attached.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1904-1942
- maker
- George Evans & Co.
- patentee
- Stroh, John M. A.
- ID Number
- 1986.0858.01
- catalog number
- 1986.0858.01
- accession number
- 1986.0858
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stroh Violin
- Description (Brief)
- This instrument was patented (English Patent #9418) by John M.A. Stroh in London England on May 4, 1899 and manufactured by George Evans & Co. from 1904–1942. John Matthias Augustus Stroh was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1828, and was an apprentice watch and clock maker, who immigrated to England in 1851. In this instrument, the Stroh patent for amplifying a vibrated string is adapted to the violin. Stroh invented many acoustical devices, and the concept of this patent originated from work on the mechanical sound-box of the gramophone. This violin is made of a solid cylindrical body built of two pieces of half-round mahogany, an aluminum shoulder rest, diaphragm and horn, traditional violin neck, pegbox, and scroll of maple, and a dark red-brown varnish.
- Description
- To overcome the lack of sound–carrying power in string instruments, John M. A. Stroh introduced new “violins” like this one in England in the early 1900s. Stroh replaced the violin's usual wooden body with a metal resonator to produce a louder, more penetrating sound. The aluminum horn at the end of the fingerboard directed this sound either into the recording horn or into the ear of a singer. The performer placed the smaller aluminum horn at his or her ear in order to hear what was being played more distinctly.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1899
- patent date
- 1899-05-04
- patentee
- Stroh, John M. A.
- manufacturer
- George Evans & Co.
- ID Number
- 1989.0651.01
- accession number
- 1989.0651
- catalog number
- 1989.0651.01
- patent number
- 9418
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center