Just as the rooms at Vizcaya were designed to evoke periods in European history ranging from the Renaissance to the early 19th century Romantic Era, the musical instruments of Vizcaya represent a parallel evolution in musical technology. From the ancient form of the dulcimer to the state-of-the art Welte-Mignon organ, the instruments reflect the history of design and of technology, as well as that of music. Documents suggest that the player piano and the organ were probably the only instruments actually used during James Deering’s lifetime, and that the selection of fine antique instruments in the Music Room functioned more as a gallery of historical ancestors of the more modern devices.

Dulcimer

Harp

Harpsichord

Player Piano

Organ

The Dulcimer
Purchased at Dino Barozzi, Venice, in June 1914, this early 18th century Venetian dulcimer is fitted into a highly decorative frame made of wood and verre églomise (reverse painted glass), resting on a gilt wood stand. Not to be confused with the mountain dulcimer, associated with traditional Appalachian folk music, the hammered type of dulcimer is believed to have derived from a type of ancient Greek instrument that was modified over centuries by Persian musicians and brought back to Europe, in the modified form, by crusaders in the 12th century. By the early 17th century, the instrument was so well-established in Europe that the translators of the King James Bible (1611) interpreted Daniel 3:5 as "That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up." More modern translations tend to use the more general term “zither” or the ancient Greek “lyre” instead of “dulcimer.”

The dulcimer was originally either plucked or struck by small mallets but over time the hammered method of playing came to dominate and led directly to the development of the piano. Prior to the piano, all keyboard instruments were either wind-driven (such as the organ) or plucked strings (as in the virginal and harpsichord). These methods allowed no control over the volume of sound produced. In the seventeenth century this problem was solved by attaching a striking-keyboard to a hammered dulcimer, to create an instrument that could play both loudly and quietly. It was named a pianoforte, meaning ‘soft-loud’ in Italian. This was later shortened to 'piano'. The dulcimer continued to be used alongside the piano, for its different sound and for its portability. When European colonists came to the Americas, the dulcimer came along - one is listed on the cargo manifest for the Mayflower. Thus the instrument at Vizcaya embodies the cross-cultural origins Chalfin tended to favor for collections at Vizcaya as well as the link to the early days of European settlement in the United States. Vizcaya’s dulcimer is too fragile to be played, and thus is not strung.

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The Harp
The sound board of Vizcaya’s harp is decorated with the trophies of classical drama and music as well as a classical landscape scene toward the bottom.  It was purchased by the New York antiques dealer Karl Freund in London, and bought by James Deering in November 1914.  The harp was attributed at the time to Georges Cousineau, “the harp maker to Marie Antoinette.”  The sound board, however, contains a clearly contradictory inscription (“Great Pulteney Street— Fröschle -- Golden Sq-London).  Georgius (George) Fröschle was a London-based maker of harps as well as pianos in the 1770s and 1780s, with a worshop on Great Pulteney Street, as noted.  Similar Fröschle harps are in the collection of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Nydahl Collection, Stockholm; a Fröschle pianoforte is in the Bate Collection at Oxford.  It was not unusual at all for antiques dealers at the turn of the 20th century to invent or exaggerate ownership histories for objects and Marie Antoinette was, perhaps, the most oft-evoked name of all.  There is no evidence that Deering or Chalfin believed or particularly cared about the Marie Antoinette association.

The harp at Vizcaya is not playable, due to irreparable damage to the original key winds, however it is strung to give a more authentic appearance.  There is no indication that the instrument was ever played at Vizcaya but instead may have functioned more as a display object in the Music Room’s array of stringed instruments (harpsichord, dulcimer, and harp), all predecessors of the piano.

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The Harpsichord
The instrument itself (located inside the painted case which visitors see) is made of unfinished cypress, inscribed on the lowest key lever with the name, place of manufacture and date: "Gio. Bta.[Giovanni Battista] Boni/Cortona Anno 1619." Giovanni Battista Boni da Cortona was known in his time as the builder and repairer of "spinetti" (harpsichords) for the Barberini family, most especially the three nephews of Pope Urban VIII. This attribution of the Vizcaya instrument to Boni has been verified by harpsichord scholars based on molding profiles, which were as unique to each harpsichord maker as a fingerprint. Similar harpsichords by Giovanni Battista Boni da Cortona are in the collections of the Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments; the Museo Correr in Venice and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

The instrument, which probably had several different cases over its long lifetime, was inserted in the present Louis XV-style painted case between 1908-1913, at which time a name board was inserted (falsely) ascribing the instrument to Horatius Albana, with the date 1645.Chalfin and Deering bought the piece from antique dealer Karl Freund in New York on November 24, 1914. The case is of the pointed tail type, probably made in Venice in the 18th century, and its elaborate ornamentation includes a Rococo-style pastoral landscape scene inside the lid. The instrument has been restored twice during its years as a museum piece: once in 1974 and again in 1992 after the soundboard cracked from the stress of the instrument being played. It is currently single strung, as the historically correct double-stringing would exert such force on the instrument if played that the wood would shatter. It remains unclear if it is safe to play the instrument, even with the single string configuration.

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The Player Piano
Vizcaya’s upright piano, concealed in a stairwell closet, was made in 1913 by Mason & Hamlin, considered by many artists and technicians to have been the best piano ever produced in the United States. For James Deering, this piano was fitted with a Welte-Mignon “reproducing” system, one of two systems purchased in New York on January 24, 1917 (the other went to the Chicago house). Vizcaya’s Mason & Hamlin – Welte upright is believed to be one of only three unrestored examples known to remain in the United States.

The “reproducing” system was developed by Edwin Welte in 1904, and introduced to the US market in 1907. Welte’s system was believed to have the greatest degree of fidelity of all contemporary forms of piano recordings, capturing nuances of live performance as other systems had never done. Composers including Debussy, Ravel, Mahler, Fauré, St-Saëns and Grieg performed their own compositions for Welte in recording studios in Freiburg, Germany and in Paris. These roll recordings are, in some cases, the only surviving documents of the composers’ own interpretation of their works. As is the case here at Vizcaya, the German player mechanism was usually fitted to an American piano but this practice stopped in 1917, when the US entered World War I and the federal government seized and auctioned off all of Welte’s American holdings. The Welte factory in Germany was destroyed in World War II and with it, all of the original recordings and documents. Thus, the 250 rolls at Vizcaya represent a significant resource for music historians as well as for player piano aficionados.

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The Organ
From the very beginning, Vizcaya was designed with an organ in mind. Even before the foundations were complete, Deering and his architect, F. Burrall Hoffman, Jr., and designer Paul Chalfin debated the placement of the console and the merits of mechanical systems. By the summer of 1915, The Aeolian Company reported that the organ for Vizcaya was complete and ready for installation by October first. Construction of the house lagged, however, and the company was told to hold the organ in its warehouse until the interiors were finished.

A few months later, in early 1916, Deering commissioned a player piano mechanism for his New York home from the Welte company. Welte’s organ builders convinced designer Paul Chalfin that their mechanical console would be better for Vizcaya’s organ than Aeolian’s. Deering’s friends -- including Mrs. Arthur Curtis James and Carl Fisher – reported problems with Aeolian mechanical systems, which substantiated Deering’s own doubts about the instrument’s ability to operate properly in the humid subtropical environment of Miami. Adding a Welte player console to an Aeolian instrument seemed to be the best solution, but Aeolian refused to honor their workmanship and installation guarantees on the instrument unless their own mechanical playback system was installed. By the following summer, James Deering had commissioned another organ for Vizcaya, this time from Aeolian’s competitor, the Welte company. It is not known what happened to the Aeolian organ originally designed for Vizcaya. The Welte Philharmonic eventually cost $23,000 (about 2 million dollars in today’s values) and weighed six tons, fully installed. The Welte Philharmonic, with a Welte mechanical console, was installed at Vizcaya in the winter of 1916-17 and remains in the house today.

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