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THE AUTOMATON MUSICIAN
or, THE VIOLA ORGANISTA PLAYER
On a sheet of Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Madrid, a code that came to light in 1967, I found a drawing of an automaton musician, or a viola organista player. This drawing had gone unnoticed for 40 years, since it had been viewed merely as the sketch of a musician.
The reconstruction of the first humanoid automaton by Leonardo was carried out by Mark Elling Rosheim in 1998 1. It is not clear what sequence of movements his robot performs.
In my opinion it resembled a warrior, like the Amazon robot that the grandson of Grolier, the famous bibliophile bookseller who was a friend of Leonardo’s, exhibited in his distinctive collection in France, in 1589. On page 19 of the 1719 book about the Collection of Mr Grollier de Servière, it says: “On an ordinary, well-cleaned table, there stood an Amazon figure, which moved in different directions, and raised its sword and its shield, as if it wanted to fight, and it turned its head in all directions”. 2
The working of Leonardo’s humanoid was reconstructed by Rosheim in
the details of his book Leonardo’s Lost Robots, in 2006. My reconstruction
of the present automaton musician is different, except for the working of
its movements, set in motion by one spring, instead of two, like Rosheim’s
automaton, which has one motor for the legs and one for the arms and
head.
Leonardo’s automaton musician is outlined very clearly in Sheet 76 recto
of Codex Madrid II (plate 1). In the centre of the sheet of paper there is
a sketch of a musician playing the viola organista, a musical instrument
invented by Leonardo. Lower down, to the right, the same figure is shown
schematically and it seems to me to be the drawing of the framework of the
automaton. In this figure, the cogs in the machine that move the arms to
shoulder height are depicted. They are faintly sketched together with a constructive detail that is also enlarged, in another sketch, to the left.
The automaton musician has a spring that moves its fingers as they play
the keys of the viola organista, and a spring that opens and closes the bellows of the instrument (plate 2), using the pressure of the musician’s elbows on the viola organista. Having been opened, the bellows return to their initial position by means of elastic return springs connected to the inside of the bellows.
Here is the transcript of the text written by Leonardo on this sheet, in the centre: “The viola organista is struck with the bow as the bellows are struck
with the elbow”. Using the word “viola”, Leonardo intended an instrument
with the polyphonic range of the organ, but also with the timbre capability
of the bows.
The bow of the viola organista bears no relation to the bow used for the instruments of the modern violin family. On the contrary it is a belt, of variable length, that has an alternate movement in both directions, and is made of horsehair covered in pitch. Leonardo’s bow was “pulled” on the strings in order to make them vibrate.
In short Leonardo’s “viola” is a small portable chamber organ (portative)3 (see Mauro Carpiteci, I meccanismi musicali di Leonardo, The musical
mechanisms of Leonardo), Raccolta Vinciana, fasc. XXII, 1987).
At the top of the same sheet, one can read, next to the drawing of a small organ: “partition, stiacciato (very lowrelief) pipes, organ keys”. Then “the
bagpipes are made with a partition of the fixed bellows “a” to the belt and “b” is fixed with an arm. The arm moves in and out, opening and closing the bellows as required. In other words, when bellows “n” are open, bellows “m” will close, and when bellows “m” open, bellows “n” will close, so that the
wind is continuous.” From this text it seems clear that Leonardo had initially
considered using bagpipes as an instrument for the automaton to play.
Later he must have asked himself, why not make the central part of the bellows oscillate, while the others remain fixed? Leonardo outlines this concept in his drawing. The idea of the “continuous bellows”, which would avoid pauses during the performance, is not explained here in detail. Leonardo was more interested in the system, rather than the tiny subsequent refinements.
In the second drawing, on the top right, Leonardo drew a “partition”, set in motion by a handle, and probably later added the stiacciato pipes, and the “organ keys”, having become aware of the possibility of applying his idea to
a special chamber organ, or rather his viola organista.
The viola organista is the musical instrument hanging on a belt around the neck of the automaton, and the keyboard is in a horizontal position.
It is the earliest remaining instrument in which the keyboard is played with a bow. Leonardo’s original idea is preserved in his notebooks from 1488-1489, and in the drawings in Codex Atlanticus, in particular 586 recto.
In plate 3, it involves the use of one or more wheels, in continuous rotation,
each of which moves a slip-knot bow. It is similar to the fanbelt of a car engine, and is perpendicular to the strings of the instrument. The strings
were intended to be pushed down towards the bow by the action of the
keys, and the rubbing of the bow causes the sound of the strings. In the various drawings the strings are touched in different ways by the bow.
Apparently Leonardo never actually constructed his instrument. The first
similar instrument to be constructed was the Geigewerk in 1575, created by Hans Haiden, a German instrument inventor.
A modern reconstruction of the viola organista made by Akio Obuchi was
played in a concert in Genoa in 2004. 4
Akio Obuchi explained the peculiar ability of the viola organista compared
to other instruments: “Leonardo’s viola organista is not a string instrument
but a keyboard instrument. In the late fifteenth century about 50 artists had attempted to reproduce it, developing Leonardo’s project in different ways.
Those who play the keyboard instruments that we know have a limited expressive capacity: once the string has been played and emitted a sound, it
is impossible to have any further influence on it. Leonardo’s insight was probably his desire to overcome this limit, by creating an instrument that
allowed the performance of complex symphonies, without sacrificing undertones and modulations of single notes. In short he placed more significance on the interpretative ability of the musician”. And, in this case, on the ability of the robot 5 (plate 4). Now I will explain the mechanism of the automaton, which can be seen in the adjoining illustration, based on Leonardo’s sketches, again from Sheet 76 recto of Codex Madrid II. The musician has a spring motor, which moves the fingers of the right hand that play the keys, and another spring motor which moves a programmable cylinder that moves the bust of the musician from right to left, so that the
automaton plays different keys. Both the mechanisms driven by spring motors are depicted on the sheet of paper by Leonardo in two schematic figures (plate 5).
On the sheet of paper, on the left below the two previous figures, the following note appears: “The bow is moved according to the movement of the right arm, from key to key. And thus it drops, together with the notes.
Here when the elbow moves two inches, the cog teeth “n” also move two inches. It will give an entire rotation to the sprocket wheel “m”. Similarly, the
bigger wheel will rotate once, thereby moving the arm by 1/3. Thus the arm
will lift the bow up and down above the strings of the viola organista”. In this passage Leonardo explains quite clearly how the automaton worked.
The right arm moves, rotating together with the bust, from key to key. As the
keys are lowered they move the bow, which is drawn across the strings, producing sound. When the elbow turns two inches, the cog teeth controlled
by the programmable cylinder also rotate two inches. This movement corresponds to a complete turn of the larger cog wheel, and a third of the arm. In this way, as it is controlled by this last cog wheel, the bow moves above the strings of the viola organista.
In conclusion, Leonardo’s musician is a simple automaton that plays a sophisticated instrument. It could charm the audience with its construction, and by changing the tracks engraved on the programmable cylinder, it could perform different tunes. This type of automaton was imitated
particularly in France, over the following centuries, and created in an infinite
number of variations. The secret of its appeal is due to the fact that it touches
our ingenuousness, and astounds us in a childlike way. However, it is also an
early example of a programmable machine that was built to make life more enjoyable and satisfy our desires.
Endnotes
1 M.E. Rosheim, Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics, New York, Wiley, 1994, pp. 12-20.
2 G. Grollier de Servière, Recueil d’ouvrages curieux de mathematique et de mechanique, ou description du Cabinet de Monsieur Grollier de Servière (Anthology of the curious works of mathematics and mechanis, or a description of the Cabinet of Mr Grollier de Servière), Paris, Antonie Jombert, 1751, p. 19. The work describes the collection of mechanical and scientific instruments of Nicolas Grollier de Servière (1593-1686), who was the grandfather of the author and a mirror maker in Lyon, as
well as being a descendant of the famous book-binder and bibliophile Jean Grolier, a friend of Leonardo’s.
3 See Mauro Carpiceci, I meccanismi musicali di Leonardo, The musical mechanisms of Leonardo), Raccolta Vinciana, fasc. XXII, 1987, pp. 3-47.
4 Since 1967, Akio Obuchi has worked to construct historical models of string instruments, pianofortes, harps and harpsichords (Plate 6).
5 This refers to the text used by Obuchi for the presentation of the Viola organista in Genoa.
Fig. 1. Leonardo da Vinci, Codice Madrid II, f. 76r
Fig. 2. Viola a tasti dell’automa musicista
Fig. 3. Leonardo da Vinci, Codice Atlantico, f. 586r.
Fig. 4. Ricostruzione del meccanismo dell’automa
Fig. 5. Movimenti dei due motori a molla (da Carpiceci)
Fig. 6. Ricostruzione della viola organista nell’ipotesi di Akio Obuchi
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