Yes, music is everywhere. Not only are the hills alive with the sound
of music, so is your house, your car and your work place.
Before the recent explosion of the
various forms of electronically preserved music, it was customary to listen to
music from your cassette player, and before that it was the flat gramophone
disc. And before that it was via the old
cylinder gramophone. Well, and way
before that the only way you could listen to music was to hear it live in your
own home or in your church or in your nearby concert hall.
The flat gramophone disc was
developed by Emile Berliner in the United States in 1889. The original gramophone recordings and
playback equipment were little more than expensive children’s toys at the time, though subsequent
developments provided a better quality of recorded music.
In 1903, a joint collaboration between
the Stollwerk Chocolate Company and Junghans in Germany produced a playable
music recording made out of chocolate.
Junghans manufactured a small metal playback gramophone and Stollwerk
produced a chocolate recording. These
early German made music novelties were sold in Germany and Belgium, and in
France they were manufactured by Eureka.
The player stood no more than 8½ inches tall including the horn, the
turntable was just 3 inches in diameter, and the tiny point, made of glass, was
easily broken. This flimsy delicate set
of equipment was little more than a plaything for children, particularly in
view of the fact that the chocolate recording could be eaten when the music
groove became worn. The thick chocolate
disc could be played for a dozen times before it would be declared eatable.
During the following year (1904), a
vastly improved and a slightly larger model made with brass parts rather than
the original tin was marketed, though it was still only an interesting
novelty. The glass point was replaced by
a sapphire point.
A century later, the production of
chocolate music was revived again, by Peter Lardong in Berlin Germany, who
claimed erroneously that his novelty was the first in the world. Instead, Peter Lardong’s chocolate music is indeed the first
in modern times.
The Lardong chocolate recordings
cost $6 each, and they also were durable for a dozen playings on a standard
record player before they were added to the family menu. A Japanese company showed an interest in the
mass production of the Lardong chocolate music discs.
That was in the year 2010. During the following year, Ben Milne in
Edinburgh produced a commercial version of a chocolate music recording that
featured contemporary Scottish music.
Then during the next year again (2012), Ed Bangor Records in
collaboration with the Gelencser chocolate factory in France produced 100 copies
of a chocolate music recording. Julia
Drouhin in Tasmania made some chocolate music recordings in 2015, a project
that she subsequently transferred to Spain.
We might add that other strange
products have also been used to produce novelty music recordings, such as
paper, cardboard, tortillas, glass, and even ice.
Two years ago (2014), Fon Biskich at
the Nadalina Chocolate shop in the city of Split in Croatia began making and
selling his own chocolate music recordings.
These recordings are good for about five playing's.
(AWR/Wavescan NWS 410)
