A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Vocalion
VOCALION. An 'organ' or instrument of the free-reed kind, exhibited by James Baillie Hamilton, Esq., in the International Inventions Exhibition, London, 1885. The first patent was taken out Nov. 13, 1872, by John Farmer (of Harrow), for a combination of reed with string or wire—either as a continuation of the reed or as a coil fastened to the back thereof—and was succeeded by many more, taken out in the names of Mr. Hamilton and others. The first attempts gave a beautiful and very peculiar quality of sound, but by degrees the combination of reed and string from which this proceeded has had to be given up, for practical and commercial reasons, and the instrument as now exhibited is virtually a Harmonium with broad reeds, giving great rigidity of action and therefore purity of tone, and large channels, and acted on by high pressure of wind not suction. A main peculiarity of the Vocalion is that the reeds are placed above the pallets and below the slides, and that though the sliding 'plug' of three reeds is only of the width of the groove, the cavities are more than twice as wide. This is expressed in Mr. Hamilton's latest patent (U.S.A., March 25, 1884) as 'the combination of pallets, soundboard, and reeds with cavity-boards, one above the other, the lower one containing the nostrils and the upper one the mouths, and an intermediate controlling slide.'
The result of this is a charming variety and purity of tone, especially where the music is not in too many parts; and also great force and richness of sound. This is well expressed by Sir Arthur Sullivan in a letter dated New York, July 3, 1885, as follows:—'You have achieved an instrument which shall possess all the power and dignity of an organ, without the cumbersome and expensive aid of pipes. And in doing this, you have obtained a totally different tone from that of Harmoniums and other reed organs. I was particularly struck with the nobility and purity of the sound, and also with the great variety in the timbre which the instrument displayed.'
The Vocalion exhibited is 6 ft. square, and stands on a somewhat larger pedestal, containing the bellows, wind-chest, etc. It has three Manuals, denominated Choir, Great and Swell; two stops in the pedals and three in each manual, as well as three extra ones of lighter quality, called 'complementary.' In the successive steps of the invention since 1874, it is understood that Mr. Baillie Hamilton has been much assisted by the practical knowledge and skill of Mr. Hermann Smith.