Music Box Day

The main character of the cartoon "A Box with a Secret", based on the fairy tale "Town in a Snuff Box" by V Odoevsky, gets inside a musical device through a keyhole Before the boy’s eyes, every detail of the mechanism comes to life and turns into a fairy-tale character Bells, Hammers, Roller and Queen Spring perform a real theatrical performance in front of the sleeping hero His experience will be the envy of many music box connoisseurs, for whom August 20 is a special day The creator of the device is considered to be Geneva watchmaker Antoine Favre In 1796, a Swiss master invented a mechanism that reproduces famous melodies A Far inserted it into perfume bottles and watches In 1815, the first factory producing music boxes opened in Switzerland Later, its branches began to operate in the United States Factories produced mechanisms of various sizes - from pocket boxes to cabinet-sized devices The latter could play alternately from 4 to 8 melodies On August 20, all lovers of unique home decor and owners of family heirlooms celebrate Music Box Day The first automatic devices for playing melodies appeared in Byzantium, the Middle East and northern Africa during the early Middle Ages Over time, musical snuff boxes were transformed into boxes, and the fashion for them came to Europe The products were produced with a winding and manual mechanism; the materials for the production of the box were valuable wood and metal Musical boxes contained jewelry, tobacco, letters, business cards, face flies and other trinkets In addition to the melody, which could be accompanied by the ringing of bells, the boxes amazed with the elegance of their external design Their lids were inlaid with precious stones, decorated with ivory, gilding, carvings, and figures moving to the beat of music The metal products resembled a small chest of drawers with several drawers The upper tier housed the mechanism of the box, and the lower compartments contained jewelry Devices with a body in the form of a piano and gramophone were very popular The boxes were used for fun; their melodies delighted the ears of adults and children Rare items found on the antique market include musical mirrors and snuff boxes, cigarette holders and inkwells A mechanism for playing melodies, hidden in a drawer, was wound up at night for children, helping them fall asleep Elegant boxes, many of which resemble works of art, are given to women today, just like hundreds of years ago Representatives of the fair sex use them for interior decoration and, of course, for storing jewelry Boxes made in the USSR play "Moscow Evenings", "Fur Elise" by Beethoven, "Polonaise" by M Oginsky The piece by the court jeweler Faberge, given by his children to Prince Yusupov on his wedding anniversary in 1907, reproduces François Boieldieu's march from the opera The White Lady Connoisseurs of antiques and rare items in retro style will enjoy listening to these and other melodies on August 20 on Music Box Day