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The Music of the Clock
The music produced by the Peacock Clock is mysterious. It assumes the
role of a magic force, breathing life into the mechanical figures. Standing
facing their audience, like actors before the start of a performance,
the owl, peacock and cockerel come to life by turns under the influence
of the first bars of music. Each of the personages performs the role allotted
to it in this little show to its own music and freezes again as it finishes.
The chimes serve as a prelude to the action. To the sound of four melodies
played by little bells, the owl begins to move. Small hammers in the form
of flowers produce soft tones. A similar sound could be produced by the
famous glass harmonica invented by Benjamin Franklin, a very popular instrument
in the second half of the 18th century. The performance ends with the
cockcrow that breaks into a falsetto (the cockerel's voice is imitated
by a reed organ-pipe with shifting pitch, coupled with a mechanism that
interrupts the flow of air). The central character is the peacock (it
bows grandly and spreads its glorious tail) and it probably once had its
own musical accompaniment too. All the fairy-tale sight is accompanied
by the uninterrupted dance of the dragonfly.
Surviving descriptions attest to the original, unusual music of Cox's
creations. The artificial sounds of the musical automaton were perceived
by its creator as something opposite to live music, composed by a human
being and addressed to the human being. To demonstrate the mechanical
nature of the Peacock Clock's music (i.e. to shift it from one system
of creativity to another, different one) its author uses exotic modes
and sharp syncopated rhythms. The bold musical experiments of an English
composer who lived in the 18th century evoke admiration today and a desire
to learn the name of a talented musician who has sadly remained anonymous.
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Melodies for automatous birds
Larger view
A glass harmonica
Larger view
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