Reuge Music Box

Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay

Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay
Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay

Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay

This exquisite music box combines fantastic sound with beautiful woodworking finished in stunning lacquer. Burl walnut with floral inlay box, glass cover under lid and drawer that holds cylinders.

Five cylinders with m ore than 1,400 pins on each cylinder and a 72-note keyboard play 3 melodies each (Melodies playing one after another) 15 melodies in total. From the Reuge website: A Reuge music box takes about three months to six months to produce (more for special designs and/or complicated movements), during which (time) our craftsmen breathe life and soul into their creations in every step of the creative process.

The mastery of many professional skills, some of which are highly specialised for the fabrication of musical boxes, is necessary to produce one of these fine creations. Unique expertise is indeed the secret of mechanical music. The 72-note movement, entirely hand-assembled in its workshops with a conventional casing respecting the tradition of classical music, is the heart of the Reuge collection.

The cylinders perfection harks back to the golden age of mechanical music, evoking a time when craftsmen working by daylight pinned each cylinder by hand; three tunes for the changing movement, fifteen for the interchangeable. The inexhaustible classical repertoire and Reuges tradition of fine craftsmanship were combined in one movement. The craftsmen developed the interchangeable movement for those whose passion is music.

It has an ingenious cylinder changing device: two levers free the cylinder, then hold the shaft of the new cylinder in place. The musical horizon is thus opened up to other magnificent works: grand opera overtures, majestically orchestrated waltzes and finely arranged minuets; the transcription of a world of music through a single movement. In its 36-note version, the art of mechanical music takes on the form of a carefully executed movement. The most famous pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi and Johannes Brahms are recognizable from the very first few seconds that the pins begin to activate the comb notes.

The centuries-old art of inlay requires rare skills that Reuge inlayers practise with passion and rigour. The quality and refinement of their art plunges us into a world where silence and intricacy dominate, reproducing original themes that can be replicated ideally in a delicate harmony of woods, combining honey blondes with the darker hues of the rarest of woods. The inlayers work takes place in three steps. It begins with a drawing that must be as precise as possible since it will guide the inlayer through their work.

Each piece of the drawing is numbered and then allocated a type of wood and finish. Next begins the delicate, triple operation of cutting, assembling and gluing the wood. The inlayer then promptly becomes a veritable surgeon, using an extremely fine saw to cut the smallest pieces that are rarely more than 0.7 mm thick. This puzzle, sometimes with as many as 1,800 pieces and 30 types of wood, becomes the basic component in a kaleidoscope of colours, textures and hues. Most of the parts are then plunged into hot sand to create shadowing that will bring the overall result to life. Next, the puzzle is assembled, a procedure that is charged with emotion, and requires absolute concentration. Each piece is individually positioned, revealing, step-by-step, the splendour of the ornamental decoration. The inlay assembly is then placed in a press to ensure the glues enduring adhesion. Sanding and varnishing are the final and hand-finished steps that accentuate and animate the inlayers sublime art. The item "Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay" is in sale since Wednesday, November 7, 2018.

This item is in the category "Collectibles\Decorative Collectibles\Music Boxes\1970-Now". The seller is "castlerockemporium" and is located in Franklin, Massachusetts. This item can be shipped to United States.

  • Brand: Reuge
  • Modified Item: Yes
  • Modification Description: Added pads on feet
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: Switzerland


Reuge Music Box Dolce Vita 5 Interchangeable Cylinders 72 Note Burl Walnut Inlay