Gavioli & Cie. (Paris, France and Waldkirch, Germany)

The acclaimed Gavioli & Cie. was the largest and most successful of the French fairground organ builders, with 300 employees in the main factory in Paris and branches in New York City and Waldkirch, Germany. Their organs feature gleaming ranks of brass clarinets, trumpets and piccolos along with the many ranks of wooden pipes. The magnificent Gavioli organ in the Milhous Collection has been superbly restored and expanded from a smaller version to the 110-key scale by master organ specialist Johnny Verbeeck in Belgium. The façade now includes 11 cherubs, four dancing couples, two bell ringers, two rotating figures, a bandleader, and five imposing gold-leafed griffins. Playing from either cardboard book music or from a MIDI player system, the instrumentation is extensive and represents the playing of over 100 musicians. Ten large cardboard books and 114 MIDI files accompany the instrument. Very few fairground organs in the world are as elaborate and musically powerful as this stunning instrument!

Reference: The Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments by Q. David Bowers (p. 862). 300x228x90 inches.