Barrel piano

Barrel piano (Fr.: piano à cylindre; Ger.: Drehklavier; It.: pianoforte a cilindro), mechanical upright piano devoid of its keyboard, with pinned cylinders set in motion by a hand crank—a product of the 19th c. that lingered on into the 20th c. The treble section was reinforced by having 4 strings to a note; the hammers were leathered and the usual dampers were lacking. Barrel pianos mounted on little wheeled carts were played on the streets of England and Italy by mendicant street “musicians.”…