Tune Library - ASSOCIATION OF MUSICAL BOX COLLECTORS (AMBC)

Cylinder Music Box Tune Library

Below are some Cylinder Music Box tunes grouped by box and tune sheet (if present)
This is a new page in the early stages of build.
If you have any recording of tunes that you would like to add to the library, or can contribute to the background of a tune, please use the button at the bottom of this page.
Instructions
Click on the Download File bar or where it says Click Here
This will open another window and the tune will play.
Use the back arrow to go back to the previous page after listening to the tune.

NicolE Freres Grand Format Overture Movement

Overture - Fra Diavolo by Auber

8/123 Cuendet Sublime Piccolo circa 1896

Restored, including re-pinning, 2023

1. La Fille du régiment "Marche" by Donizetti
The Daughter of the Regiment is an opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti first performed in Paris on 11th February 1840

2. Les Cloches de Corneville by Planquette
The Bells of Corneville is an opera comique in three acts composed by Robert Planquette to a libretto by Louis Clairville and Charles Gabet. It was first performed at the Fantasies- Parisiennes on 19th April 1877.

3. Lohengrin (Wagner-Werks-Verzeichnis 75) is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The most popular and recognisable part is The Bridal Chorus, colloquially known in English speaking countries as "Here Comes The Bride".

4. Il Trovatore "Coro des Zingari" by Verdi
The Troubadour is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano based on the play El trovador (1836) by Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez.
It premiered a the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 19th January 1853

5. Orphée aux enfers is a comic opera composed by Jaques Offenbach to a French text written by Ludovic Halévy.
Orpheus in the Underworld was first performed as a two act opera in Paris on 21st October 1858 and was extensively revised and expanded in a four act 'opéra féerie" version presented at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris on 7th February 1874.

6. La Marjolaine is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Charles Lecocq. Words by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo. It opened at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris on 3rd February 1877. Set in Flanders, it depicts a deceitful, and ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to damage a virtuous woman's reputation.

7. Ouverture de Poète et Paysan (Poète and Peasant Overture) by Franz von Suppé

8. Vie d'artiste (The Artist's Life) by Johann Strauss II 1867
followed closely on the success of the popular The Blue Danube. Also known as Kunstlerleben.

8/122 Mandolin Cartel no. 13725 circa 1881

Possibly by Ducommun-Girod
Some unusual tunes and arrangements. It is thought that this box was probably a commission

1. Lucrezia Terzetto "Guai se ti sfugge" by Gaetano Donizetti From Act 1 of the Opera "Lucrezia Borgia"
Lucretia (a shortened version of Donizetti’s famous Lucretia Borgia, premiered in 1833). Terzetto is Italian for trio. This refers to the Grand Trio of the opera.

2. Il Trovatore "Coro di Zingari" by Giuseppe Verdi.
Il Trovatore (the Troubadore, 1836) was a musical standard of the day. Coro di Zingari is the famous Anvil Chorus from Act 2, Scene 1

3. No. 2 Valse de L'Université d'Heidelberg by F C Kohlenberger.

4. Martha Ariette "En Lançant trait sur trait" by Fredrich von Flotow.
This is Nancy’s Jägerlied, "Jägerin Schlau im Sinn" from Act III, scene 1, in the French version. The text is describing the lady huntresses shooting arrow after arrow ("trait sur trait").

5. Robert le Diable, Cavatina "Crains ma fureur" by Giacomo Meyerbeer - Paris 1831
Robert's aria From Act IV, scene 2. The text is "Fear my fury." It is addressed to Isabella, the Princess of Sicily. It has nothing to do with Robert's fear of the devil.

6. Schlumer Polka by Ernst Beyer (known in English editions as Slumber Polka)
(Schlumer [i.e., Schlummer] Polka, [Ernst] Beyer)
Op. 1 by Ernst, not Ferdinand, Beyer.
Schlumer is German for slumber.

7. Le Pardon de Ploërmel Berceuse by Giacomo Meyerbeer - Paris 1859
Le Pardon de Ploermel was from Meyerbeer’s opera Dinorah, was written in 1859 (see attached sheet music). The Berceuse, “Bellah, ma chèvre chérie,” is Act I, no. 2, but the version on the music box bears very little resemblance to it.

8. Délices d'Espangne, Mazurka by Joseph Ascher
‘Spanish delights’ is a mazurka by Joseph Asher who died in 1869.

6/104 Nicol Freres Keywind Cartel No. 23104 circa 1844

Restored 2023

1. In The Days When We Went (Gypsying) by Joseph Philip Robson and mentioned in the book "Jane Eyre"

2. Hark 'tis The Waterfall Opera House

3. My Love Is Like The Red, Red Rose is a 1794 song in Scots by Robert Burns based on traditional sources is often published as a poem. Many composers have set Burns' lyric to music, but it gained worldwide popularity set to the traditional tune "Low Down in the Broom"

4. The Crusader's Lay

5. Victoria Ower Bonny English Rose

6. Jim Along Josey AKA - "Jimalong Josie." American, Air (2/4 time). "Jim Along Josie" was a blackface minstrel song written in 1838 by the minstrel performer Edward Harper, and became a hit as a popular fiddle and dance tune.

Paillard Vaucher 12/62 Serial No. 19745 Circa 1888

Restored February 2023