Around this time of year I like to listen to christmas music. Most people like the funny songs and religious hymns, or mainstream singers who offer their own take on traditional christmas tunes. These are all fine and good, but my favorite holiday songs are the instrumentals, with piano and guitar. And my ultimate favorites only involve one instrument, if it can be classified as such: the music box.
A few years ago I happened to come across a whole album of christmas songs played on a music box. It is by far my most treasured christmas album. Listening to it brings back the magic of the holiday. And I don’t know why, it just does. Nothing else sounds like the tones played on a music box.
Music boxes have always enchanted me. I have a tiny collection of them from when I was younger. I have one that I bought while on a field trip with my science club in Texas in Corpus Christi. We were part of a beach cleanup, and there was some aquarium in the area that we visited. I found a music box there that played “Evergreen” and had to buy it. I still have the music box, and every time I play it, I am reminded of my youth, in Texas, and that trip.
I’ve been wondering, today actually, about the very first music box. What song did it play? Who made it? And who listened to it?
I did a bit of research and found that the first music boxes were developed by watchmakers in Switzerland in the 18th century. And these early musical creations aided in the development of the player piano. But I have yet to find the song that was played on the original music box.
Am I the only person to wonder about the first song? And does it really matter what that song was?
Yes, it matters. Because there must have been someone who decided to use that particular music for the music box, and I believe that it was a significant song for whoever chose it. It had meaning, or it made them happy. Or maybe it made them sad. Whatever it did, that first music box was created for a purpose, and the song that was chosen would have been special. It would have meant something. If only for the person who selected it if not for the person who eventually listened to it.
It is my quest to find this song. And to find who it was given to…who listened to it. I’m always thinking of things like this that most people could care less about. This is the history that I enjoy, the personal history of our world. How events and people are connected in such strange ways.
The music box is a magical object for me, a treasure that brings out my inner child. I’m curious if you, my reader, have your own treasured objects, that make you feel young, or remind you of times past. Never let go of these things, as they will keep your spirit alive, and make life that much more wonderful. Or magical. 🙂