The Denis d’or () was reportedly the first musical instrument in history that involved electricity.

Background

The Czech theologian Václav Prokop Diviš, who had his parish in the Moravian town Přímětice near Znojmo, was interested in both music and electricity. He studied the use of electricity first for medical and agrarian purposes, and later for the prevention of thunderstorms. He also tried to apply it to music when he created his own musical instrument that he named "Denis d'or", with the French "Denis" (etymologically going back to "Dionysus"), whose Czech counterpart is "Diviš"—hence the name.

The earliest written mention of the Denis d'or dates from 1753, but it is likely that it already existed around 1748. Some sources even date its existence as far back as the year 1730, but this claim is historically untenable and not supported by any available information on Diviš's biography and work. Unfortunately, after Diviš's death in 1765 the unique instrument was sold and eventually brought to Vienna, where it vanished without trace.

Surviving descriptions of the Denis d'or are short and very few, so that it is not even possible to clarify whether it was truly an electrophone or not. Diviš has been called the first person to foster the idea of an aesthetic connection between music and electricity. However, Jean-Baptiste Thillaie Delaborde built the clavecin électrique a few years later, an instrument that is much better documented. as an "Electrisch-Musicalische[s] Instrument"—the literal translation of which is "electric musical instrument".

It is disputed whether the Denis d'or sounds were also produced by electricity or if it was an otherwise acoustical instrument like the clavichord. Allegedly, Diviš could charge the iron strings with electricity in order to enhance the sound quality. This would be a possible explanation for effects that the audience perceived as electric in nature and might have been achieved with Leyden jars or similar equipment commonly used in early research on electricity.

References

  • Prokop Diviš Memorial
  • Denis D'Or Denis D'Or on 120 Years Of Electronic Music