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Pyrophone, wood, metal, glass, Frédéric Kastner, France, 1873.
Patented by the Strasbourg-born musician and scientist Frédéric Kastner in 1873, the pyrophone was a musical instrument in which flames encased in pipes similar to those of a traditional organ were used to produce musical notes. Kastner took advantage of Dr B Higgins’ 1777 discovery that a hydrogen flame positioned at the lower end of glass tube could produce a note. This, combined with his musical knowledge (his father was the composer Jean-Georges Kastner), allowed him to create a “Fire Organ”, as the instrument was also known.
French musician, Theodore Lack, wrote pieces specially composed for the pyrophone between 1876 – 1881.
