Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann

Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann (17 June 1805 – 1 October 1864) was a German musical instrument maker, often credited with inventing the harmonica and sometimes the accordion.

Buschmann was born in Friedrichroda, Thuringia. His father, Johann Buschmann, was a passementier, who later started to fix musical Instruments and in 1816 developed the uranion later called terpodion, a friction instrument played with a piano-like keyboard, based on the same principle as the glass harmonica. From 1819 Johann took Friedrich with him on his frequent journeys.

In the first half of 1821 Johann Buschmann travelled to London, accompanied by his son Friedrich, and agreed to a £1,000 contract with a Mr. Löschmann besides taking other orders for terpodions. On their return the Buschmanns set up a workshop in Berlin, Eduard did stay in Berlin and Friedrich was on a tour through Germany up to 1829 or even a bit longer. He was already skilled and experienced enough at musical instrument construction to begin building terpodions and aeolins as the letters written by him and his Father make clear. The first evidence of the word Aeoline we find in a letter dated 28 December 1828.

Altogether, 25 terpodions were built, most of them by Friedrich. His brother Eduard worked mainly on the wooden cases and inlays, and was in charge of the appearance of the instruments, though the brothers lived and worked in different German cities. Nearly all the terpodions ever built are still in existence in different European museums.

Johann and Friedrich meanwhile continued their advertising journeys throughout Europe. Besides their performances, they had to service the instruments they had already sold, as they did not function very reliably over a longer period. This may well have been a principal reason why Friedrich was looking for other methods of reliable sound generation for tuning purposes.

Mentioned towns or Villages while on Tour, are:

Aachen, Barmen, Elberfeld (which today are part of Wuppertal), Lüdenscheid, Werben, Altena, Breckerfeld, Vörde, Langenberge, Düsseldorf, Köln, Preuß-Minden and Rinteln. While still in Vörde near Barmen and on tour with his Father in 1828 Friedrich built an instrument, originally intended only for use as accompanying instrument, which at first consisted of 21 different metal free reeds fastened to a wooden block in such a way that it was possible to blow the reeds individually. He fastening the reeds inside a small box "4 inches square and equally high" (in other words a cubic box with 4" sides), each of which could be made to vibrate by blowing through 21 individual "tone chambers" (Tonlochkanzellen). This instrument he named an aeoline.

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