MUSICAL CLOCK OF MOSCOW

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12618, 1 December 1926, Page 8

MUSICAL CLOCK OF MOSCOW

In one of the towers of the Kremlin in Moscow is a musical clock with a curious history. It was made by one Peter Antonius Solarius, of Milan, in the year 1491, when it probably played Milanese airs. In 1028 its musical mechanism was altered by a native of Low Countries —Clarius Fremus—to play the folk songs of his own country. Peter the Great then became possessed of the clock for Russia, when it still played Netherlands “Volkslieder.” In the eighteenth century a German altered this state of affairs, and the clock was made to play a well-known German air. In the reign of the CV.ar Nicholas I. it was changed to that of a Russian military march, though /Alexander 11. preferred something more hynm-like and spiritual. During the revolution the clock was silenced. Only recently has it been put in order again, to play the po.pular air of the Soviet Government. One would he glad to know if this is to bo the last air in the repertory of the ancient clock.