Restored Dodge & Lord Melodeon - Festival March by J. Barnby

This single exhauster melodeon has just been through a major restoration/rebuild for the main action and air system. It has not been able to sing for a very long time, there were other attempts to make it sing but unfortunately all that was done was to make a mess that was difficult to clean up. After the silicone was removed from the separated cell block, the epoxy from the cracks and all of the damages repaired, it was carefully assembled back together, undoing all of the previous attempts to “fix” it.

I estimate it to be built in the 1860s (going by the style of the reeds), but the research on this builder is still a work in progress. The left foot is the swell (volume) control and the right foot is for the air.

The music from the 1886 publication “Macy’s Selected Gems and Modern Favorites”, which was edited for instruments just like this one. Joseph Barnby was born at York in 1838 and died in London in 1896, aged fifty-seven. He was a great choral conductor and successively, Director of Music at Eton College and Principal of the Guildhall School of Music. He was knighted in 1892. His compositions include oratorios, part-songs and church music that was formerly much sung.

Within the video, I have included some pictures of the restoration. For a full story on the restoration, visit www.rodneyjantzi.com