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Johann Nepomuk Mälzel
born 1772 (D) – died 1838 in La Guaira (VEN). Mälzel was an automated machines builder, appointed in 1838 the court machinist in Regensburg. He is considered the inventor of the metronome, a mechanism with a clockwork for producing a regular but variable number of beats pro minute. In a 1816 lawsuit, the Amsterdam-based mechanic Winkel claimed to the true inventor of the metronome, but Mälzel had already served to popularize the instrument. Mälzel built an ear trumpet for his friend Beethoven. He also invented the «panharmonicon,» an enormous mechanical, orchestral instrument. It was for this instrument that Beethoven composed his Opus 91 «Wellington’s Victory or The Battle at Vittoria.»
Works by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel: