(Automata, Musical) | Flute-playing automata

(Automata, Musical)

This is to give Notice, That Mr. Wilcke ... [will exhibit] Two most wonderful and unparalleled Pieces of Art ... Two Automatons, viz. A Shepherd and a Shepherdess ... [London: ca. 1760]

Broadside playbill (348 x 195 mm). Printed within a decorative border, woodcut showing the automata; not examined out of frame, old folds, a few stray spots. Framed and glazed with Plexiglas. 

The musical automaton first captured the attention of the Paris Académie Royale des Sciences in 1738, when Jacques de Vaucanson debuted his flute-playing automaton. He was initially met with skepticism after earlier chicanery — namely an "automaton" that purported to play the harpsichord, but in fact was directed by a five-year-old human hidden inside. However, Vaucanson's automaton held up to the rigorous scrutiny of the Académie, and its success was amplified by an ongoing philosophical debate about the nature of man and machine.

In his wake, a number of showmen offered copycat attractions, including one Mr. Wilcke of Berlin, who presented his musical Shephard and Shepherdess to London audiences in the subsequent decades. In addition to their musical abilities, Wilcke's flautists interacted with each other — glancing sympathetically at each other as they played. 

REFERENCE:

EE, pp. 36-37