George Duke wrote on Thu, Aug 14, 2008 04:03 PM UTC:
The Turk's life extended 1769-1854, when fire destroyed the Chinese
Museum. Maelzel constructed for friend Ludwig van Beethoven many ear
trumpets to mitigate progressive deafness. Beethoven's ''Battle of
Vittoria,'' piece written specifically for Maelzel's automaton
Panharmonicon, premiered along with Beethoven's 7th Symphony,
8.December.1813. French patents covered musical chronometer, Maelzel's
metronome (hence 'MM') endorsed by Beethoven. Before Maelzel's
purchase, the Turk's originator Wolfgang von Kempelen himself happened to
experiment and wrote 'The Mechanism of Human Speech'. The book influenced
Wheatstone to build one, demonstrated to young Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell.
Earlier Reverend Edmund Cartwright witnessed Kempelen and the Turk at
London, ''Now you will not assert, gentlemen, that it is more difficult
to construct a machine that shall weave than one which shall make all the
variety of moves required in that complicated game.'' Napoleon's son
Eugene Beauharnais succeeded in pressuring Maelzel to sell him the Turk to
learn its secrets. [source: Gerald M. Leavett 'The Turk, Chess Automaton'
2000]
