In the mid 1700's, 20 pipe flute clocks abounded in the Black Forest of German. Famous composers, such as Bach and Hyden wrote music specifically for playing on the wooden tune barrels in flute clocks of the day. Today, flute clock music of 250 years ago is performed by large orchestras in beautiful symphonies.

The original flute clocks had wooden tune barrels (usually 8 tunes per barrel) and heavy weights to work the air pressure bellows. Since 1990, the Hofbauer Company has produced the "modern" flute clock with 20 metal flute pipes (just as before), a small air blower and a microprocessor. There is an infinite supply of music available for this instrument; 45 tunes are included. Among the selections are original flute pipe arrangements by Bach, merry-go-around type music and waltz tunes.

The speed of play and tune selection can be adjusted manually. Of you can simply load a 15 tune cartridge and listen to a tune each hour, on the hour, automatically.