Choralcelo Co. - 1917 dated Organ Maker Stock Certificate - Musical Instrument Co.

Stock printed by British American Bank Note Co. Ottawa, Canada. Organ Maker! Very Rare Topic! Rare!

The Choralcelo Company, founded in Boston in 1901 by inventor Melvin Severy and financier Wilbur Farrington, was an early 20th-century venture that produced one of the most innovative and ambitious musical instruments of its time: the Choralcelo. Initially capitalized with a massive sum of $1 million (worth over $100 million today), the company funded its experimental projects. The resulting instrument was a massive, hybrid electronic and electro-acoustic organ that used a system of electromagnets to vibrate strings, bars of wood and aluminum, and other resonant bodies without physical contact. This unique design created a pure, sustained tone unlike any other instrument of the era.

The Choralcelo’s complex design required a large, custom installation. The main console was often located in a music room, while the “echo” producing mechanisms were placed in a basement or in remote locations throughout the house. Despite attracting positive reviews for its musical quality, the Choralcelo proved to be a prohibitively expensive, niche product for wealthy patrons. While the company experimented with improved Mark II models and continued receiving orders, the high costs of production and complex engineering ultimately proved unsustainable. The final blow came with the material shortages during World War I, which forced the company to cease production in 1917. Despite Farrington’s attempts to revive the company and even purchasing an instrument for a demonstration studio in New York as late as the 1930s, the effort ultimately ended with his death in 1945. Only about 100 instruments were ever manufactured, and the Choralcelo remains a fascinating but forgotten chapter in the history of electronic music.