Street organ

[1] Many were built by Italian organ builders who had settled in France and Germany, creating companies such as Frati, Gavioli, Gasparini and Fassano.

In Paris there were a limited number of permits for organ grinders, and entry in that reserved circle was based on a waiting list or seniority system.

According to Ord-Hume[7] the disappearance of organ grinders from European streets was in large part due to the early application of national and international copyright laws.

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century European publishers of sheet music and the holders of copyrights to the most popular operatic tunes of the day often banded together in order to enforce collection of performance duties from any musician playing their property in any venue.

When faced with notaries and the hounding of other legal representatives of the music industry of the time, in addition to the other sources of hostility mentioned above organ grinders soon disappeared.

Whereas some organ grinders were very likely itinerants or vagabonds, many, certainly in New York, were Italian immigrants who chose to be street performers in order to support their families.

[3] The largest organs were usually mounted on a cart, and required a team of operators to move, particularly in the Netherlands when crossing the steep canal bridges of Amsterdam streets.

The grinder would often have as a companion a white-headed capuchin monkey, tethered to a string, to do tricks and attract attention,[4][9] as well as the important task of collecting money from passers-by.

In an article from 1929, George Orwell wrote of the organ-grinders of London: "To ask outright for money is a crime, yet it is perfectly legal to annoy one's fellow citizens by pretending to entertain them.

Charles Dickens wrote to a friend that he could not write for more than half an hour without being disturbed by the most excruciating sounds imaginable, coming in from barrel organs on the street.

[citation needed] In the United Kingdom, many use the term street organ to refer to a mechanically played, piano-like instrument also known as a barrel piano.

Almost all examples in the Netherlands have now been converted to belt drive from a small battery powered motor or donkey engine, allowing the organ grinder to collect money.