Grete Wendt designed this music box in February 1928. Th e famous pilot Charles Lindbergh, who in 1927 was the fi rst person to fl y solo across the Atlantic, was one of Grete Wendt’s famous admirers. To mark the birth of his second child, he ordered this music box. Another one stood in the study of the fi lmmaker Walt Disney – alongside other collector’s items from Wendt & Kühn.
The first new flowers, soft green grass and a bright blue sky – this is how we imagine a spring day. This idyllic scene not only exists in our imagination, it has also been immortalized on the body of the Music Box “Round Dance” by painters in the music box paint shop, including some 50 flowers in pink, red and blue. And of course white Marguerites – the favorite flowers of Olly Wendt.
This is how to make gardening fun. While the cheerful gardeners are diligently cultivating their flowers and beds, they are accompanied by the gentle sound of music. The melody “Ward ein Blümlein mir geschenket, hab’s gepflanzt und hab’s getränket” played by the 18-note musical movement is a German folk song about growing flowers, so it fits the scene perfectly.
This music box with the impressive tree was designed by Grete Wendt in 1925/1926 and has remained in the collection ever since. Even the Swedish royal family owned one. In 1999, it achieved further renown when, to mark the 650th anniversary of the village, a large copy of it was erected in the center of Grünhainichen, close to our manufactory. Since that time it has delighted young and old alike.
The Moon Family was designed by Olly Wendt in 1925. But the Moon, Sun and four Star Children made their fi rst appearance in the 1930 catalog – together with a music box on which the good-natured Moon Father with fl at arms and in a blue robe appeared as a shepherd watching over his sheep. Earlier, the body of the music box was decorated with a landscape, later it was painted with golden stars on a blue background.
Grete Wendt first came up with the design for the Music Box “Two Dancers in the Garden” in 1956, much later than most of the others, which were conceived in the 1920s and 1930s. The two dancers sway to the tune of the world-famous Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker played by the 36-tone
Swiss-made music works.