Details

One of the tunes on the cylinder of this 'Koppelduiker' was known in the Netherlands in the 19th century as "The blue of the eyes is dangerous", with the last verse:

Often deceived a pair of eyes.

By their bright light and shine,

Like the light of the stars,

On the high heavens.

Will therefore be careful,

Lords, prone to the minus,

See ye sometimes two eyes shining,

Look not too deeply therein! (bis.)

That it is this melody, we can prove with no fewer than four sources (manuscripts), in which the melody can be recognised. The earliest of these four is dated 1775-1799, but its composer and title are unknown. It could very well be that this is a melody of German origin, which was later given a Dutch text.

Black Forest clockmakers are known to have fitted their clocks with moving figures even before 1800. Here, while the music is playing, both trumpet players turn a quarter turn forward. Then they put the trumpet to their mouths, while meanwhile a tightrope walker moves back and forth to the beat of the music. At the end of each melody, the tightrope walker also does a spectacular somersault.