Julien’s Auctions is auctioning off over 450 objects that belonged to the late Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider. Among the many recording gear and memorabilia accessible to bid on are Schneider’s 1964 Volkswagen van, the Panasonic bicycle he rode within the 1984 music video for a remix of “Tour de France,” various woodwind and brass devices—together with the Sixties Orsi alto flute that appeared on the again cowl of Kraftwerk’s 1970 self-titled debut—and a rack case of Votrax speech synthesizer models, which the band used to create the robotic voices that opened all of their live shows between 1981 and 2002. The public sale takes place on Wednesday, November 18, in Nashville, Tennessee, and on-line at the Julien’s Auctions website.
Schneider died, in 2020, on the age of 73. A classically skilled flautist, he met Ralf Hütter on the Düsseldorf Conservator and the duo based Kraftwerk in 1970. Schneider was fascinated by expertise—significantly within the area of speech synthesis—and intensely protecting of his improvements; he held a number of patents throughout his lifetime, together with for a synth-vocal processor referred to as Robovox. David Bowie titled “V-2 Schneider,” from 1977’s “Heroes”, after him. Schneider left Kraftwerk in 2008 and didn’t return for any the group’s reunion reveals.
Revisit Ben Cardew’s essay “Remembering Florian Schneider, Who Brought Sonic Perfectionism and Humor to Kraftwerk.”
