Johann Wilde was a German violinist and inventor of musical instruments, his most famous creation being the nail violin. During the mid 1700s, he was living in St. Petersburg and somehow managed to acquire a sheng. Issue 25 of Musikalische Nachrichten und Anmerkungen (Leipzig, June 1770) contained an article called "Fortsetzung der Nachricht von der Musik in Rußland" ("Continuation of the News of Music in Russia") which describes several of Wilde's musical inventions, followed by a paragraph about his sheng playing, reproduced above.
This ingenious artist also learned through his own study to play the lovely Chinese organ, and played arias, minuets and other small pieces in full harmony on it. This entirely Chinese instrument consists of 16 to 18 reed tubes, like strong straws, set into the surface of a shortened cone, like organ pipes, each of which has a finger hole that can be closed or left open with the fingers of both hands that hold these tubes. At the bottom of the shortened cone, the hollow of which forms the wind chamber, from which the blown-in air is distributed into all the tubes and makes them audible together, an ivory plug protrudes as a mouthpiece. The air is blown in through this or drawn out, depending on whether the sound is louder or softer, forte or piano.
Sadly, we are not told how or when the instrument came into his possession. There is a much repeated story that Kratzenstein heard Wilde play his sheng in St. Petersburg and this inspired him to incorporate free reeds into his talking machine, but I have been unable to find any confirmation of this. According to the above article, Wilde had been a chamber musician in St. Petersburg "since the accession of Empress Elisabeth", which was in 1741. Kratzenstein was Professor of Mathematics and Mechanics at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences from 1748 to 1753. Depending on when Wilde acquired the sheng, it is not impossible that Kratzenstein heard him play it, but his writings contain no mention of Wilde (or the sheng for that matter) and I have been unable to find any references to Wilde's sheng playing that predate this 1770 article, which was written some years after Kratzenstein permanently left St. Petersburg.
The earliest article that mentions both Kratzenstein and Wilde is the entry for "Free Reed" in Curt Sachs's "Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente", published in 1913:
Freischwingende Zunge, Durchschlagende Zunge, nennt man ein elastisches Plättchen, das die zugehörige, genau abgepaßte Rahmenöffnung beim Ein- oder Durch- (nicht Auf-) schlagen hermetisch verschließt, ohne an Ränder zu stoßen. Ihre klassische Verwendung hat sie im ostasiatisch-indonesischen Šêng und bei uns in Harmonium, Mund- und Ziehharmonika gefunden. Ihre Einführung in Europa soll zuerst gegen Ende 18. Jhs. der Kopenhagener Professor Kratzenstein angeregt und der St. Petersburger Orgelbauer Kirschnigk bei seinen Orgelklavieren bewirkt haben: in der Orgel hat sie Abt Vogler zum erstenmale 1792 angebracht. Dem muß aber hinzugefügt werden, daß schon im zweiten Drittel des Jahrhunderts der Petersburger Johann Wilde aus Bayern, Erfinder der Nagelgeige, nach einer Mitteilung in Hiller's Wöchentlichen Nachrichten 1770 (p. 194) "die liebliche Chineser Orgel zu spielen" gelernt hatte, daß das Šêng also in Rußland bereits bekannt war.
Free-swinging reed, or through-striking reed, is the name given to an elastic plate that hermetically closes the corresponding precisely fitted frame opening, when closing or passing through (not opening) without hitting the edges. Its classic use is found in the East Asian/Indonesian sheng and in the harmonium, harmonica, and accordion. Its introduction in Europe was first suggested towards the end of the 18th century by the Copenhagen professor Kratzenstein and the St. Petersburg organ builder Kirschnigk had it installed in his organ pianos: it was first installed in the organ by Abbot Vogler in 1792. However, it must be added that as early as the second third of the century, the Petersburg resident Johann Wilde from Bavaria, inventor of the nail violin, had learned to play "the lovely Chinese organ" according to a report in Hiller's Weekly News 1770 (p. 194), meaning that the sheng was already known in Russia.
Notice that in this article, Sachs doesn't mention any connection between Kratzenstein and Wilde, simply pointing out that the newspaper report of Wilde playing the sheng meant that the instrument was already known in that part of the world. However, in his "The History of Musical Instruments", from 1940, Sachs wrote:
A certain musician, Johann Wilde, known as the inventor of the nail violin, purchased or was given a sheng in St. Petersburg and learned to play die liebliche Chineser Orgel ("the charming organ of the Chinese”). The physicist Kratzenstein from Copenhagen heard him, examined the free reed and suggested to the organ builder Kirschnik in St. Petersburg that he introduce the free reed into the organ.
Unfortunately, he gives no source for this information and a whole lot of later writers simply took him at his word, including the editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which pretty much consolidated the story.
This story, however, is contradicted by earlier articles, such as this one from Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Volume 25, No 10, March 1823, entitled "Ueber die Erfindung der Rohrwerke mit durchschlagenden Zungen" ("On the Invention of Pipework with Free reeds"):
Hr. Rackwitz ging im Jahre 1782 zum Orgelbauer und musikalischen Instrumentenmacher, Hrn. Kirsnick zu Petersburg in Arbeit. Dieser war zuerst in Kopenhagen etablirt, von wo nach Petersburg zog. Von ihm erfuhr Hr. Rackwitz, dass die erste Idee zu diesem Rohrwerk-mundstücke von einem chinesischen Orgelwerke, das nach Kopenhagen kam, entnommen wurde. Dieses hatte runde Röhren von ganz dünnem Messing, welche die Töne angaben. In jede dieser Röhren war mit einem feinen Messer eine Zunge eingeschnitten, die einen reinen Ton angab.
In 1782, Mr. Rackwitz went to work for the organ builder and musical instrument maker, Mr. Kirsnick in St. Petersburg. Mr. Kirsnick had initially established himself in Copenhagen, before moving to St. Petersburg. From him, Mr. Rackwitz learned that the initial idea for this pipework mouthpiece was taken from a Chinese organ that had arrived in Copenhagen. This organ had round tubes made of very thin brass, which produced the notes. A tongue had been cut into each of these tubes with a fine knife, producing a pure tone.
This article was written some 40 years after Kratzenstein's experiments and the description of the "round tubes made of very thin brass" suggests that some of the details had already started to get blurred, as that is not how a sheng is constructed.
A similar story is given a few years later, in The London Medical and Surgical Journal, Volume 7, No 179, July 1835:
Sir J. Herschell and Mr. Willis attribute the invention of this reed to Kratzenstein; but Mr Wheatstone has shown that he only introduced it into use from China, where it has long been employed in the construction of the tsing. Kratzenstein noticing this instrument in a curiosity-shop at Copenhagen, was struck with its aptness for his purpose and procured a copy to be made by an organ-builder from whom this account was derived.
Although this version of events is not without its own issues, I think it further undermines the Kratzenstein/Wilde story.
A Brief History of Mouth Blown Free Reed Instruments
What Is A Free Reed?
Origins Of The Free Reed
Eastern Free Reed Instruments
A Selective Discography Of Asian Free Reed Instruments
Western Free Reed Instruments
Bibliography