Re: Glass Harmonica--Clarification

[BarMusProd <BarMusProd...>]

Dear Listers,

I would never have guessed that this thread would have gone on so long.

In a message dated 10/24/00 11:09:43 PM, bloom (at) gis(dot)net writes:

(snip)...
>The musical glasses is the original instrument, the one that Mozart et
>al
>
>composed for.  I believe that Ben Franklin invented the term Glass
>
>Harmonica, along with the idea of laying out the glasses on a common
>
>spindle, in an arrangement similar to the layout of a keyboard.

I don't think that this is correct, so I stopped using my memory and went to 
one of the standards of musical instrument dictionaries: Sibyl Marcuse's 
_Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Survey_. Here is the listing under 
Glass Harmonica: >...a series of tuned glass bowls pieced in the center, 
strung vertically in close position on a wire spindle, and rotated by means 
of a treadle; the glasses were suspended above a trough partly filled with 
water. The player touched the rotating wet rims with the fingers of both 
hands. The glass harmonica came into existence in 1761, when Benjamin 
Franklin transformed the musical glasses into a new instrument that he called 
'Armonica.' Attempts made to attach a keyboard to it were not successful 
until 1784 (a glass harmonica played from a keyboard is known as a keyed 
harmonica). After an initial period of popularity both types were driven out 
by the harmonium in the 19th century. Mozart wrote several works for the 
glass harmonica [note: for "glass harmonica," not the "musical glasses" nor 
the "keyed harmonica"].<

I checked the other articles on musical glasses and keyed harmonica, just in 
case and there is no mention of Mozart--only with the Franklin version of 
glass harmonica.

My favorite anecdote with musical glasses in that article was: >On April 23, 
1746, [opera composer] Gluck played in the Haymarket Theatre, London, "a 
concerto on twenty-six drinking glasses filled with spring water." Must have 
been quite a sight--and sound.

Best wishes,
Steve

Steve Barnett
Composer/Arranger/Producer
Barnett Music Productions
BarMusProd (at) aol(dot)com 

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