Glass harmonica

Glass harmonica

1. In 1761 Benjamin Franklin invented it.

2. Became popular.

3. Inspired compositions.

4. The First Musical Glasses

   • Glasses filled with various amounts of liquid can create different pitched notes.
   • The first European reference can be found in Franchino Gaffurio's
   • The use of these glasses as a concert instrument became popular in the 1700s
   • Demonstrates the spreading belief that musical glasses can have strange psychological influences on the listener.

5. Franklin's Armonica

   • Franklin revealed that he knew of "Puckeridge."
   • His armonica consisted of soda-lime bowls
   • To play Franklin' s armonica, one simply touched the rims of the glasses with moistened fingers while they were spinning

6. Mesmer and the Mozarts

   • numerous other composers also wrote musical pieces for the armonica in the late 1700s and early 1800s
   • The armonica became so popular that Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) took a fancy to it.
   • the younger Mozart did not seem to have much to say in public about the armonica until he heard Marianne Kirchg~issne

7. What Happened to the Armonica?

   • The armonica faded into obscurity after 1830
   • Many people became fearful that the sounds of the armonica could affect nervous physiology and mental status
   • Rumors spread that armonica music could even wake the dead
   • A second factor figuring into its decline was that it was expensive to make
   • the opening decades of the 1800s "the style of music was changing

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