The Armonica

The Armonica

This article relates to A Slight Trick of The Mind

The armonica is a musical instrument constructed of graduated glass bowls with holes and corks in the center. It was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761. He was inspired to create it having heard a concert played on wine glasses! For a time armonicas were all the rage, Marie Antoinette (who, incidentally, historians say never did utter the famous words, "let them eat cake") took lessons, and famous composers of the day, such as Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss, wrote music for it. In the mid 1800s it lost popularity and gradually vanished because people came to believe that armonicas drove performers mad and evoked the spirits of the dead. In 1982, the late master glass blower, Gerhard Finkenbeiner, of Massachusetts, revived the instrument.

Interesting Links
Play a virtual armonica at the Franklin institute and see a video clip of 'Franklin playing his glass armonica' (considering Franklin died 100 years before the invention of moving pictures I think it's safe to assume that this is not actually Franklin in person!)

Filed under Cultural Curiosities

This article relates to A Slight Trick of The Mind. It first ran in the May 22, 2006 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.