Benjamin franklin inventions glass armonica

Everyone knows the eerie, tinkling notes of the ‘Aquarium’ movement in Camille Saint-Saëns’ symphony for children, The Carnival of the Animals, even if we can’t name the music. But few people realise that the instrument which creates that other-worldly sound – also used in some renditions of the Harry Potter film music – was invented by Benjamin Franklin while living in London in 1761. And fewer still are aware of the role that Franklin’s instrument played in the strange story of hypnotism.

Franklin was inspired to create his glass armonica after hearing an English friend, Edward Delaval, playing a tune on wine glasses filled with water. Delaval was using the tried and tested technique, familiar to anyone who’s run out of things to say in the pub, of running a wet finger around the rim of a wine or beer glass to produce high-pitched ‘singing’. Franklin was convinced he could do better. With his typical ingenuity and attention to detail, he drew up an elaborate design and commissioned a London glassblower, Charles James, to create the first glass armonica.

Franklin’s armonica, also known as a glass harmonica, was made from 37 glass bowls of varying thicknesses and sizes threaded horizontally on an iron spindle which could be turned by a foot pedal. By moistening their fingers with water, a player could produce up to ten notes or chords at a time. The bowls were colour-coded for different notes. Franklin was delighted with the results. ‘Of all my inventions,’ he later said, ‘the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction.’ Franklin’s instrument enjoyed its world premiere in 1762 and became hugely popular throughout Europe, inspiring compositions by celebrated musicians including Mozart.

Mozart first encountered the glass armonica in 1773 on a visit with his father to the house of a family friend, the physician Franz Anton Mesmer, in Vienna. After hearing the doctor play the instrument ‘unusually well’, the 16-year-old took a turn at tin

The glass armonica was one of the most celebrated instruments of the 18th century. Franklin began to take his beloved armonica with him when he traveled and played popular Scottish tunes or original compositions for his audiences. Later, composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Donizetti would write music for the armonica. Because of its almost immediate popularity, the glass armonica seemed destined for permanence. But by the 1820s, it was nearly a forgotten instrument.

Over the years, some disturbing events began to be associated with the glass armonica. Some armonica players became ill and had to stop playing the instrument. They complained of muscle spasms, nervousness, cramps, and dizziness. A few listeners were also subject to ill effects; after an incident in Germany where a child died during a performance, the armonica was actually banned in a few towns. Some people thought that the high-pitched, ethereal tones invoked the spirits of the dead, had magical powers, or drove listeners mad. Others thought that lead from the crystal bowls or paint was absorbed into the musicians' fingers when they touched the glass, causing sickness. No explanation or proof was ever really given to any of these claims. Franklin himself ignored all of the controversy and continued to play the instrument until the end of his life with none of the symptoms mentioned. But the armonica's popularity never really returned to what it had been when it was first introduced.

At the time of his death in 1790, when more than 5,000 of them had been built, Ben Franklin had collected no money from his glass armonica. He refused to patent any of his inventions, saying:

"As we enjoy great Advantages from the Inventions of others we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any Invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously."

Ben certainly gave freely and generously, constantly investing time and energy to make his ideas a

The glass armonica, also known as the glass harmonica, is a unique musical instrument that was invented by the multi-talented Benjamin Franklin in 1761. Inspired by a concert he attended in London where a musician played a set of water-tuned wine glasses, Franklin sought to create a more advanced version of this instrument. The glass armonica quickly gained popularity in the 18th century and was even used by renowned composers like Mozart and Beethoven. However, despite its initial success, the glass armonica faced controversy and eventually fell out of favor. In this article, we will explore the fascinating history, construction, playing techniques, and controversies surrounding the glass armonica.

Glass Armonica

A popular entertainment in England in the early 18th century was playing music on upright wine goblets, with tones made by rubbing one's fingers around the lip of glasses filled with different quantities of fluid. In 1761, Franklin created a mechanized version, and called it the Armonica (after the Italian word for harmony.) Franklin worked with London glassblower Charles James to build his Armonica, and it had its world premiere in early 1762, played by Marianne Davies.

Franklin's foot-treadle-operated instrument held 37 glass bowls. The musician touched the rims of the bowls with fingered moistened from the water trough. The bowl-rims were color-coded, according to the note. For example, C's are red, D's orange, E's yellow, etc.

From "The Life of Benjamin Franklin" by Jared Sparks

After many trials he succeeded in constructing an instrument of a different form, more commodious, and more extended in the compass of its notes. His glasses were made in the shape of a hemisphere, with an open neck or socket in the middle, for the purpose of being fixed on an iron spindle. They were then arranged one after another, on this spindle, the largest at one end and gradually diminishing in size to the smallest at the other end. The tones depended on the size of the glasses. The spindle, with its series of glasses, was fixed horizontally in a case, and turned by a wheel attached to its larger end, upon the principle of a common spinning-wheel.

The performer sat in front of the instrument, and the tones were brought out by applying a wet finger to the exterior surface of the glasses as they turned round. He called it the Armonica, in honor of the musical language of the Italians, as he says in a letter to Beccaria, in which it is minutely described. For some time the Armonica was in much use. A Miss Davies acquired great skill in playing upon it. She performed in public, and, accompanied by her sister, who was a singer, she exhibited her skill in the