Glass harmonica

The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, glass

harmonium, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the
armonica or harmonica (derived from ἁρμονία, harmonia, the
Greek word for harmony),[1][2] is a type of musical instrument that
uses a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce
musical tones by means of friction (instruments of this type are
known as friction idiophones). It was invented in 1761 by
Benjamin Franklin.

Contents 1900 illustration of a glass harmonica

Names
Forerunners
Franklin's armonica
Musical works
Purported dangers
Perception of the sound Spinning glass disks (bowls) on a
Modern revival common shaft are arranged with the
lower notes (larger disks) to the left
Notable players
and higher notes (smaller disks) to
Historical the right.
Contemporary
Related instruments
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

Names
The name "glass harmonica" (also "glass armonica", "glassharmonica"; harmonica de verre, harmonica de
Franklin, armonica de verre, or just harmonica in French; Glasharmonika in German; harmonica in
Dutch) refers today to any instrument played by rubbing glass or crystal goblets or bowls. The alternative
instrument consisting of a set of wine glasses (usually tuned with water) is generally known in English as
"musical glasses" or the "glass harp".

When Benjamin Franklin invented his mechanical version of the instrument in 1761, he called it the
armonica, based on the Italian word armonia, which means "harmony".[3][4] The unrelated free-reed wind
instrument aeolina, today called the "harmonica", was not invented until 1821, sixty years later.
The word "hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica" is also recorded, composed of
Greek roots to mean something like "harmonica to produce music for the
soul by fingers dipped in water" (hydro- for "water", daktul- for "finger",
psych- for "soul").[5] The Oxford Companion to Music mentions that this
word is "the longest section of the Greek language ever attached to any
musical instrument, for a reader of The Times wrote to that paper in 1932 to
say that in his youth he heard a performance of the instrument where it was
called a hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica."[6] The Museum of Music in Paris
displays a hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica.[7]

Forerunners
Because its sounding portion is made of glass, the glass harmonica is a type A glass harp, an ancestor of
of crystallophone. The phenomenon of rubbing a wet finger around the rim the glass armonica, being
of a wine goblet to produce tones is documented back to Renaissance played in Rome. The rims of
times; Galileo considered the phenomenon (in his Two New Sciences), as wine glasses filled with
did Athanasius Kircher. water are rubbed by the
player's fingers to create the
The Irish musician Richard Pockrich is typically credited as the first to play notes.
an instrument composed of glass vessels (glass harp) by rubbing his fingers
around the rims.[8] Beginning in the 1740s, he performed in London on a
set of upright goblets filled with varying amounts of water. His career was cut short by a fire in his room,
which killed him and destroyed his apparatus.

Edward Delaval, a friend of Benjamin Franklin and a fellow of the Royal Society, extended the
experiments of Pockrich, contriving a set of glasses better tuned and easier to play.[9] During the same
decade, Christoph Willibald Gluck also attracted attention playing a similar instrument in England.

Franklin's armonica
Benjamin Franklin invented a radically new arrangement of the
glasses in 1761 after seeing water-filled wine glasses played by
Edward Delaval at Cambridge in England in May 1761.[10]
Franklin worked with London glassblower Charles James to build
one, and it had its world premiere in early 1762, played by
Marianne Davies.

Writing to his friend Giambatista Beccaria in Turin, Italy, Franklin

wrote from London in 1762 about his musical instrument: "The
A modern glass armonica built using advantages of this instrument are, that its tones are incomparably
Benjamin Franklin's design sweet beyond those of any other; that they may be swelled and
softened at pleasure by stronger or weaker pressures of the finger,
and continued to any length; and that the instrument, being well
tuned, never again wants tuning. In honour of your musical language, I have borrowed from it the name of
this instrument, calling it the Armonica."[11]

In Franklin's treadle-operated version, 37 bowls were mounted horizontally on an iron spindle. The whole
spindle turned by means of a foot pedal. The sound was produced by touching the rims of the bowls with
water-moistened fingers. Rims were painted different colors according to the pitch of the note: A (dark
blue), B (purple), C (red), D (orange), E (yellow), F (green), G (blue), and accidentals were marked in
white.[12] With the Franklin design, it is possible to play ten glasses simultaneously if desired, a technique
that is very difficult if not impossible to execute using upright goblets. Franklin also advocated the use of a
small amount of powdered chalk on the fingers, which under some acidic water conditions helped produce
a clear tone.

Some attempted improvements on the armonica included adding keyboards,[13] placing pads between the
bowls to reduce sympathetic vibrations, and using violin bows.[13] Another supposed improvement, based
upon later observations of non-playing instruments, was to have the glasses rotate into a trough of water.
However, William Zeitler put this idea to the test by rotating an armonica cup into a basin of water; the
water has the same effect as putting water in a wine glass – it changes the pitch. With several dozen glasses,
each a different diameter and thus rotating with a different depth, the result would be musical cacophony.
This modification also made it much harder to make the glass "speak", and muffled the sound.[14]

In 1975, an original armonica was acquired by the Bakken Museum in Minneapolis and put on display,
albeit without its original glass bowls (they were destroyed during shipment).[15] It was purchased through
a musical instrument dealer in France, from the descendants of Mme. Brillon de Jouy, a neighbor of
Benjamin Franklin's from 1777 to 1785, when he lived in the Paris suburb of Passy.[15] Some 18th- and
19th-century specimens of the armonica have survived into the 21st century. Franz Mesmer also played the
armonica and used it as an integral part of his Mesmerism.

An original Franklin armonica is in the archives at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, having been
donated in 1956 by Franklin's descendants after "the children took great delight in breaking the bowls with
spoons" during family gatherings. It is only placed on display for special occasions, such as Franklin's
birthday. The Franklin Institute is also the home of the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.[16]

A website has attempted to catalog publicly known Franklin-era glass armonicas.[17] The Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston has an early 19th-century instrument on display, which is occasionally used for public
performances and recordings.[18][19]

Musical works
Composers including J. G. Naumann, Padre Martini, Johann
Adolph Hasse, Baldassare Galuppi, and Niccolò Jommelli,[20] and
more than 100 others composed works for the glass harmonica;
some pieces survive in the repertoire through transcriptions for
more conventional instruments. European monarchs indulged in
playing it, and even Marie Antoinette took lessons as a child from
Franz Anton Mesmer. Part of the original manuscript score
of "Aquarium" from The Carnival of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his 1791 K. 617 and K.356 the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.
(K.617a) for the glass harmonica.[20] Ludwig van Beethoven used The top staff was written for the
the instrument in an 1814 melodrama Leonore Prohaska.[20] (glass) "Harmonica". Play 
Gaetano Donizetti used the instrument in the accompaniment to
Amelia's aria "Par che mi dica ancora" in Il castello di Kenilworth,
premiered in 1829.[21] He also originally specified the instrument in Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) as a
haunting accompaniment to the heroine's "mad scene", though before the premiere he was required by the
producers to rewrite the part for two flutes.[22] Camille Saint-Saëns used this instrument in his 1886 The
Carnival of the Animals (in movements 7 and 14).[23] Richard Strauss used the instrument in his 1917 Die
Frau ohne Schatten.[20]
For a while the instrument was "extraordinarily popular," its "'ethereal" qualities characteristic, along with
instruments such as the nail violin and Aeolian harp, of Empfindsamkeit, but "the instrument fell into
oblivion," around 1830.[20] Since the armonica's performance revival during the 1980s, composers have
again written for it (solo, chamber music, opera, electronic music, popular music) including Jan Erik
Mikalsen, Regis Campo, Etienne Rolin, Philippe Sarde, Damon Albarn, Tom Waits, Michel Redolfi, Cyril
Morin, Stefano Giannotti, Thomas Bloch, Jörg Widmann (Armonica 2006),[24] and Guillaume Connesson.

The music for the 1997 ballet Othello by American composer Elliot Goldenthal opens and closes with the
glass harmonica. The ballet was performed at San Francisco Ballet, the American Ballet Theater, the
Joffrey Ballet, and on tour in Europe including at the Opera Garnier with Dennis James performing with
his historical replica instrument.

Joseph Schwantner's symphonic poem Aftertones of Infinity, which was awarded the 1979 Pulitzer Prize
for Music.[25] employed individual wine glasses played by numerous members of the orchestra at key
points during the work.

George Benjamin's opera Written on Skin, which premiered at the 2012 Aix-en-Provence Festival, includes
a prominent and elaborate part for the glass harmonica.[26]

Purported dangers
The instrument's popularity did not last far beyond the 18th century. This may have been due to the
inability to amplify the volume so as not to be drowned out by other instruments.[27]

Some claim this was due to strange rumors that using the instrument caused both musicians and their
listeners to go mad. It is a matter of conjecture how pervasive that belief was; all the commonly cited
examples of this rumor seem to be German, if not confined to Vienna. One example of alleged effects from
playing the glass harmonica was noted by German musicologist Johann Friedrich Rochlitz in the
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung:

[The harmonica] excessively stimulates the nerves, plunges the player into a nagging
depression and hence into a dark and melancholy mood, that is an apt method for slow self-
annihilation. ...

1. If you are suffering from any nervous disorder you should not play it.
2. If you are not yet ill you should not play it excessively.
3. If you are feeling melancholy you should not play it or else play uplifting
pieces.[28]

Marianne Davies, who played flute and harpsichord – and was a young woman said to be related to
Franklin – became proficient enough at playing the armonica to offer public performances. After touring for
many years in duo performances with her celebrated vocalist sister, she was also said to have been afflicted
with a melancholia attributed to the plaintive tones of the instrument.[9] Marianne Kirchgessner was an
armonica player; she died at the age of 39 of pneumonia or an illness much like it.[29] However many
others, including Franklin, lived long lives.

For a time the armonica achieved a genuine vogue, but like most fads, that for the armonica eventually
passed. It has been claimed the sound-producing mechanism did not generate sufficient power to fill the
large halls that were becoming home to modern stringed instruments, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
That the instrument was made with glass, and subject to easy breakage, perhaps did not help either.[9] By
1820, the armonica had mostly disappeared from frequent public performance, perhaps because musical
fashions were changing.

A modern version of the "purported dangers" claims that players suffered lead poisoning because
armonicas were made of lead glass. However, there is no known scientific basis for the theory that merely
touching lead glass can cause lead poisoning. Lead poisoning was common in the 18th and early 19th
centuries for both armonica players and non-players alike; doctors prescribed lead compounds for a long list
of ailments, and lead or lead oxide was used as a food preservative and in cookware and eating utensils.
Trace amounts of lead that armonica players in Franklin's day received from their instruments would likely
have been dwarfed by lead from other sources, such as the lead-content paint used to mark visual
identification of the bowls to the players.[30]

Historical replicas by Eisch use so-called "White Crystal" developed in the 18th c. replacing the lead with a
higher potash content; many modern newly invented devices, such as those made by Finkenbeiner, are
made from so-called Quartz "pure silica glass" - a glass formulation developed in the early 20th c. for
scientific purposes.[31]

Perception of the sound

The disorienting quality of the ethereal sound is due in part to the way that humans perceive and locate
ranges of sounds. Above 4 kHz people primarily use the loudness of the sound to differentiate between left
and right ears and thus triangulate, or locate the source. Below 1  kHz, they use the phase differences of
sound waves arriving at their left and right ears to identify location. The predominant pitch of the armonica
is in the range of 1–4 kHz, which coincides with the sound range where the brain is "not quite sure", and
thus listeners have difficulty locating it in space (where it comes from), and discerning the source of the
sound (the materials and techniques used to produce it).[32]

Benjamin Franklin himself described the harmonica's tones as "incomparably sweet". The full quotation,
written in a letter to Giambattista Beccaria, an Italian priest and electrician, is: "The advantages of this
instrument are that its tones are incomparably sweet beyond those of any other; that they may be swelled
and softened at pleasure by stronger or weaker pressures of the finger, and continued to any length; and that
the instrument, once well tuned, never again wants tuning."[9]

A music critic for the Morning Chronicle, writing of a performance by Kirchgessner in 1794, said, "Her
taste is chastened and the dulcet notes of the instrument would be delightful indeed, were they more
powerful and articulate; but that we believe the most perfect execution cannot make them. In a smaller
room and an audience less numerous, the effect must be enchanting. Though the accompaniments were
kept very much under, they were still occasionally too loud."[33]

Modern revival
Music for glass harmonica was rare from 1820 until the 1930s (although Gaetano Donizetti intended for the
aria "Il dolce suono" from his 1835 opera Lucia di Lammermoor to be accompanied by a glass harmonica,
and Richard Strauss specified use of the instrument in his 1919 opera Die Frau ohne Schatten), when
German virtuoso Bruno Hoffmann began revitalizing interest in his individual goblet instrument version
that he named the glass harp for his stunning performances. Playing his "glass harp" (with Eisch
manufactured custom designed glasses mounted in a case designed with underlying resonance chamber) he
transcribed or rearranged much of the literature written for the mechanized instrument, and commissioned
contemporary composers to write new pieces for his goblet version.
Franklin's glass harmonica design was reworked yet again without
patent credit by master glassblower and musician, Gerhard B.
Finkenbeiner (1930–1999) in 1984. After thirty years of
experimentation, Finkenbeiner's imitative prototype consisted of
clear glasses and glasses later equipped with gold bands mimicking
late 18th-century designs. The historical instruments with gold
bands indicated the equivalent of the black keys on the piano,
simplifying the multi-hued painted bowl rims with white
accidentals as specified by Franklin. Finkenbeiner Inc., of Dennis James plays the armonica at
Waltham, Massachusetts, continues to produce versions of these the Poncan Theatre in Ponca City,
instruments commercially as of 2014, featuring glass elements Oklahoma, on April 2, 2011.
made of scientific formulated fused-silica quartz.[34][35][36]

From 1989 on to now, Sascha Reckert, a German glass instrumentalist and glass instrument producer,
restored and reproduced glass armonicas from the original using crystal glass with full bass range, required
for the original compositions. He did the first performance with glass armonica of Lucia die Lammermoor
(Munich state opera) and Frau ohne Schatten in a full scene production, and invented the Verrophon with
glass tubes, with a more powerful sound. Reckert also produced the harmonicas of Dennis James, the
Wiener Glasharmonikaduo, Martin Hilmer and others.

French instrument makers and artists Bernard and François Baschet invented a modern variation of the
Chladni Euphone in 1952, the "crystal organ" or Cristal di Baschet, which consists of up to 52
chromatically tuned resonating metal rods that are set into motion by attached glass rods that are rubbed
with wet fingers. The Cristal di Baschet differs mainly from the other glass instruments in that the identical
length and thickness glass rods are set horizontally, and attach to the tuned metal stems that have added
metal blocks for increasing resonance. The result is a fully acoustic instrument, and impressive
amplification obtained using fiberglass or metal cones fixed on wood and by a tall cut-out multi-resonant
metal part in the shape of a flame. Some thin added metallic wires resembling cat whiskers are placed under
the instrument, supposedly to increase the sound power of high-pitched frequencies.

Dennis James recorded an album of all glass music, Cristal: Glass Music Through the Ages co-produced by
Linda Ronstadt and Grammy Award-winning producer John Boylan.[37] James plays the glass harmonica,
the Cristal di Baschet, and the Seraphim on the CD in original historical compositions and new
arrangements for glass by Mozart, Scarlatti, Schnaubelt, and Fauré[37] and collaborates on the recording
with the Emerson String Quartet, operatic soprano Ruth Ann Swenson, and Ronstadt.[37] James played
glass instruments on Marco Beltrami's film scores for The Minus Man (1999) and The Faculty (1998).[38]
"I first became aware of glass instruments at about the age of 6 while visiting the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia. I can still recall being mesmerized by the appearance of the original Benjamin Franklin
harmonica then on display in its own showcase in the entry rotunda of the city's famed science
museum."[38] James Horner used a glass harmonica and pan flute for Spock's theme in the 1982 film Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.[39] On February 23, 2007, the armonica was used by nu-metal band Korn
while filming their session with MTV Unplugged. It was stated that it was of Benjamin Franklin's design.
[40]

Notable players

Historical
Marie Antoinette
Marianne Davies
 Benjamin Franklin (United States)
Franz Mesmer
Marianne Kirchgessner
Christa Schönfeldinger
Mrs. Philip Thicknesse (born Anne Ford), 1775, United Kingdom)
Wiener Glasharmonika Duo

Contemporary
Thomas Bloch (France)
Cecilia Brauer (USA)[41]
Nils Frahm (Germany)[42]
Bill Hayes (New York City) Broadway Musician and Percussionist, Barbra Streisand
Orchestra 1994, 2006, 2007[43]
Martin Hilmer[44][45] (Germany)
Bruno Hoffmann (Germany)
Dennis James (USA)
Friedrich Heinrich Kern (United States/Germany)[46]
Alasdair Malloy (United Kingdom)[47]
David Mauldin (USA) [48]
Gloria Parker (USA) glass harp
Gerald Schönfeldinger (Austria)[49]
Dean Shostak (USA)[50]
Ed Stander (USA)[51]
William Zeitler (United States)

Related instruments

An armonica
Another instrument that is also played with wet fingers is the hydraulophone. The hydraulophone sounds
similar to a glass armonica but has a darker, heavier sound, that extends down into the subsonic range. The
technique for playing the hydraulophone is similar to that used for playing the armonica.

See also
Cristal baschet
Glass diatonic harmonica, a diatonic harmonica constructed from glass
Hydraulophone
Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism
Sensitive style
Singing bowl
Verrophone
Waterphone

Notes
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2. ἁρμονία (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a
(rmoni/a). Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus
Project.
3. Sibyl Marcuse, "Armonica", Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary, corrected
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4. Franklin, Benjamin (Jul 13, 1762), How Franklin Invented the Armonica and How to Build
One (http://glassarmonica.com/armonica/franklin_correspondence/1.html), retrieved Nov 5,
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5. Ian Crofton (2006) "Brewer's Cabinet of Curiosities," ISBN 0-304-36801-6
6. As quoted from the 1970 edition of the Companion by a Glasssharmonica.com webpage (htt
p://www.glassarmonica.com/armonica/history/musicalglasses/mgvarious.php) Archived (http
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(http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/musicfeature/pip/k8ko2/). Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
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12. The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Volume III: London, 1757–1775 – Faults in Songs (http://
www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/letter3.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/
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Edge" (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/arts/music/05glas.html). The New York Times.
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glass-harmonica)", TheGuardian.com. Accessed: February 05 2017.
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pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-3-631-59608-1.
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30. See Finger, Stanley (2006); Doctor Franklin's Medicine; U of Pennsylvania Press;
Philadelphia; ISBN 0-8122-3913-X. Chapter 11, "The Perils of Lead" (p. 181–198)
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leadership in combating it.
31. "GFI Scientific glass blowing products and services" (http://www.finkenbeiner.com/GLASSH
ARMONICA.htm). www.finkenbeiner.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
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ature/pip/k8ko2/). www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
33. "Concerti and Chamber Music Sleeve Notes (http://www.davidwatkins.info/Pages/recording
s/CD_concerti_and_chamber_music.html#p7EPMc1_3)", DavidWatkins.info. Accessed:
February 04 2017.
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1/15/arts/music-notes-playing-on-glass.html). New York Times. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
35. "Glass Harmonicas" (http://finkenbeiner.com/GLASSHARMONICA.htm). G. Finkenbeiner
Inc. G. Finkenbeiner Inc. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
36. Wald, Elijah. "Music of the Spheres: The Glass Harmonica" (http://www.elijahwald.com/glas
shar.html). Elijah Wald – Writer, Musician. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
37. Sony Classical Music. "Cristal – Glass Music Through the Ages" (http://www.sonyclassical.c
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www.sonyclassical.com/music/89047/home.html) November 24, 2006, at the Wayback
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38. "Dennis James interview- glass harmonica project / by Rich Bailey" (http://www.ronstadt-lind
a.com/djames.html). www.ronstadt-linda.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
39. "Monsters from the Id - "The Kobayashi Maru has set sail for the promised land." " (http://swa
shbuckler332.livejournal.com/695758.html). Retrieved April 18, 2012.
40. "MTV Unplugged (Korn album)" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV_Unplugged_(Korn_albu
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41. "History of the Armonica, Ben Franklin and Glass Armonica" (http://www.gigmasters.com/arm
onica/history.html). Gigmasters.com. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
42. "In Conversation: Nils Frahm" (https://www.clashmusic.com/features/in-conversation-nils-fra
hm/). 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
43. "Bill Hayes (2) Discography at Discogs" (http://www.discogs.com/artist/772639-Bill-Hayes-
2). Discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
44. "Martin Hilmer - Live-Musik auf seltenen Instrumenten" (https://web.archive.org/web/201603
04042451/http://www.glasmusik.com/index.htm). www.glasmusik.com. Archived from the
original (http://www.glasmusik.com/index.htm) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
45. The Glassharmonica made by Sascha Reckert. Retrieved from
http://www.glasharmonika.com/harmon.htm. (in German)
46. "Three Musical Triumphs at the Santa Fe Opera" (https://sharpsandflatirons.com/2017/08/06/
5567/). 2017-08-06. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
47. "glass harmonica" (http://www.alasdairmalloy.com/glass-harmonica). Alasdair Malloy. 2012-
07-10. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
48. Sharaba, Paul John Sr. "History-alive.com" (http://www.history-alive.com). www.history-
alive.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
49. "Wiener Glasharmonika Duo" (https://web.archive.org/web/20171008171900/http://glasharm
onika.at/html/e_index.htm). Archived from the original (http://www.glasharmonika.at/html/e_in
dex.htm) on 2017-10-08. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
50. "Website for Dean Shostak's Crystal Concert, regular performances take place at Colonial
Williamsburg, VA USA" (http://www.crystalconcert.com/). Crystalconcert.com. 2018-11-12.
Retrieved 2018-11-20.
51. "It's glassware! It's an instrument! It's both!" (http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2010/01/04/ed-
stander). alloveralbany.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018.

References
"An Extensive Bibliography" (http://www.glassarmonica.com/armonica/index-biblio.php). of
resources about the armonica. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
"Franklin, Benjamin" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070210220910/http://www.glassarmoni
ca.com/armonica/history/franklin/letters.php). Franklin correspondence regarding the
armonica. Archived from the original (http://www.glassarmonica.com/armonica/history/frankli
n/letters.php) on February 10, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
"Galileo, Galilei" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070210221100/http://www.glassarmonica.c
om/armonica/history/musicalglass/galileo.php). Passage from 'Two New Sciences' by
Galileo about the 'wet finger around the wine glass' phenomenon (1638). Archived from the
original (http://www.glassarmonica.com/armonica/history/musicalglass/galileo.php) on
February 10, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
King, A.H., "The Musical Glasses and Glass Harmonica," Royal Musical Association,
Proceedings, Vol.72, (1945/1946), pp. 97–122.
Sterki, Peter. Klingende Gläser. Bern. NY 2000. ISBN 3-906764-60-5 br.
History of the Glass Harmonica (http://www.glasharfe.de/glasharfe/texte/history.htm)

Further reading
History

Zeitler, W. The Glass Armonica—the Music and the Madness (2013) A history of glass music
from the Kama Sutra to modern times, including the glass harmonica (also known as the
glass harmonica), the musical glasses and the glass harp. 342 pages, 45 illustrations, 27
page bibliography. ISBN 978-1-940630-00-7

Instruction books

Bartl. About the Keyed Armonica.

Ford, Anne (1761). Instructions for playing on the music glasses (Method). London. "A pdf
copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070226082458/http://www.glassarmonica.com/armoni
ca/history/musicalglasses/AnneFordInstructions.pdf) (PDF). Archived from the original (http://
www.glassarmonica.com/armonica/history/musicalglasses/AnneFordInstructions.pdf) (PDF)
on February 26, 2007. Retrieved January 20, 2007.
Franklin, J. E. Introduction to the Knowledge of the Seraphim or Musical Glasses.
Hopkinson-Smith, Francis (1825). Tutor for the Grand Harmonicon. Baltimore, Maryland.
Ironmonger, David. Instructions for the Double and Single Harmonicon Glasses.
Muller, Johann Christian (a.k.a. John Christopher Moller). Anleitung zum Selbstunterricht auf
der Harmonika.
Roellig, Leopold. Uber die Harmonika / Uber die Orphika.
Smith, James. Tutor for the Musical Glasses.
 Wunsch, J. D. Practische – Schule fur die lange Harmonika.

External links
G. Finkenbeiner Inc. site, manufacturer of glass harmonicas (http://www.finkenbeiner.com/GL
ASSHARMONICA.htm)
G2 Glass Instrument Makers site (http://www.glassharp.eu)
Display of glass armonica at The Bakken Library and Museum (https://web.archive.org/web/
20070405115543/http://www.thebakken.org/exhibits/mesmer/glass-armonica.htm)
Articles (with citations) about the armonica (http://www.glassarmonica.com/armonica/index.p
hp) by William Zeitler
Dennis James interview (http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/djames.html)
Benjamin Franklin and his Glass Armonica (http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/Ben
jaminFranklinGlassArmonica.htm)
Historic 18th-century Glass Harmonica (http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_
database/musical_instruments/glass_harmonica/objectview.aspx?page=1&sort=0&sortdir=a
sc&keyword=glass*&fp=1&dd1=18&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=18&OID=180013543&vT=1) at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
'Cecilia Brauer's bio and tribute, history of the instrument' (https://www.thebash.com/articles/
what-is-an-armonica)
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Harmonica"  (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C
3%A6dia_Britannica/Harmonica). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.
'Turn it off: Music to drive you crazy' (https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/turn-it-off-music-to-drive-
you-crazy-1.5061043) by CBC Radio One Ideas (radio show)

Videos

Robert Tiso demonstrating how to set up and tune a glass harp (https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=gXnTdAP8aFQ) on YouTube
J.S. Bach: Toccata D minor played by Glass Duo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rmFle
YqNxw) on YouTube
Dennis James plays the Glass Armonica (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVqqNigImtU)
on YouTube

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