David ilvedson wrote: > > List, > > I was tuning today for the Ballet and came across an unusual > (for me) instrument in the pit. It looked like a tube shaped > desk. Inside were numerous glass bowls cupped into each > other from large to small. I would presume they are played > with a mallet? Anyone have any info on these devices. By > the way it was being used in the Ballets's "Othello" production. > David, According to the Harvard Dictionary of Music, the "glass harmonica" was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1763 after attending a London recital on glasses filled with water. "It consists of a series of glass basins of graded sizes fixed on a horizontal spindle, which is made to revolve by a treadle operated by the player's foot. The spindle is fitted into a trough filled with water so that the glasses are kept wet. The sound is produced by delicate rubbing of the fingers against the glasses." Several composers wrote for the instrument including Beethoven and Mozart. It fell out of favor circa 1830 but was revived by Richard Strauss in his opera "Die Frau ohne Schatten" (1917). A newer instrument is the glass harp (Glasharfe) which was "constructed by B. Hoffmann in 1929. Similar to the musical glasses of England, it consists of 46 individually tuned glasses fixed on a resonant table." Keeping the glasses tuned is a problem, owing to evaporation, but I'm sure Dampp Chaser will find the solution. I'm thinking a drip system will work. Tom -- Thomas A. Cole, RPT Santa Cruz, CA mailto:tcole@cruzio.com
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