Glass harmonica: notoriety for a unique instrument

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Music has accompanied man for millennia. Accordingly, a huge variety of instruments appeared to reproduce it. And if most of them have existed for thousands of years, then the history of some has only a few years.

A striking example of the latter is precisely the glass harmonica: an instrument that at first aroused delight, and then - fear, because many began to believe that its sound … drives people crazy.

In fact, a glass harmonica is a type of idiophone, that is, a musical instrument where the sound source is its body, and it does not require compression or tension. In this case, the melody is reproduced by means of glass hemispheres.

And such a sound extraction system appeared in the middle of the 17th century: it was then that the Irish musician Richard Pakrich, and after him the famous composer of the classicism era Christoph Willibald von Gluck, used the so-called "seraphim" or "music cups" during their performances - the dishes were wetted water, making a delicate sound when touched.

But a new page in the history of this kind of musical instruments was opened by the American scientist and inventor Benjamin Franklin. In 1757 he came to London, where he heard the "seraphim" which was very popular at that time and was also imbued with its sound. Moreover, four years later, he modernized its technology, creating a completely new musical instrument.

Franklin took 37 large glass bell goblets, each of which emitted a specific note, and carefully drilled a hole in them. Then the inventor installed the glasses on a single axis, and it was set in motion by a mechanism with a swinging pedal - similar can be seen in old sewing machines. And at the bottom of this structure, Franklin put a tray of vinegar solution.

The resulting musical instrument was named "glass harmonica". It worked as follows: the lower edge of the bells sank into the liquid, and during the rotation of the axis, they were constantly wetted. The musician, on the other hand, touched the edge of a certain bell with his finger and produced the necessary sound. In order not to get confused, which glass hemisphere emits which note, Franklin marked them with paints of different shades.

However, not only the instrument itself was quite entertaining. The sound that the glass harmonica made was so unusual that composers and listeners were in awe of it.

Benjamin Franklin personally described it as “incomparably sweet and pleasant, drawn-out, superior in this respect to any other musical instrument; pressing your finger either harder or weaker, you can achieve unsurpassed expressiveness. " The new instrument was called the "glass harmonica".

The sound really didn't look like anything, that's why it was remembered by everyone who heard it. Moreover, it was used not only by composers, but also by writers. For example, in the fairy tale of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann "Little Tsakhes nicknamed Zinnober" the character of the good wizard Prosper Alpanus moves in a carriage, from which "enchanting, unearthly beauty sounds, as if someone is playing the bass of a giant glass harmonica".

But the story of this amazing musical instrument turned out to be not as wonderful as the sounds it makes. Literally a few years after the appearance of the glass harmonica, periodicals of that time began to publish materials, the authors of which claimed that the amazing melody of this instrument negatively affects the human psyche, and even drove some crazy.

The then journalists relied on the opinion of doctors, who quite seriously believed that the sound of a glass harmonica could lead to a state of "black melancholy", depression and even provoke a desire to voluntarily leave this life. Moreover, as examples, they often cited the deaths of musicians who played this instrument, and the cause of death was called terrible melancholy and apathy.

The well-known physician and hypnotist Franz Mesmer, at that time, added to the escalation of the situation around the problem of the effect of glass harmonics on the human psyche. His treatment concept was the use of magnets, "magnetic water" and a special "internal magnetism".

And the "magnetic" sessions, which he usually conducted in large quantities, were often accompanied by a glass harmonic. It was only during these actions that people fell into hysterics and inadequate states, and the reason for this was precisely the sounds of the instrument. Although modern scientists argue that in fact people fell into psychosis either due to self-hypnosis or due to mass hypnosis.

All these unsightly episodes actually put an end to the future of the glass harmonica: the society, which quite recently was delighted with its magical sound, now began to consider it a "damned" musical instrument. Composers and musicians also began to massively abandon the use of glass harmonica in their works.

In particular, the parts that had previously been written specifically for her began to be performed in the celesta in operas. Moreover, in some areas it was completely prohibited by law, and as a result, only a few of the original instruments that Benjamin Franklin once invented have survived to this day.

For a long time, the unique instrument was in complete oblivion, but not so long ago they still remembered about it. And not only music history lovers, but also scientists who decided to find out whether the glass harmonica really gives such a destructive effect on the human psyche.

People really perceive its sound in an unusual way, and the reason for the strange reaction of our brain is the range in which the instrument is played. The thing is that the fundamental overtones of the glass harmonic are in the frequency range from 1 to 4 kilohertz - and this is exactly the “sound zone” that the human brain is unable to localize.

This explains the strange perception of the sound of a glass harmonica: a person understands that a melody sounds, but is not able to determine where it is coming from. Such a phenomenon in emotional people caused an enthusiastic reaction, up to confusion, but mentally unstable individuals can really fall into a state of nervous seizure.

Modern researchers have also found the reason why the musicians on which they played often became victims of the "cursed" instrument. The inventor of the glass harmonica, Benjamin Franklin, marked the bells with paint so that the performers did not get confused in the notes - pigments in those days were made on the basis of lead oxides and salts. And the musicians regularly came into contact with these paints on the instrument, so they received poisoning with the vapors of the poisonous metal, which could not but affect their health.

Today, music enthusiasts hope to revive the art of playing the glass harmonica, which was completely undeservedly consigned to oblivion. Only now they use safe synthetic paints, and also improved the design: glass with a high wetting ability is taken, and a pedal drive for rotation has replaced a silent electric motor.

True, the former popularity of the glass harmonica is unlikely to be achieved: after all, the technical capabilities of modern instruments and special applications make it possible to synthesize virtually any sound. In addition, many musicians accuse the old instrument of its narrow range and not very loud sound, and the common people, having heard its melody, are usually divided into two camps: either they remain delighted with the sound, or they are not impressed and even frankly disappointed.

And yet, the glass harmonica has already inscribed its name in the history of music, which means that it has the right to both rebirth and search for its listener.