Glass harmonica

From DIMA

Armonica cristali (It.), Harmonica de Franklin (Fr.) Glassharmonica (Germ.) This instrument was invented in 1760 by B. Franklin and is made of 46 bowls of glass chromatically pitched, placed one after another without the rims touching, being fixed on a rod that crosses through their middle. When one holds a finger wet with water on the edge of a glass, by rotating the rod with the help of a pedal and along with it of the glass, the corresponding sound is produced. W. A. Mozart himself towards the end of his life wrote a piece for this instrument, namely: Adagio für Glassharmonica. The notation is made in G key. The musical glasses with sonority close to the glass harmonica are made in the shape of a chromatic series of glass bottles filled with water. The sound is produced whenstruck with two wooden or plastic sticks.

The glass bells are made of pitched glass bars, placed on a special stand on two rows in keyboard fashion, which is struck with some thin sticks made of felt. It produces a sound resembling the glass harmonica, but softer. The instrument was built by Grigore Pop in collaboration with the laboratory of the Turda Glass Factory (Cluj) in 1999.