William Zeitler - Glass Armonica

[CarrieLynne]

I used to work with this guy in the early 90's and he gave me a CD of his work - I've never forgotten it....at the time there was only 3 of these instruments in the world!

[Kablooie]

1. Benjamin Franklin invented this.

I heard that it did not become popular because some players got nerve damage when they played it too much.

[CarrieLynne]

2. yeah thats right!

I remember that now but I didnt know about the nerve damage...hope hes doing ok with that....

[Aristus]

3. From what I understand, the physiological deficits

were the result of prolonged contact with the leaded glass that was used for the instruments of the time.

[longship]

4. Leaded glass.

Lead poisoning. Mozart wrote at least one work for the glass armonica.

It was also used by Franz Anton Mesmer for his quack medicine which was debunked by Benjamin Franklin, the guy who invented the glass armonica.

I presume that the modern version of the glass armonica does not used leaded glass.

[Archae]

7. The nerve damage resulted form the players wetting their fingers...

And then playing the bowls which were leaded glass.

But I adore that instrument.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

5. The Mozart piece is the Adagio for Glass Armonica in C Major, KV 627a

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

6. The bit with the sun through the telescope being projected on the screen

Reminds me of my seventh grade science teacher projecting an image of the sun through his Newtonian reflecting telescope into a large white enameled pan to show us sunspots. (He also warned us quite explicitly what looking at the sun directly through a telescope would do to the liquid in our eyeballs.)

[cantbeserious]

8. Wikipedia Page And Manufacturer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_harmonica

http://www.finkenbeiner.com/GLASSHARMONICA.htm