Glass Armonica
OriginUSA
Year1761
FamilyPercussion
About the Glass Armonica
Invented by Benjamin Franklin. Glass bowls rotate on a spindle, touched by wet fingers. Mozart wrote two works for it. Said to cause madness in players due to lead poisoning. Over 1,000 were built in the 18th century. The ethereal sound influenced Mesmers hypnosis theory.
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