Angelic Music: The Story of Ben Franklin's Glass Armonica

Mead (War Play) examines the history of the glass armonica, a musical instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin, which consists of a series of glasses on an iron spindle (rotated by a foot pedal) mounted in a flat wooden case and is played by the fingers slightly touching the rotating glasses. The resulting ethereal tones fascinated listeners in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and major composers, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, wrote music for the instrument. Mead traces the antecedents of the glass armonica, highlights some of its finest exponents, and describes its eventual neglect and recent reemergence as a viable instrument. An interesting chapter chronicles its supposed "ill making" properties as well as its use by hypnotherapy pioneer Franz Mesmer, himself a fine player. The book covers some of the same ground as William Zeitler's The Glass Armonica; for scholars, Zeitler's 25-page bibliography is invaluable.