Audio CD (1 Feb 2010)
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Allegretto
ASIN: B000001KAZ
1. Adagio And Rondo, K. 617 - Adagio
2. Adagio And Rondo, K. 617 - Rondo
3. Adagio For Glass Harmonica, K. 617a - Adagio For Glass Harmonica, K. 617a
4. Rondeau In B Flat Major - Rondeau In B Flat Major
5. Quintet In C Minor For Glass Harmonica And String Quartet - Quintet In C Minor For Glass Harmonica And String Quartet
6. Largo - Largo
7. Quartet In C Major For Glass Harmonica, Flute, Viola And Cello - Quartet In C Major For Glass Harmonica, Flute, Viola And Cello
The glass harmonica in brief
http://www.thomasbloch.net/en_glassharmonica.html
Since the 9th century, people have struck glasses with sticks to make music, to obtain sounds. Much later, in 1743, the Irishman Richard Puckeridge had the idea of rubbing the edge of stemmed glasses standing on a table and more or less filled with water to alter the pitch of the sounds. He called the instrument seraphim (or sometimes musical glasses and later glasharfe or glass harp, glassharp, glasharp...).
In 1761, Benjamin Franklin improved the method and finalized the glass armonica (or according to the country: armonica de verre, harmonica de verre, glassharmonica, glass harmonica, glasharmonica, glasharmonika, glas harmonika, glass organ, glassarmonica, üveg-harmonika, organo de cristal, orgue de cristal, orgue de verre, crystal organ, crystal armonica, armonica de cristal, harmonika szklana, armonica a bicchieri...).
It was generally composed of 20 to 54 blown crystal glass or quartz bowls (37 is a standard size). They were fitted into one another, but not in contact, with a horizontal rod – whose rotation was controlled by a pedal – going through their centers. The diameter of a bowl determines the note, the frequency. The bowls, once set in rotation around the rod, the interpreter rubs the edges with wet fingers. In this way, complex chords can be played and the virtuosity increases.
Glass harmonicas were banned by a police decree in some German cities and disappeared in 1835. Among the reasons put forward : the sounds made by the instrument frighten animals, cause premature deliveries, shoot down the strongest man within one hour (according to a medical dictionary published in 1804) and drive the interpreters to madness (maybe because of lead poisoning; 40% lead glass was used) @《黑执事》动画观众 . However, Paganini called it an "angelic organ", Marie Antoinette played the glass harmonica, doctor Franz Anton Mesmer used it to relax (...to mesmerize) his patients before examining them (a kind of new age music), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Gaetano Donizetti and Richard Strauss composed for it and writers such as Goethe or Chateaubriand praised it.
The master glassblower Gerhard Finkenbeiner who rediscovered it in the 1960's rebuild it today since 1982.
Thomas Bloch plays its instruments (in 442 and in 430 Hz) and is one of the very few professional glassharmonicist in the world.
About 400 works were probably composed for the armonica between 1761 and 1835 and in 1917. Today, the composers are re-discovering it and use it in various styles : ballet music, songs, movie music, rock, theater-music, contemporary music, operas, electronic music, open air shows...