[ePub] Le fantocirc;me de Canterville (French Edition) by Oscar Wilde in Arts-Photography

Description

ldquo;With spirited charm; Mead weaves history; music; science; and medicine into the story...Fascinating; insightful; and; best of all; great fun.rdquo; mdash;The Washington Post A jewel of musical historymdash;the story of Ben Franklinrsquo;s favorite invention; the glass armonicamdash;including the composers who wrote for it (Mozart; Beethoven; Handel; among others); Dr. Mesmer who used it to hypnotize; Marie Antoinette and the women who popularized it; its decline and recent comeback.Benjamin Franklin is renowned for his landmark inventions; including bifocals; the Franklin stove; and the lightning rod. Yet his own favorite inventionmdash;the one he said gave him the ldquo;greatest personal satisfactionrdquo;mdash;is unknown to the general public. The glass armonica; the first musical instrument invented by an American; was constructed of stacked glass bowls and played by rubbing onersquo;s fingers on the rims. It was so popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that Mozart; Beethoven; Handel; and Strauss composed for it; Marie Antoinette and numerous monarchs played it; Goethe and Thomas Jefferson praised it; Dr. Franz Mesmer used it for his hypnotizing Mesmerism sessions. Franklin himself played it for George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. In Angelic Music; Corey Mead describes how Franklinrsquo;s instrument fell out of popular favor; partly due to claims that its haunting sounds could drive musicians out of their minds. Some players fell ill; complaining of nervousness; muscle spasms; and cramps. Audiences were susceptible; a child died during a performance in Germany. Some thought its ethereal tones summoned spirits or had magical powers. It was banned in some places. Yet in recent years; the armonica has enjoyed a revival. Composers are writing pieces for it in genres ranging from chamber music and opera to electronic and pop music. Now Mead brings this instrument back to the public eye; telling the compelling; fascinating story of its origins.