Recent Acquisition: Instructions for the New Improved Harmonicon Glasses

Many people have dipped their finger in water and rubbed it along the rim of glass to make a sound. Curious, some might have added or poured out water, changing the pitch. With this discovery, adding additional glasses of water is all but inevitable: soon you have a rudimentary musical instrument.

For many, a casual exploration of the acoustical properties of glass is sufficient, but a few have taken their explorations much further, creating instruments made of glass and even composing music for glass instruments. Ben Franklin famously invented the armonica (which he originally called a “Glassy-Chord”) in 1761; Mozart composed two pieces for the armonica, “Adagio in C” for the solo armonica and “Adagio and Rondo,” a quintet for the armonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello.

The Rakow Research Library actively collects information on glass instruments and the acoustical properties of glass. Recently, the Library had the opportunity to add another wonderful item to our collection.

Published around the 1820s and acquired by the Rakow Research Library in 2014, “Instructions for the New Improved Harmonicon Glasses” is a guide to playing the New Improved Harmonicon by David Ironmonger, the “manufacturer of the said instrument.”

There have been various “harmonicons.” One version, invented by Francis Hopkinson Smith in the 1820s, was a set of “musical glasses” in a case. The glasses were made to sound a particular note when struck. Ironmonger’s harmonicon is a percussive instrument similar to the xylophone, played by striking glass keys with hammers. It has two rows of keys, spanning just over 3 octaves; one row are the natural notes, the second, sharps and flats. The first half of the book, “Principle Rules of Rudiments of Music for the Harmonicon” discusses musical theory: notes, rests, scales and time signatures. The second half is a selection of musical pieces for the harmonicon, including “Ye Banks and Braes” (this song, written by Robert Burns (1759-1796), was one Ironmonger could have heard at the time it was first “released”), “Lieber Augustine” (which gave us the tune for “Did you Ever See a Lassie?”/”The More We get Together”) and “God Save the King.”

Primary sources such as Ironmonger’s pamphlet shed light on the time they were published. The book was published in London by R.W. Keith and Co. The publisher was a harmonicon dealer and their place of business was 48 Cheapside, London, “where may be had the above instruments in the greatest variety.” The Rakow Library’s edition also contains some interesting notations. A previous owner has written the alphabetical notes above the notes in the music for “God Save the King,” presumably to make the piece easier to play as the corresponding alphabetical notes are etched into the harmonicon’s glass keys. Curiously, “God Save the King” is the only piece that is annotated—perhaps the owner felt it was the one piece worth learning.

This booklet is a wonderful addition to the Rakow Library’s collection of materials on glass instruments, documenting a period of time when glass harmonicons could be purchased on Cheapside in London.

For more information on glass instruments, including the harmonicon and the armonica, please see The Glass Armonica: The Music and the Madness (2013) by professional glass armonica player William Zeitler.

Here’s a video of Zeitler playing an armonica.

---

The Rakow Research Library is open to the public 9am to 5pm every day. We encourage everyone to explore our collections in person or online. If you have questions or need help with your research, please use our Ask a Glass Question service.