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Grand Harmonicon

Francis H. Smith, maker
Baltimore, Maryland, ca. 1829-1832
Blown glass; enameled; gilded.
Case mahogany and other woods.
Gift of Mrs. C. Frederick Lyman in memory of Mrs. John Tabb

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This instrument descended in the Tabb family who were among the wealthiest landholders in Gloucester County, Virginia. For much of the 19th century, it was kept in their elegant, white pillared Greek Revival home, White Marsh (still standing). According to tradition, it was played for the entertainment of General Robert E. Lee, when he visited his near-cousin, Rebecca Tabb, at White Marsh in the late 1860s.

"The high encomiums lavished upon this instrument wherever it has been heard, and the flattering encouragement which the inventor has received during the last year, warrant the belief that they only need to be more generally known to become a fashionable appendage to the parlor."- Francis H. Smith

What is the Grand Harmonicon?

"Grand Harmonicon" is the name that Francis Hopkinson Smith (1797-1872) gave to his version of the musical glasses, which he patented on April 7, 1825. The glasses were blown to pitch and are played by rubbing their rims with moistened fingers. The instrument was intended primarily for use in the home by amateur musicians rather than in the concert hall. Smith claimed that the instrument was easy to play, stating that "a few week's practice will make a pleasing performer." Chords consisted of only two notes -- with one note being played by each hand.

Smith's Grand Harmonicons

Smith began manufacturing Grand Harmonicons in about 1824, first offering them for sale that year at a shop in Richmond, Virginia. Since Smith gave his address for replacement glasses as Eastville (his hometown on Virginia's Eastern Shore), he may have first produced them there. In February 1828, he advertised that he had settled in Baltimore and offered his instruments for sale. He had ceased producing them by May of 1833, when he was listed in the Baltimore directory as a bank teller.
Smith's first instruments had 25 glasses arranged in a five-by-five square. The remains of a simple, early 25-glass instrument (possibly made by Smith) are preserved in Norfolk's Moses Myers House. Evidently, the square arrangement of glasses proved awkward to play, so Smith revised the instrument into the four-by-six rectangular format seen in the Chrysler's Grand Harmonicon with the 25th glass stored in a closet so that the key could be changed. Prices ranged from $18 for a two-octave set to $35 for a full set in a simple sounding box. The fineness of the cabinetwork further increased the price. The most expensive model, which sold for $85 was described as a "set of glasses on columns and carved Lyre, the whole constituting a splendid pier table."

Where does Smith's instrument fit into the tradition of musical glasses?

Musical glasses had been in use in Europe for nearly a century when Smith took out his patent. They were popularized in England in the 1740s through performances given by Irishman Richard Puckeridge, and by the famed opera composer Christolph Willibald Gluck. Both Puckeridge and Gluck tuned their glasses by partially filling them with water. In 1761, while Benjamin Franklin was living in London, he was so thoroughly charmed by the sound of musical glasses that he devised an improved version with a three-octave range that he called the "Armonica." Franklin's glasses were blown to pitch (so that no water was required for tuning) and they were arranged (for ease of reach) one inside another on a horizontal spindle that was rotated with a foot treadle. This instrument enjoyed enough popularity that even Mozart wrote music for it. However, it had the drawback that the treadle-powered spindle was noisy. Smith opted to return to the simpler arrangement of glasses mounted in rows on a simple sounding board.

What sort of music was played on the Grand Harmonicon?

Grand Harmonicons were accompanied by instruction books containing specially scored music for popular Scottish, Irish, English secular tunes, hymns, and even a portion of the Mozart Requiem. One popular tune entitled "French Air" is today better known as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" Smith noted that: "Though capable of executing the most rapid passages, it is to soft and plaintive music that it is best adapted; affording a rich treat to the lovers of Scotch and Irish melody."

How did Francis Hopkinson Smith promote the Grand Harmonicon?

He traveled giving public concerts, which he advertised between December 1824 and October 1829. Smith's performances have been documented in such Virginia cities as Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, and Fredericksburg, in Charleston, South Carolina (during the famed Charleston Races), and at the annual Fair of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Smith evidently enjoyed some measure of success in popularizing his Grand Harmonicon, for over 30 instruments have survived in spite of their fragility.

- Gary E. Baker, Curator of Glass

GRAND HARMONICON RESOURCES

Smith's transcription of the Scottish folk song "Coming Through the Rye" on a Grand Harmonicon can be heard on the Museum Acoustiguide Tour (#19).

Ervine, Beverley Ann. "Francis Hopkinson Smith and His Grand Harmonicon." Music stacks, masters thesis 1975MAE73, Ohio State University, 1975.

Wilson, Kenneth M. "Musical Glasses." Antiques Magazine. May, 1961. (p.478-79)

GLASS MUSIC DISCOGRAPHY

Music for Glass Harmonica
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joh Friedrich Reichardt, et al. Performed by Bruno Hoffman.

Glass Music from Mozart's Time
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Baptist Vanhal, et al. Performed by Dennis James, Ingemar Brantelid, Marc Grauwels, et al.

Celtic Crystal
Performed by Dean Shostak. Music of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales on Glass Armonica with fiddle, celtic harp, piano and cello.