âFascinating, insightful, and, best of all, great funâŠwith spirited charm, Mead weaves history, music, science, and medicine into the storyâ (The Washington Post) of Ben Franklinâs favorite invention: the glass armonica.
Benjamin Franklin is renowned for his landmark inventions, including bifocals, the Franklin stove, and the lightning rod. Yet his own favorite inventionâthe one he said gave him the âgreatest personal satisfactionââis 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 oneâs 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 Mesmerism sessions. Franklin played it for Washington and Jefferson.
In Angelic Music, Corey Mead describes how Franklinâs instrument fell out of popular favor, partly due to claims that its haunting sounds could drive musicians out of their minds. Audiences were also 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.
âCharming and fascinatingâŠpart musicology and part cultural historyâŠMeadâs lively storytelling opens a window into a (as it were) mesmerizing chapter of music historyâ (Publishers Weekly). The armonica has in recent years enjoyed a revival. Composers are again writing pieces for it in genres ranging from chamber music and opera to electronic and popular music. Mead brings this instrument back to the public eye in Angelic Music, âa highly readable and informativeâŠfrom a genial historical guideâ (Kirkus Reviews).