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Benjamin Franklin Invents the Glass Armonica

Clip: Episode 1 | 1m 55sVideo has Closed Captions

Franklin’s musical invention, the armonica, became a sensation in Europe.

Franklin developed a musical instrument that he called the armonica (after the Italian word for harmony). To play the armonica, a musician powered a foot pedal to rotate 36 concentric glass bowls and produced notes by putting wet fingers to the spinning glass. In Austria, the glass armonica provided the music for a royal wedding. Mozart and Beethoven would compose chamber pieces for it.

04/04/2022

FromKen Burns

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Episodes presented in 4K UHD on supported devices. Corporate funding for BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by David M. Rubenstein. Major funding was...

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Episodes presented in 4K UHD on supported devices. Corporate funding for BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by David M. Rubenstein. Major funding was...

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