`Otherworldly’ Music Coming to the Franklin Library

Above, Vera Meyer and her ‘Glass Harmonica’ – an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin

Vera Meyer discovered `glass music’ in 1983 when she happened upon street musician, Jim Turner, playing his 70 musical wine glasses on the street in Harvard Square. She was so captivated by the sound that she immediately worked to acquire her own glass instrument. She started by building a similar set of tuned wine glasses.

Then, she heard about Gerhard Finkenbeiner, a master glassblower who had started to build glass harmonicas based on the Franklin design from a workshop in Waltham. Meyer contacted Gerhard immediately to procure one of the first such instruments he ever made. Since then, Meyer has acquired a reputation as the region’s “go-to” artist for sharing Ben Franklin’s most remarkable brainstorm.

Invented in 1761, the instrument enjoyed wide popularity in Europe (where Franklin was living at the time) for about 40 years until it was reportedly banned by German police around 1830. The instruments extreme fragility didn't help, either.

It was feared by some people and thought to cause insanity, nervous disorders, convulsions in dogs and cats, marital disputes, and even wake people from the dead! It is possible, noted Meyer, that the lead in the glasses used at the time caused a neurological problem for people. However, more likely it was the haunting tones of the instrument. Or maybe it was because Anton Mesmer (whose name is the root of the word mesmerize) used the instrument to hypnotize his patients. 

Franklinites can find out for themselves on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 6.30 pm with a special free concert (part of Ben Franklin Book Week) at the Franklin Public Library.

“We have discovered about 300 compositions originally written for glass harmonica [also called glass armonica], including works by Mozart and Beethoven," said Meyer.

Meyer said her musical presentation and selections are normally guided by audience preference, That being said, her repertoire is quite varied, and she enjoys presenting a wide range of music, which includes classical, folk, music from many different countries, hymns, Christmas music, classic rock, and popular children's/movie tunes.