| a musical instrument composed of a set of graduated, revolving glass bowls, the rims of which are moistened and set in vibration by friction from the fingertips. |
| glass harmonica n. A musical instrument consisting of a set of graduated glass bowls on a rotating spindle that produce tones when a finger is pressed to their moistened rims. |
glass harmonica
musical instrument consisting of a set of graduated, tuned glass bowls sounded by the friction of wetted fingers on their rims. It was invented by Benjamin Franklin and was derived from the verillon (musical glasses), a set of glasses, holding different amounts of water and thus yielding different notes, placed on a soundboard and rubbed by moistened fingers or, rarely, struck with rods. The German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck performed his concerto for this instrument in London in 1746.
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