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News Release
Office of News and Information
Johns Hopkins University
3400 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-2692
Phone: (410) 516-7160
Fax (410) 516-5251
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December 29, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Catherine Rogers Arthur or
Judith Proffitt, 410-516-5589
homewood@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu
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Glass Armonica Concert to Open Homewood
Exhibition
Homewood House Museum will open the exhibition, Bubble to
Bottle, Pontil to
Prism: Early Glass in Maryland, 1785 1835 from 5 p.m. to 7
p.m. on Thursday, January
20, with a reception and performance on the glass armonica by
Carolinn Skyler.
The glass armonica, invented in 1761 by Benjamin Franklin,
is one of America's
earliest instruments. Franklin wanted to recreate the delicate,
ethereal tones a drinking glass
creates when its rims are rubbed with a moistened finger. He
recreated that sound by
mounting tuned glass bowls on a spindle, using a flywheel and a
foot treadle to spin the
bowls, and applying moistened fingers to the rim of the bowls.
Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert all wrote pieces to be played
on the glass armonica.
More recently, composer John Williams used the instrument in his
score for the film
Interview with a Vampire. Fewer than 25 people know how to
play a glass armonica;
Skyler, of Boston, is among the best known.
Bubble to Bottle, Pontil to Prism: Early Glass in
Maryland, 1785 1835
celebrates glass made and used in Maryland's Federal Era with
examples from Homewood,
seldom-seen private collections and major museums. The exhibit
will look at the many types
of glassware popular during the Federal Era in Maryland,
including imported glass, mirror
glass, ‚glomise or reverse painted glass used as furniture and
architectural ornamentation,
lighting fixtures, tinted spectacles for reading and other
optical devices to enhance vision and
even musical instruments.
The reception and concert are free to members and $25 for
non-members, including an annual membership to
Homewood House
Museum. Homewood House is at 3400 N. Charles Street in
Baltimore on the campus of The Johns Hopkins University. For
information, call 410-516-5589.
Johns Hopkins University news releases can be found on the
World Wide Web at
http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/
Information on automatic e-mail delivery
of science and medical news releases is available at the
same address.
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