When the Glass Harmonica is Advertised, but the Verrophone is Played

The glass harmonica and the verrophone are two clearly distinct instruments.

Developed by Benjamin Franklin in 1761, the glass harmonica consists of nested glass bowls that rotate on a horizontal axis and are made to vibrate with moistened fingers.

In contrast, the verrophone was not created until 1983. It consists of vertical, non-rotating glass tubes. Construction, playing technique, sound development, and historical origin thus differ significantly from the glass harmonica.

A decisive difference is also evident in the performance possibilities: the slurred legato lines characteristic of the glass harmonica, as well as polyphonic and chordal playing—central requirements in works such as Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Mozart’s pieces for glass harmonica—cannot be implemented in a comparable way on the verrophone due to its design. This is of particular importance, especially for original works written for the glass harmonica.

The occasionally used term “modern glass harmonica” for a verrophone is therefore organologically misleading.

This becomes particularly problematic when a glass harmonica is announced for concerts or operas, but a verrophone is actually used.

Anyone who announces a glass harmonica rightfully raises the audience’s expectation to actually hear this instrument. If a verrophone is played instead, this does not correspond to the announced instrumentation.

Especially with original works for glass harmonica, this distinction is not a minor matter, but a question of historical, organological, and, above all, tonal authenticity.

This is not a devaluation of the verrophone. It is an independent instrument with its own tonal possibilities, and for that very reason, it should be referred to by its own name.

Those who play the verrophone, play the verrophone.
Those who announce a glass harmonica should also present a glass harmonica.