Adagio for Glass Harmonica, K 356, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2017
- Adagio for Glass Harmonica, K 356, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Dennis James, Glass Harmonica
Sweet Philomela
Friday, September 22, 2017 at 7:30 pm
Zilkha Hall, The Hobby Center For The Performing Arts, Houston, Texas
Opening night of our 2017/18 season of Artful Women features exotic musical works inspired by Philomela, mythical princess of Athens, whose transformation into a nightingale has fascinated poets and musicians for centuries. Soprano Sherezade Panthaki returns to the Zilkha Hall stage for evocative arias from Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato and Johann Adolph Hasse’s lyric cantata L’Armonica, while Dennis James makes his Ars Lyrica debut on the glass harmonica, an instrument whose ethereal sounds fascinated both Hasse and Mozart. The ensemble of strings and winds soars as well, with one of C. P. E. Bach’s vibrant symphonies for twelve obbligato instruments.
ARTISTIC PERSONNEL
Matthew Dirst, Artistic Director, conductor, harpsichord
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Dennis James, glass harmonica
VIOLIN 1: Elizabeth Blumenstock, Maria Lin, Oleg Sulyga, Hae-a Lee
VIOLIN 2: Alan Austin, Noel Martin, Nadia Lesinska, Matthew Detrick
VIOLA: Erika Lawson, Yvonne Smith
CELLO: Barrett Sills, Eric Smith
VIOLONE: Deborah Dunham
TRAVERSO: Colin St-Martin, Alaina Diehl
BAROQUE OBOE: Meg Owens, Pablo Moreno
NATURAL HORN: Paul Avril, James Wilson
BASSOON: Benjamin Kamins
©Ars Lyrica Houston 2017 | www.arslyricahouston.org
Video and Audio produced by Runaway Productions LLC
If you have a bad cough, go to a music recital. It's really the best thing.
Thumbs up! :)
Or a crying baby. I'll be damned if a baby didn't have a fuzz at every concert I've performed in.
If it's loud music, it won't do it. You have to go to one where the instrument is already reasonably quiet.
That one cough near the end was like somebody dropped an open book with wooden pages onto a tiled floor.
@@Avetho I don't know how Dennis made it through.
I'm just thinking about the fact that this is an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin and somehow it was used and respected enough for both Mozart and Beethoven to compose music for.
I think it's just arranged for it
It was all the rage for a very short time
@@huongtranthibich9723 no it is not just arranged it was written specifically for it see en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adagio_and_Rondo_for_glass_harmonica,_flute,_oboe,_viola_and_cello
(Article mentions 356 and 617, I'm not sure about the Beethoven ones though. Clearly Beethoven's 5th was arranged 😂)
Yeah Franklin was a Playa' in Europe they loved him
@@huongtranthibich9723 Nope!!! Wolfie composed this for this instrument. There were a number of compsers that composed directly for this instrument. It was cutting edge for it's time until people freaked out that the lead in the cystal plates was wrongfuly blamed for having lead content in them that made people go mad or get sick
Huong Tran Thi Bich wrong! Mozart truly WROTE FOR the instrument! Look it up
I never would have guessed this dude was such a cool guy, he did a video with a UA-camr showing his Armonica and how it worked and he came across as very charming.
Just came from that video
@@tankediatriba Me too, from Rob Scallon's Channel. I had never heard of this instrument before. It's awesome 😊 👍
@@creamwobbly I think he attempted to but the instrument is too complicated so he gave up lol 😂
"blood still works!"
I've known Dennis for decades. He's a charming man, and a great conversationalist, and of course, a great musician. Improvisational silent movie organ is his specialty.
"When I open it and it's not broken, it's like Christmas!"
Thank you Dennis.
The glassharmonica was very popular from the start. 400 works were composed for it, some unfortunately now lost, and probably about 4000 instruments were built in 70 years. The instrument, adored or hated, roused passion. Paganini said “such a celestial voice”, Thomas Jefferson claimed it was “the greatest gift offered to the musical world of this century”, Goethe, Mozart, Jean-Paul, Hasse, Theophile Gautier praised it. A dictionary of instruments mentions that the sounds ‘are of nearly celestial softness but can cause spasms”, In a Treaty on the Effects of Music on the Human Body by J.M. Roger, 1803, we can read that “its melancholy tone plunges you into dejection ( ) to a point the strongest man could not hear it for an hour without fainting”. True, some interpreters ended their lives in mental hospitals, among them one of the best, Marianne Davies.
In his Method to Teach Yourself Armonica (1788), J.C. Miller retorts- “It is true that the Armonica has strange effects on people . If you are irritated or disturbed by bad news, by friends or even by a disappointing lady, abstain from playing, it would only increase your disturbance”. The Armonica was accused of causing evils such as nervous disorder, domestic squabbles, premature deliveries, fatal disorders, animal’s convulsions. The instrument was even banned from a German town by police decision for ruining the health of people and disturbing public order (a child died during a concert). Franz Anton Mesmer, a Vienna doctor known for his experiments (Mesmerism) and for using hypnosis to treat his clients, would condition them by playing the glassharmonica for them. He was expelled from Vienna after a blind pianist, Marie Paradies, recovered sight but to the detriment of her mental health. Spread by rumor, this contributed to the death of the Armonica considered in 1829 as “the fashionable accessory of parlors and sitting-rooms”.
- from THE GLASS HARMONICA by Thomas Bloch (Translation to English by Michelle Vadon
Makes sense, while watching this video my roommate threw himself out the window.
I think I remember hearing that it had such evil associations due to the lead in the manufacturing process - if you played it enough, you absorbed enough lead through your skin to go mad, much like the stereotype of the mad hatter.
Pure tone. Beautiful interpretation. 👍
@@ColAlbSmi rip bozo
Have you heard of Shepard Tones, or Shepard Madness? It's a fascinating auditory sensation that will, absolutely, physically affect people in negative ways. I get the same sensation from listening to this.
The wonders of UA-cam being able to bring too our attention such an wonderful instrument. Never seen such an instrument before.
I first heard/learned of it listening the the "Trio" album (Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris). It is used on their cover of Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush". It is shown briefly in the video at around 2:40 ua-cam.com/video/ykMzS6ugnPI/v-deo.html
And cat videos also!
I remember seeing one of Ben Franklins' at the Corning Museum of Glass when I was barely old enough to walk.
@@VanWinger Were you a late walker?
I saw an instrument something like this for the first time in the Music Museum in Prague recently. This was invented by Benjamin Franklin??? Really? I've never heard one played before. Thank you, UA-cam!
The glass harmonica was the electric guitar of its' day, and Mozart was the guy to write music for it. This is just soooo nice.
What a stupid comparison.
@@nonenoneonenonenone “stupid” isn’t fair but Paganini and the violin come more to mind
@@nonenoneonenonenone What's cool is that with a single click, you disappear like magic!
Ben Franklin and Mozart!!! 2 geniuses make beutiful music together!!!
Insightful comment!! For an inside look and music and inventions, check out our Concert & Conversations Harmonic Invention!
Thank God for Music, and for Ben Franklin 🙏!! Thank God for Mozart, and you sir!
Very musical! I love the use of the pedal to adjust the rpms to create crescendi and diminuendi, beautiful Mozartian phrases... Most recordings I've heard of this, the performers seem content to just play the notes and rely on the novelty of the instrument, but they tend to lack nuance. It's really nice to hear someone make real music out of this piece.
I recently saw the guy show off his instrument in Rob Scallon's channel. The RPM pedal is a must, because each crystal bowl resonates at a different RPM and RPM plus pressure affects the volume.
Look up the video, you'll be delighted!
Most people can't tell the difference--please excuse me Philistine ways but I can't either.
Are we sure thethat the pedal increases the rotational speed? It seems to me to be a loudness pedal... the sound you ged from a glas remains the same, no matter how quickly you rotate the finger.. actually it's louder when you move it slowly!
@@seanmarshall7529 read my comment. look up the video i mentioned.
@@mfaizsyahmi i find the page you referred me to re l right after having written my comment.. It remained that, in need recollection of making glasses ring, asked had nothing to do with comune.. try it out..
Saw this dude on Rob Scallon's channel -- fascinating interviews both times.
There is something sweet and relaxing about the sound this very unique and challanging instrument makes.
I watched this being played in Annapolis during their First Night celebration. The vibrations from this thing actually tickle your ears. When you're next to it the sounds it makes are simply mesmerizing. I imagine it must be like angles singing.
Right angles, acute angles? Or based on your spelling, probably obtuse ones.
"non angli sed angeli sunt"
Angels*
Your casing or stand is beautiful. I have never seen one of these with a case surrounding it like that. You play it so well.
For $107k, you'd hope it would be nice lol
@@mobileasmr6448 107k? he built it himself i doubt he spent that much
@@Bobbys119 he mentioned in another video that it cost that much.
@@Bobbys119 all the glass bowls had to be blown perfectly so that they wouldnt be off in tone. Thats already really costly
@@mobileasmr6448 god damn. thats insane
I only just learned what a glass harmonica was. what a beautiful instrument. And I imagine it took much work to master that instrument.
I kinda doubt it takes longer than other Instruments to master
@@fckprc8149 it's the hardest in the world to actually master, before you comment. Each note has to be played at different pressure and speed
Invented by Benjamin Franklin.
Heard by Mozart*, who wrote a piece for it. (Adagio for Glass Harmonica)
*They lived at the same time. (One of those, "Why didn't I know this" things.)
Nice music, doesn't sound sad, but makes tears.
And you can use those tears to play it more!
@@andy6477733157 Be careful though, tears are salty (among other residue) and this thing needs distilled water. Dennis did say it can be played with blood, he learned that first-hand via a shattered bowl, but only for a short time. I think Dennis James and Rob Scallon are best friends now, you should watch the video from yesterday with Dennis teaching Rob how to play, the history and nuance of the instrument is fascinating
@@creamwobbly 😄😄, bloody tears and flying fingers.
Listening to this while you want to sleep again in the early morning is soothing🌿
What a glorious instrument!
A precedent of the mellotron and syntethizers. So unknown ... People should amaze that it was created and used by Mozart genious and others ...Bravo, master
Amazing work and great performance by Dennis James, congratulations!
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel once said what Mozart gave in his last year (1791) showed how big his soul was. This piece certainly is no exception. Intersting fact: the harmonica virtuoso whom it was written for and who premiered it was blind.
Who's here after Rob Scallon?
Not me
You know me to well Eric
Брависсимо, старинная, стеклянная гармоника это чудо!!!!
Да! Мы тоже так думаем.
Dennis James is one of, if not the, most talented players out there. Tysm.
Sweet, light,and pleasantly eerie. Thank you for posting this. And thanks to Benjamin Franklin...this is good stuff.
Fascinating to see this on a concert stage. Thanks for posting it!
Amazing! ID never heard this instrument before, and your performance was spectacular! Thank you so much!
Very nice
You approve! 🤣
Reputedly invented by Benjamin Franklin who is said to have refused to patent and profit from it, content that many people would be able to enjoy it less expensively.
Thank you, Mr Franklin.
It's the first time I've learned about glass harmonica, and the first time I've heard of it.
Very good!
Beautiful instrument I had never heard of until now. Thank you for sharing.
This music is rather peaceful. I ended up finding this on a Black Butler Reddit thread.
and what a beautiful piece
I love the comment section of this video! So many people appreciating the instrument and music. It's so positive!
Beautiful thank you
Beautiful!
That's good soothing for ears .... just loved this sound ...i will recommend all to use earphones and listen to it while sleeping for better sleep
I played in a concert once. Big thing - orchestra, full chorus, soloists, brass choir, etc. We were performing in the downtown symphony orchestra hall. Of course, we had a crying baby throughout the first half. When we started up the second half, so did the baby. The conductor stopped, picked up the stage mike and said "if I hear one more sound out of that baby, I'm gonna come up there and throw him off the balcony!" 🤣
Oh my goodness!!!
It IS amazing how few people with kids show courtesy anymore - restaurants, stores, concerts, graduations, church, they just let them wail and carry on. Not that long ago, people picked the kid up and exited the building until things were under control. :-/
I guess that conductor didn't realize he was leading a performance of "Concerto for Orchestra and Colicky Infant in C Sharp Minor"
@@pamelah6431 When our children were young, and we were in a restaurant, if one of them started getting out of hand, I would say, "If you don't quiet down, I'm going to bring you to the car". That threat worked every time, except once, when I DID pick up one of our children to bring them outside, and she quit acting out before I even got outside. How many parents let their children run their lives is a mystery to me.
So whimsical and magical, a really wonderful instrument!
A little part of paradise! Thank you so much!!! It's sooooo beautiful. You see the tears of joy in Mozart's eyes?
Just fabulous!
Could you play Van Halen's Eruption on one of these?
yes, just stick a floyd rose on it, masking tape and paint it black/red/white and it'll work.
Wow 😯 so cool! Thanks for sharing this beautiful instrument 👍
Thanks for tuning in! We look forward to sharing more wonderful music with you!
Dennis James gave a delightful and informative impromptu performance and demonstration at the reception following the concert. Too bad it was not recorded too.
Beautiful sound thank you for posting :D
just wonderful, I'm crying with emotion
Beautiful sound
I do love musical technology. Very interesting instrument.
Beautiful
What a beautiful design. Never seen one like that before, that seems to have built in pads and somehow maintains the correct level of lubrication automatically. Obviously a highly professional and expensive instrument. Highly impressed.
Wooow es la música más hermosa que he escuchado en toda mi vida.
Very nice and smooth music
I blew my coworkers' minds the other day by telling them that Mozart and Ben Franklin were alive at the same time
Lovely performance!
Wooow imaginense la cantidad de instrumentos que se pueden crear o los que nunca sabremos que existieron y la música que podían crear
So beautiful
Truly heavenly!
Fascinating.
I think it's awesome! Very spiritual like the tones of good music!
Wow totally awesome! I have read about this in a Mozart biography, but have never heard it before, or seen anyone playing the instrument. It's fantastic and beautiful. Just another incredible piece of Mozart's never-ending genius.
He died, so there was infact an ending to his genius.
@@taiyoctopus2958 🤣🤣
@@taiyoctopus2958 Blunt, but very true on the finest scale.
Yes and this was Genius combined as Franklin invented the instrument in Mozart's time.
Just so peaceful
It sounds and looks gorgeous 😍
I have heard it before but didn't know the name of the instrument.
Hell yeah! Houston has the best music scene.
Gorgeous 🙏
An amazing instrument.
I'm just bowled over by this.
Boooo
Never saw this instrument bevor. Sounds nice. Like an ice palace😄
İf you listen this music for hours, you will feel hipnotized
Those quick water finger dips !
Fascinating instrument
This music would be perfect for helping me fall asleep.
Wonderful
That's the most beautiful glass harmonica I've ever seen
Der Klang der Glasharmonika ist wunderbar
Amazing
For the scene of madness, in the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti envisaged the use of the glass harmonica. The ghostly timbre is in tune with the funereal tragedy of history. The flute is currently used in theaters due to the difficulty of finding skilled glass harmonica players.
Precious! ❤
Wow, that is just beautiful
It is such a unique instrument!
@@ArsLyricaHouston i'd like to know what the pedal is for..
@@nicodanger13 I think the pedal is used to control the RPM of the spindle that the glass rotates on. This, in turn (heh, get it?), helps to control the volume of the instrument.
@@o0hbomb0o You are probably right :-) Thanks
It’s not really is it ?
Agent; "Are you ready to go out there and perform?"
Dennis; "I'm nervous, my hands are sweaty"
Agent; "Perfect!"
Incredible
Very interesting instrument!
This is just perfection! The mind of Mozart was literally a gift to the earth form The Creator himself!
Yes, his dad was the one who trained Mozart.
@@acr08807 Checkmate, Christians
Has to be, hands down, one of the most _eerie_ sounding instruments of human existence. There's just something about the distorted chimes that the glass harmonica creates that just makes my hair stand on ends. I remember several nightmares I had once having distorted music in it that sounded just like this. lol
I love so much this music
Dennis and Rob brought me here.
I truly wish there were more pieces of music written specifically for this instrument.
I do wish people would not keep playing the glass harmonica when I'm trying to listen to a good cough.
It's so stressful going to concerts with that air conditioning! Even as artists, we sometimes have to stifle a cough mid-concerto. We love our audiences, and are glad to have them: with or without obligatory Ricolas. :)
🤣
I don't know why people saying after listening this music instrument people get die 🤔 it's voice is so beautiful and give a peaceful environment❤❤😊
Very cool. 👍 It looks like a sowing machine, and sounds very unique.
This is the best instrument I've ever hearf
Very cool indeed.
Dennis is an amazing musician. I remember him from CHHSW.
初めて見る楽器です。
音が不安定なのも斬新。
I highly recommend the film "Mr. Holmes" (2015) with Ian McKellen (Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings). The film features the glass harmonica, and the film itself is quietly magical.
wow such a wonder full instrument
Beautiful. Side note though: It's actually a Glass Armonica.
It's derived from the same Greek word; it's both
Wow!
This music will expand your light body.
It worked, now I'm 380lbs.
Reminds me of old-style carousel tunes
how did i miss this i live in the same city