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Scan 342
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1916
27 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 298. See the scan on archive.org.
1visited Vienna in 1791, and interested Mozart so much that he wrote an Adagio and Rondo in C for harmonica, flute, oboe, viola, and violoncello, which she played at her concert on June 19 (Köchel, No. 617). Sketches of his for another Quintet in the same key are also in existence. Kirchgessner was in London in 1794, and a new harmonica is said to have been built for her by Fröschel, a German mechanician. In England the instrument appears to have been little if at all used during the 19th century. In Saxony and Thuringia, however, it was widely popular; at Dresden, Naumann played it, and wrote six sonatas for it. At Darmstadt a harmonica formed a part of the Court orchestra; the Princess Louise, afterwards Grand Duchess, was a proficient upon it, and C. F. Pohl, sen., the Princess's master, was engaged exclusively for the instrument as late as 1818.
3Attempts have been made to improve or modify the harmonica by substituting a violin bow for the hand, or by reducing the peculiarly penetrating and exciting tone which is said to be so prejudicial to the nerves of players—but without success. An account of these and of much more than can be included in this short statement will be found in C. F. Pohl's Zur Geschichte der Glasharmonica (Vienna, 1862). One Method only exists for this instrument, that of J. C. Müller, Leipzig, 1788. A specimen of the harmonica, built by Emanuel Pohl of Kreibitz, Bohemia, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington.
5The following little piece for the Harmonica was composed by Beethoven for the 'Leonora Prohaska' of his friend Duncker in 1814 or 1815. The autograph is preserved in the Library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde at Vienna, and appeared in print for the first time in the original edition of this Dictionary.1
7Feierlich doch nicht schleppend.
9(aushalten)
10Doch wachsen an meinem Leichenstein
11(aushalten)
12die Lilie und Rose auf's neue.
14Du dem sie gewunden
15Es blühen drin zwei Blumen für Liebe und Treue
16Jetzt kann ich nur Todtenblumen dir weihn
181 This 'melodram,' as it is called, after its first appearance in this Dictionary, appeared, with other numbers written for the same play, in the supplementary volume of Beethoven's works (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1888).
20The name Harmonica is also used for a toy-instrument of plates of glass hung on two tapes and struck with hammers. one of two readings
21The name Harmonica is also used for a toy-instrument of plates of glass hung on two tapes and struck with hammers. G. one of two readings
23HARMONICHORD. A keyed instrument invented in 1810 by Friedrich Kaufmann, the celebrated musical instrument maker of Dresden. In its form it resembled a small square piano; but the sound was obtained not by striking the wires with hammers, but by the friction against them of a revolving cylinder (as in the ordinary hurdy-gurdy), covered with leather, and rosined. This cylinder, which in the effect it produced somewhat resembled the bow of a violin, was set in motion by a pedal worked by the foot of the player. All gradations of tone, as well as the power of swelling or diminishing the sound upon a sustained note, were produced by the pressure of the finger. For this instrument Weber composed in the year 1811 a very interesting adagio and rondo, with orchestral accompaniment, published by Peters, of Leipzig. Weber wrote concerning this composition—'It was an infernal piece of work to write for an instrument whose tone is so peculiar and strange that one has to call to one's aid the liveliest imagination to bring it suitably forward in combination with other instruments. It is a cousin of the harmonica, and has this peculiarity, that with every sustained note its octave is prominently heard.' On the printed title-page it is said to be 'for Harmonichord or Harmonium.' This, however, is an addition of the publisher; as not only are the two instruments totally distinct, but the physharmonica, the predecessor of the harmonium, was not invented till about fifteen years later. one of two readings
24HARMONICHORD. A keyed instrument invented in 1810 by Friedrich Kaufmann, the celebrated musical instrument maker of Dresden. In its form it resembled a small square piano; but the sound was obtained not by striking the wires with hammers, but by the friction against them of a revolving cylinder (as in the ordinary hurdy-gurdy), covered with leather, and rosined. This cylinder, which in the effect it produced somewhat resembled the bow of a violin, was set in motion by a pedal worked by the foot of the player. All gradations of tone, as well as the power of swelling or diminishing the sound upon a sustained note, were produced by the pressure of the finger. For this instrument Weber composed in the year 1811 a very interesting adagio and rondo, with orchestral accompaniment, published by Peters, of Leipzig. Weber wrote concerning this composition—'It was an infernal piece of work to write for an instrument whose tone is so peculiar and strange that one has to call to one's aid the liveliest imagination to bring it suitably forward in combination with other instruments. It is a cousin of the harmonica, and has this peculiarity, that with every sustained note its octave is prominently heard.' On the printed title-page it is said to be 'for Harmonichord or Harmonium.' This, however, is an addition of the publisher; as not only are the two instruments totally distinct, but the physharmonica, the predecessor of the harmonium, was not invented till about fifteen years later. E. P. one of two readings
26HARMONICON, THE, a monthly musical periodical edited by W. Ayrton, begun January 1823, and continued until September 1833. It contained ably written memoirs of eminent musicians, some of the earlier being accompanied by engraved portraits, essays, reviews of new music, correspondence, criticisms of musical performances of all kinds, foreign musical news, information on all subjects interesting to musicians, and original and selected vocal and instrumental music. It was of quarto size, in twenty-two vols. (counting the musical supple-
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