77 lines
5.4 KiB
TeX
77 lines
5.4 KiB
TeX
\subsection{Francis Hopkinson Smith}
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\break
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% ??? RIGHTS http://www.chrysler.org/wom/wom1200.asp
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\begin{wrapfigure}{R}{50mm}
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\centering
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\includegraphics[width=50mm]{GrandHarmonicon.jpg}
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\centering
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\caption[J.Smith Grand Harmonicon]{J. Smith's \textit{Grand Harmonicon}}
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\label{JSmithGrandHarmonicon}
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\end{wrapfigure}
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In the 1820's, Francis Hopkinson Smith (1797\EmDash{}1872) gave concerts in America on a set of musical glasses which he called the `Grand Harmonicon', of his own design and construction. (Interestingly, Charles Dickens calls E.G. Robertson's \glassarmonica{} a 'harmonicon'.\footnote{\BrDickensQITT{}, 557})
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Smith patented and manufactured his Grand Harmonicon, and published method books for it. He was also the grandson of the well-known American composer of the Revolutionary War period, Francis Hopkinson, whom we shall meet later in his attempts to add a keyboard to Franklin's invention.(See \pageref{Keyboard}).
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Smith was born in Virginia, and after marrying in 1820, the couple lived most of their married life in Baltimore, Maryland. They had seven children\EmDash{}three daughters and four sons.
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% ??? RIGHTS http://www.chrysler.org/wom/wom1200.asp
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\begin{wrapfigure}{L}{50mm}
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\includegraphics[width=50mm, bb=0 0 50mm 34mm]{GrandHarmoniconDetail.jpg}
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\caption[J.Smith Grand Harmonicon]{Detail of the \textit{Grand Harmonicon}}
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\label{JSmithGrandHarmoniconDetail}
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\end{wrapfigure}
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During the 1820's Smith gave concerts and exhibitions of the Grand Harmonicon in the Virginia and Baltimore area. He claimed it was his own invention, that ``only needs to be more generally known to become a fashionable appendage to the parlor.''\footnote{Stoutamire (1972), p. 157}
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The instrument was intended primarily for use in the home by amateur musicians rather than in the concert hall. Smith claimed that the instrument was easy to play, stating that \\a few week's practice will make a pleasing performer.'' Chords consisted of only two notes\EmDash{}with one note being played by each hand.
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Smith not only played the musical glasses, he manufactured them, and was granted a patent in 1825. Alas we can know nothing more about the patent because of the fire in the U.S Archives in 1836 that destroyed all existing patent records.
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In 1824 the Grand Harmonicon could be purchased from Smith at Fitzwhylsonn's store in Richmond, Virginia for fifty dollars. William Fitzwhylsonn was successively a school teacher, book and music store proprietor, and the mayor of Richmond.
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% ??? RIGHTS http://www.chrysler.org/wom/wom1200.asp
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\begin{wrapfigure}{R}{31mm}
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\includegraphics[width=31mm, bb=0 0 31mm 84mm]{GrandHarmoniconAd.jpg}
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\caption[J.Smith Grand Harmonicon]{Ad for the \textit{Grand Harmonicon}}
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\label{JSmithGrandHarmoniconAd}
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\end{wrapfigure}
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Business was good. By 1826 all orders for replacement glasses were to be sent to him ``post paid'' at Eastville, Virginia,
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\footnote{Smith, F.H., \Title{Instructions for the Grand Harmonicon} (1826), Baltimore, p.4} and in 1829 all purchase orders were to be addressed to Baltimore, where Smith built his factory
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\footnote{Smith, F.H., \Title{Instructions for the Grand Harmonicon} (1829), Baltimore, p.3} and had a warehouse along with his home.
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Alas, interest in the Grand Harmonicon began to fade, and by 1833 he had become a bank teller and had moved.
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\footnote{\Title{Matchett's Baltimore City Directory} (1833) Baltimore, v.20, quoted in Ervine (1975), p.12}
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Two years later in 1835 Smith was hired as an ``agent for the Franklin Fire Insurance Co. of Philadelphia''
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\footnote{\Title{Matchett's Baltimore City Directory} (1835\EnDash{}6) Baltimore, v.21, quoted in Ervine (1975), p.12},
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a position he held until 1853. He then became a brick maker. He is listed for the last time in 1858 as ``salesman and steam brick press.''
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\footnote{\Title{Wood's Baltimore Directory} (1858-9) Baltimore, v.33, quoted in Ervine (1975), p.12}
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He died in 1872 at the age of seventy-five.
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The glasses in Smith's Grand Harmonicon were pretuned\EmDash{}no water tuning necessary. They were also essentially wine-glasses (blown specifically for the instrument) except that the glasses had no feet\EmDash{}the stems were fit into the sounding board. A case for the sounding board and glasses was available for an extra charge.
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Smith's earliest harmonicons, dating around 1826\EnDash{}1828, had square cases, and twenty-five goblets arranged in the following manner:
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%\begin{figure}
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%\includegraphics[width=2in]{FSmith1}
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%\caption{Diagram of Glasses, Smith's \textit{Instructions} (1826)}
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%\end{figure}
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\input{FSmith1.tpx}
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Observe that all the diatonic (``white'') notes are in the 4 x 4 lower-left square, and the accidentals (the ``black keys'') are across the top and down the right. The numbers in the lower right hand corners show the glasses in order of increasing pitch. So '1' is the lowest pitch glass, '25' is the highest.
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Later he changed from his 5 x 5 arrangement to 4 x 6:
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\input{FSmith2.tpx}
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This would have the advantage of making the higher glasses easier to reach. The 25th glass\EmDash{}the high B$\flat$\EmDash{}was included and the player would replace the B$\natural$ glass depending on the key of the piece. Smith advised that the extra glass ``be kept in a closet or other safe place.''\footnote{Smith, \Title{Preceptor} (1831), p.9}
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We have no record of the number of instrument he manufactured, but according to Ervine\footnote{Ervine (1975), pg. 70} at least 20 have survived to the present day.
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