Festival organizers hoped humming tones and expert performances by aficionados will spur a glass-harmonica revival. I spent the next hour just playing. In the late 1700s, the glass harmonica was considered the fashionable accessory of parlors and sitting-rooms. It was so popular that a year later, just before his death, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed two glass-harmonica pieces for the blind performer Marianne Kirchgessner. Eventually, banned around the world, it became extinct.
Scientists now blame lead poisoning.
In the 18th Century, glass contained a significant amount of lead - lead that could have been absorbed through musicians' fingers. Today, the instrument is made with quartz, the purest of glass, a crystal that New Agers believe possesses healing energy. And it has transformed the harmonica's reputation. Its ethereal, spooky sounds now float through film scores and classical compositions. Linda Ronstadt is producing a record about the history of glass music.