The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1911-07-08
MUSICAL GLASSES
Mozart Composed For Them and
Gluck Played Upon Them.
INVENTED BY AN FRESHMAN.

Rlebasd rocknch, an Irishman who
lived ID the eighteenth century. was
q true genius. II dreamer and an In
ven,or lie proposed metal ships. pre-.
dicfcd dying machines. advocated bog
drainage and vine planting IN the En-
rraid Isle. invented an Instrument for
transfusing Llood and was for some
yeats Il brewer In Dublin.
II was In the DOMAIN OF art that he
achieved his ope real triumph. the one
by which he Is known in contemporary
musical history. by which he became
knc wa TO general European civilization
dur.ng his lifetime aud by which his
nap.e yill long survive. He Invented
the nuricsl glasses, These can be
heard today IN vaudeville houses all
/ oyw the world and will probably sur
viva rs long as the musical art itself.
Most OF our readers have heard them.
They are simply set Of tumbler or
goblet like glasses selected for tonal
quality to carry out musical scale.
Pockrich seems to have been the first
man t. be struck by the musical tone
In glass. and so lie thought the thing
out and produced scale on which he
could play any melody.
He exhibited his discovery in Dublin
and finally took 1t to England about
the year 1850. where 1t became the sen
sation Of the hour Nothing was talk
ed Of but the marvellous. simple. new
| musical instrument. Ii seemed to the
ears of the faded Londoners that the
| heavenly art in all Its elemental beauty
had returned to earth Far from sheer
Ing at so very simple an idea for max
ing melody, the cognoscenti of London
went into raptures over the musical
glasses. Gluck, the great composer.
who was in London, did not disdain
to play his immortal airs upon them.
The opera Hourishes more than in
any recent year." wrote Horace Wal
pole to friend 1.-The composer Is
Gluck. a German. He is to have a
benefit. at which he is to play set
OF drinking glasses which he modu-
lates with water. think l have heard
you speak Of some such thing"
Not only did Gluck perform upon
Pockrich's new instrument, but Bee
thoven. Mozart and other great mu-
sicians In later years actually COM
posed music for it. Goldsmith refers
to it in THE Vicar Of Wakefield" Not
long after the inventor visited London.
and Benjamin Franklin speaks OF him
In letter to friend thus:
you have doubtless heard the sweet
tone that Is drawn from a drinking
glass by passing a wet finger round its
brim. One Mr.. Pockrich. a gentleman
from Ireland. was the first who thought
Of playing tunes formed of such tones.
He collected a number of glasses OF
different sizes, fixed them near each
other on table and tuned them by
putting into them water, more or less
as each note required. The tones were
brought out by passing his fingers
round the brim."
There is story Of Pockrich, who
was making occasional tours to Eng
land after the invention of the musical
glasses. that illustrates the surprising
effect OF his own performance on them
II is told by his friend Brockhill New
burgh. a gentleman Of wealth ana po-
sition. who lived In Dublin at the time:
"Mr. Pockrich In his brewery near
Islandbridge. happening to be one day
seized by bailitfs. thus addressed them:
Gentlemen. I am your prisoner. but
before I do myself the honor to attend
you give me leave as an humble per-
former in musiek to entertain you with
tune
Sir exclaimed one of the bailifrs.
we came here to execute our warrant.
not TO hear tunes."'
Gentlemen says the captain, 4
submit to your authority. but In the
interim while you are only taking a
, irnm-hcre. Jack calling to his serv
anti. bring a bottle OF the Rosa Soils ]
ately distllled-I say. gentlemen be.
} fore you take dram I shall dispatch
my tune.
I'm the meanwhile he nourishes a
prelude on the glasses and afterward
displays his skill through all the pleas.
ing turns and variations of The Black
Joke. The monsters, charmed with
he magic OF his sounds. for some time
stand and gaze. At length, recovering
from their trance. they thus accost the
captain.
Sir. upon your parole Of honor to
e keep the secret we give you your lib
, erty IT'S well playing upon glasses
Is not more common: II IL were be-
lieve our trade would find little en-
;. ployment'"
Another musical instrument that
Pockrich developed as no man had
ever dreamed OF before was the drum.
!. TIE had dreamed of harmony even In
the drum. lie planned an orchestra Of
: drums only. There were TO be twenty
Of them, varying IN size and tone from
he smallest trebes to the basses, TO
be played by one person stanLing with