Cecilia Gniewek Brauer performs on the Armonica

Sunday January 15, 3:00 PM - Field Concert Hall, 1726 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA

Curtis Institute - www.curtis.edu - info@curtis.edu

Artist web site:  http://www.gigmasters.com/armonica/index.asp

PCM: How did you come to the Armonica?

Cecilia: I had never heard of the Armonica and even of the name but in January of 1990, I was a member of a  Chamber group from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra that performed the Mozart Quintet for Oboe, Flute, Viola, Cello and Piano or Armonica. In place of the Armonica, we substituted the Celeste which is the instrument I play in the Orchestra, A short history of the Armonica was given during the program. Mozart actually  wrote two compositions which included the Armonica in late 1791, the year of his death. Besides the Quintet, he wrote a Solo Adagio which I do perform.
In the summer of 1990 when I was in the Boston area, I saw a program on television called "Our Town" on CBS which had a segment about the Armonica. I immediately contacted the station and they put me in touch with Gerhard Finkenbeiner of Waltham, Massachusetts whose glass company make the Armonica. After several visits to the company to try out the instrument I decided to purchase one. The instrument is very temperamental and tricky to play but the sound is so ethereal, sweet and hypnotic that one forgets its "short-comings" and just enjoys the pleasure of the sound.

PCM: How much does an Armonica cost?

Cecilia: Well, there are different prices. The larger the instrument, the larger the bowls, the more expensive as they are pure quartz crystal and hand blown. I have thirty seven bowls from C to C. Franklin also had 37 but they were from G to G. It is a personal choice of how many bowls one wants and the range of the notes. Franklin had a unique way of "coloring" his bowls. He painted the seven white keys the colors of the rainbow, and the five black keys were painted white.

PCM: Can you play chords?

Cecilia: Yes, in 1761 Franklin specifically invented the Armonica so that one could play chords. In 1757 when he was in England as a Colonial agent, he heard a concert on the wine glasses and he thought that it was the sweetest sound he had ever heard but he wanted to hear more harmonies with the melody. Hence the Armonica which he named in honor of a word taken from the musical Italian language. The Armonica has a very long "over ring" so it is best suited to slower, chordal music as fast music tends to sound very "blurred" like holding down the damper pedal on the piano. Franklin would have never played any of the complicated music written for the  Armonica. He preferred Scottish music as he felt their beauty lay in their simplicity and that they would live forever if they were never "stifled with affected ornamentation".

PCM: Well. you will be in Philadelphia on January 15th for two shows.

Cecilia: Yes, I am presenting a program at 3pm in the afternoon at  the Curtis Institute of Music called a "Ben Franklin Tribute".   It is a celebration of his 300th birthday.  In 1996 I discovered songs about Franklin by Ross Lee Finney and Norman Luboff which will be presented by the vocal students of Curtis.  I discovered these songs when I was doing research at the Lincoln Center Library about the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor". The composer, Donizetti. had originally written the "mad scene" in the opera for Armonica but substituted the flute at the last moment. However, I premiered the Armonica 1992 and having been playing it along with the flute since then.
The rest of the program at Curtis will be a greeting to Franklin with a  "Happy Birthday Quartet" in the style of Mozart who, by the way, will be celebrating his 250 birthday. I will finish the program at Curtis with a short lecture/demonstration on the Armonica. Later, in the evening at 8pm, I will presenting my program for the Amherst Early Music Festival at St. Peter's Church at 3rd and Vine St.