Adagio for the Glass Harmonica - W.A. Mozart - Trinity Organist

The organ voluntaries are unique works by Haydn and his Viennese friend, Mozart. The “Adagio for the Glass Harmonica” was originally written in 1791. This instrument, invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761, used a series of rotating glasses, graduated in size and played by the fingers, to produce musical tones. The “Adagio” was arranged for organ by English-born American concert organist E. Power Biggs in 1951.

During Communion and at the Postlude I will play several of Haydn’s pieces for a mechanical organ clock, a popular 18th century instrument that combined a mechanical clock with a small mechanical organ of flute pipes.These pieces were written in 1792 for a famous clock in Vienna, and E. Power Biggs arranged these examples for organ.

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