A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Franklin, Benjamin

FRANKLIN, Benjamin, born 1706 at Boston, U. S., died at Philadelphia 1790, claims mention here for his connection with the Harmonica, or musical glasses, which he invented or so far improved as to make the instrument practically available. [Harmonica.] The invention is described by him in a letter to Beccaria dated London, July 13, 1762, and printed in Sparks's edition of his works (vi. 245). That Franklin had considerable musical faculty is evident from his letters on Scotch music and on the defects of modern music (vi. 263, 269), which are also full of his happy mother-wit.

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