Lucia di Lammermoor

[sschimel]

I'm notating choral rehearsal tracks for the opera, including full orchestra rather than piano. And the mad scene calls for a glass harmonica. Is there such an instrument in FInale? I'm using NotePerformer and I searched through every instrument group.

[BuonTempi]

Noteperformer does have a 'bowed Xylophone', which it uses for the Glass Harmonica instrument (under Pitched Percussion).

GPO5 has 2 Glass Armonica instruments in the Keyboards section. The 2nd one sounds like what is used for the mad scene. Better than NP, in my opinion.

[sschimel]

I've checked Garriton Personal Orchestra, Farriton Instruments for Finale, and NotePerformer and no glass harmonica in any of them

[motet]

Nowadays the glass harmonica part is usually played on flute, unless you're writing for the Metropolitan Opera or similar.

[sschimel]

True, but not really the point

[motet]

I'd be surprised if anyone has produced a sound library for glass harmonica, since very few instruments exist, but I suppose it's possible.

My Ricordi score is for flute; did you get a hold of a glass harmonica part? It's likely different from the flute part.

[sschimel]

I checked on IMSLP and they have all the parts except the glass harmonica. So I guess I'll settle for flute. Bummer.

[sschimel]

By the way, Beverly Sills' complete recording with Carlo Bergonzi conducted by Thomas Schippers has the glass harmonica. It's an amazing sound. Here's the link for the mad scene where it features prominently. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sCf_Z ... ture=share

[BuonTempi]

I've checked Garriton Personal Orchestra, Farriton Instruments for Finale, and NotePerformer and no glass harmonica in any of them

Just choosing the Glass Harmonica instrument in Finale's Setup Wizard (under Pitched Percussion) should load the relevant sample from either NotePerformer or GPO5 (or GIFF, which also has one), whichever is your top Priority sound.

Here's the Glass Armonicas in GPO5.

It's listed in the Instrument Overview in GPO5's Help pages.

If you have Noteperformer, then choosing the Glass Harmonica instrument in Finale's Setup Wizard gives you the Bowed Xylophone sound, which does sound like a Glass Harmonica, though not as good as the Garritan ones, IMO.

Here's an mp3 of the GPO5 version:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hez9ar3fysitm ... a.mp3?dl=0

My Ricordi score is for flute; did you get a hold of a glass harmonica part? It's likely different from the flute part.

I checked on IMSLP and they have all the parts except the glass harmonica. So I guess I'll settle for flute. Bummer.

According to this article: https://www.metopera.org/discover/educa ... y-in-love/

"Unfortunately, the musician scheduled to play the glass harmonica at Lucia di Lammermoor’s 1835 premiere quit a few days before the first performance, and Donizetti had to call in a flutist to play the lines. Today, opera companies can choose whether they want to use the flute or the glass harmonica to bring Lucia’s mad scene to life."

[sschimel]

Thank you, BuonTempi, that's awesome.

[motet]

Looks like I was wrong on both counts!

The Beverly Sills excerpt is great, but is not the whole of piece number 14. You might want to locate a complete recording that uses a glass harmonica and see exactly where it plays.

[sschimel]

I've heard that whole recording and as I recall, the GH is only used in the mad scene after Lucia kills her new husband on their wedding night (due to a forced marriage), goes completely nutso cuckoo, sings the mad scene and dies. Apparently, too many interpolated high notes can kill sopranos.