science meets music symposium

The first Science Meets Music symposium took place April 10th, 2018, and was the first in a series that link the practice of musical instrument curatorship to technical analyses of historical instruments.

Summary

Technical studies of historical musical instruments remain relatively uncommon in the field of cultural heritage. This program features recent in-depth studies that serve as models of collaborations among curators, conservators and cultural heritage scientists in the field of musical studies. As part of a National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Preservation and Access Grant-funded, collaborative research project involving the Library of Congress, the Catholic University of America, and George Washington University, "Science meets Music: Technical Studies of Musical Instruments" is the first of an annual series. These lectures highlight the NEH-supported study of glass flutes by Claude Laurent in the Library of Congress Dayton C. Miller Collection, along with invited talks that represent groundbreaking, collaborative research with broad appeal to cultural heritage curators, conservators, scientists and musicians.

PROGRAM (and recording)

Introduction -- Fenella France (Library of Congress)

Collaborative Technical Study of Claude Laurent’s Glass Flutes* -- Carol Lynn Ward Bamford (Library of Congress), Lynn Brostoff (Library of Congress), Isabelle Muller (Catholic University of America), Stephanie Zaleski (formerly George Washington University)

The Auloi of Meroë: Preserving and Interpreting an Ancient Musical Treasure** -- Jayme Kurland (formerly Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Recent Research on Stradivari's Instruments at the 'Musée de la musique' in Paris -- Jean-Philippe Echard (Musée de la musique, Paris, France)

* Co-authors: Andrew Buechele, Nikolaus Deems, Elizabeth Montagnino (Catholic University of America), Murray Loew (George Washington University)
** Co-authors: Susanne Gänsicke, Stefan Hagel, Denise Doxey (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Question and Answer

Panel Discussion, moderated by Simon Waters (Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Ireland)

Video of the symposium is available on the Library of Congress’ Youtube page.

music meets Science

Member institutions of Glass at Risk recently welcomed Richard Graef to Washington, DC for a performance and panel discussion on February 15th, 2020 entitled, “Perfection: The Laurent Crystal Flute, 1807-1848,” at the Library of Congress’ Coolidge Auditorium. Graef owns a Laurent flute that was manufactured in Paris in 1819. Adding to his collection of flutes, Graef purchased the Laurent flute in 1985 from a London collector, who had stored it with other flutes over a radiator. When Graef visited the collector at that time, the former owner noticed that all the other flutes had warped or cracked except for the Laurent flute. Indeed, Claude Laurent would have been quite pleased about that.

Graef has been performing on his Laurent flute with various chamber orchestras, including a performance at Northwestern University several years ago. Recent performances have been with his children, Julian (viola and violin) and Anita (cello). Graef says that the Laurent flute has consistently been a welcome surprise to audiences, and he spoke at length about his process of learning how to play this extraordinary flute. He related how he found he needed to approach its playing from the perspective of the traverso, a Baroque flute that preceded the Laurent flute not only in terms of material, but with unique keying. In fact, Laurent made a large contribution to the evolution of the flute in his keying inventions, including an innovative post and key system that Graef says is remarkable. The screws holding the system together are tapered in a manner that increases key dampening resistance as the screw is tightened. Graef thinks that this was intentional effort to increase player customization.

Graef further remarked that he is still making discoveries about the best way to play the flute, including finding the “sweet spots” of air direction and speed when blowing into the embouchure. Graef feels that the glass flute sound is “not as dark as a traverso, nor has the booming character of metal, but has its own character that is completely appropriate” for the music of the time. The resonance to the glass puts “a little buzz” to the sound that is not heard with wooden traverso flutes. He says the pitch of the Laurent flute responds best slightly above A440 or A442, although that may be due to personal technique. Flutes he compares it to range in pitch from 442 (metal) and 438 (wooden traverso). Graef says the it takes time for people to acclimate and adjust to the timbre of the flute, but it has a unique, flexible, sweet sound that some have told Graef reminds them of the French language.

Graef also talked about the interesting musical and technological context of Laurent’s flutemaking at the beginning of the 19th century. In the century leading up to Laurent’s time, the single-key wooden traverso, which was essentially unchanged from previous times, was well suited to the music of the period. However, starting with the Bach family and Mozart, demand on the flute’s flexibility and volume became more important to accommodate the new types of compositions. The wooden traverso of 18th century was no longer sufficient. It was in this period of experimentation that  Laurent patented the flute en cristal:  a major technological coup at the time.

During Graef’s visit, he was able to make a new recording on his Laurent flute, as well as some of the DCM Laurent flutes in better condition. He also found time some limited technical analysis of his flute, conducted at LC and GWU by Lynn Brostoff, Carol Lynn Ward Bamford and Nick Kivi. This included examination in a dark box outfitted with an ultraviolet light dual UVA (365 nm) and UVC (254 nm) light source, which showed that all joints fluoresce light green in UVA light, and pinkish in UVC light. This indicates that the flute is made of Laurent’s typical potash glass composition. Examination under a stereomicroscope was important in confirming suspected loss of clarity in the head joint, compared to other joints. Under magnification, intermediate levels of fine microcracking were seen, as well as some moisture that was trapped on the inside of the head joint. Other joints showed minor fine cracking on the exterior only, limited to the depressions of the fluted areas. Due to the fact that the head joint is exposed to more detrimental conditions in the form of the player’s breath and spittle, this is typical in the Laurent flutes.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was also briefly used to non-invasively examine the head joint. This application of a standard medical imaging technique allowed the group to establish that a hydration layer is present in this part of the flute. Supplemental examination of the same joint by fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) confirmed the presence of moisture in the glass.  

Graef’s public performance, with the accompanying panel discussion, at “Perfection: The Laurent Crystal Flute, 1807-1848”, will be uploaded soon to the Library of Congress YouTube channel.

publications

Brostoff, L, Ward-Bamford, C.L., Zaleski, S., Villafana, T., Buechele, A.C., Muller, I.S., France, F., Loew, M. 2022. Glass at Risk: a New Approach for the Study of 19th Century Vessel Glass. Journal of Cultural Heritage 54: 155-166.

This paper describes a novel multi-modal approach to the technical study of vessel glass based on a group of rare musical instruments: glass flutes and piccolos made by Claude Laurent and his workshop in Paris in the first half of the 19th century. Current condition issues that plague many of these instruments are characterized by a suite of complementary, non-invasive techniques, including optical microscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, visible-near infrared-shortwave infrared fiber optic spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, and UV fluorescence spectroscopy. Microsamples of surface particles on the glass surfaces are also analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. This combined methodology contributes to improved capabilities for analysis of historical vessel glass deterioration, as well as to the newly uncovered story of these remarkable objects.

Brostoff, L., S. Zaleski, C.L. Ward-Bamford, Montagnino, I. Muller, A. Buechele, M. Loew, and F. France. 2020. 19th-Century Glass Manufacturing and its Effect on Photographic Glass Stability. Journal of the Institute of Conservation 43 (2): 125-141.

The industrial revolution led to mass-marketing of many materials, a good number of which found their way into 19th century cultural heritage. One important such material is glass as its manufacture underwent a succession of innovations that influenced the burgeoning field of photography. Results of historical research and initial condition surveys of 19th century photographic objects that incorporate glass illustrate how changes in the glass industry contributed to the diversity of glass utilized by 19th century photographers either as cover glass in encasements or substrates. Examination of historical 19th century photographic materials, primarily by microscopy and X-ray fluorescence (XRF), provides new evidence about instability in glass lurking in historical collections of photography. This has implications for prioritization of conservation practices.

Brostoff, L., C.L. Ward-Bamford, S. Zaleski, E. Montagnino, A. Buechele, I. Muller, T. Diba, J. Zara, M. Loew, and F. France. 2020. Characterization of the Surface Alteration Layer in 19th-Century Potassium Silicate Glass. Recent Advances in Glass and Ceramics Conservation 2019: interim meeting of the ICOM-CC glass and ceramics working group and ICON ceramics and glass group conference, 5-7 September 2019, London, United Kingdom, ed. J. Mandrus and V. Schussler  (ICOM, London, UK): 55-66.

Models of alkali glass deterioration are generally based on the concept that glass formulated with network modifiers such as potassium and sodium ions, and lacking in sufficient stabilizers, undergoes alkali leaching upon exposure to moisture. This process entails formation of a hydrated “gel” layer at the glass surface, the exact nature of which is difficult to characterize in historical glass objects. The chemical and physical properties of the altered surface layer are critical to treatment decisions. The purpose of this paper is to apply and compare several tools for the characterization of the alteration layer in individual potassium silicate glass objects from the 19th century in order to improve our current ability to assess and understand their condition.

Zaleski, S., E. Montagnino, L. Brostoff, I. Muller, A. Buechele, C.L. Ward Bamford, F. France, M. Loew. 2020. Application of Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy for the Detection of Historical Glass Deterioration. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 103: 158-166.

Historical alkali silicate glass is prone to deterioration over time due to the uptake of atmospheric water and subsequent hydrolysis of the silicate matrix. Recent studies of historical glass have provided insight into the mechanism of alteration; however, few techniques can assess early onset glass alteration noninvasively. Herein, we present fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) as an invaluable tool to analyze historical glass alteration. We study a series of artificially aged model potash glasses and assess the nature of the alkali‐depleted alteration layer by microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy, and FORS. We find that the model glass FORS spectra demonstrate peaks associated with hydroxide, liquid‐like water, and bound water. FORS was able to detect an alteration layer as thin as 0.66 µm. The model glass data were then used to generate a hydration thickness prediction curve in order to predict the alteration layer thickness of twenty‐one 19th‐century glass flutes of similar composition. In the one case that an actual flute sample was available, the predicted value was in good agreement with previous SEM measurement. The results indicate the ability of FORS to noninvasively assess glass deterioration and to understand the nature of absorbed water in historical glass objects.

Brostoff, L., C.L. Ward Bamford, T. Diba, A. Buechele, M. Loew, J. Zara. 2019. Optical Coherence Spectroscopy of 19th Century Glass: Facts and Phantoms. In Proc. SPIE 11058, Optics for Arts, Architecture, and Archaeology VII, 110580W (12 July 2019), ed. H. Liang, R. Groves, P. Targowski, doi: 10.1117/12.2526170. https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-SPIE/11058.toc#ApplicationstoCulturalHeritage.

This paper investigates optical coherence tomography (OCT) as an advanced, non-invasive method for 2D and 3D imaging of the surface and subsurface morphology of glass cultural heritage. The OCT system used is a commercial ThorLabs Ganymede II spectral domain-Fourier domain system with a 930 nm center wavelength, axial resolution of 4-6 μm, and lateral resolution of 8 μm. Results from model alkali silicate glass artificially aged at 90°C and 90% RH allow distinction of real features from artifacts produced by the highly reflective glass, and serve as a basis for interpretation of deterioration phenomena. Analytical results from historical glass artifacts are focused on a group of musical glass flutes created in Paris by Claude Laurent between 1807 and 1848. OCT images are compared to results of destructive analysis of the same samples and objects by scanning electron microscopy with backscattered electron imaging of cross-sections, as well as non-invasive light microscopy and NIR fiber optic reflectance spectrometry, the latter of which yields complementary molecular information in terms of water vibrations in hydrated glass.

Ward-Bamford, C. L., L. Brostoff, D. Klein, N. Kivi, R. Perez, I.S. Muller, A.C. Buechele, F. France, M. Loew. 2019. A New, Simplified Approach for Assessing Glass Musical Instruments. CIMCIM Bulletin: 6-12.

Buechele, A., L. Brostoff, S. Zaleski, N. Deems, E. Montagnino, I. Muller, I. Pegg, C. L. Ward-Bamford, M. Loew, X. Xie. 2018. Use of Microscopy and Microanalysis in Assessing Kinetics of Degradation in 19th-Century Heritage Glasses. Microsc. Microanal. 24 (Suppl 1): 2138-2139.

Buechele, A., L. Brostoff, I. Muller, C.L. Ward-Bamford, X. Xie. 2015. A Study of Glass Composition and Crizzling in Two Claude Laurent Glass Flutes from the Library of Congress. Microsc. Microanal. 16 (Suppl 3): 1161–62.

presentations

Brostoff, Lynn, “Cultural Heritage Science and the Material of Memory,” Plenary Talk, 69th Annual Denver X-ray Conference (Virtual), August 4, 2020.

Brostoff, Lynn, C.L. Ward-Bamford, S. Zaleski, E. Montagnino, A. Buechele, I. Muller, T. Diba, J. Zara, M. Loew, and F. France, “Characterization of the Surface Alteration Layer in 19th-Century Potassium Silicate Glass. Recent Advances in Glass and Ceramics Conservation,” Working Group Interim Meeting, London, UK, Sept. 5-7, 2019.

Brostoff, Lynn, C.L. Ward Bamford, T. Diba, A. Buechele, M. Loew, J. Zara. 2019, invited speaker, “Optical Coherence Spectroscopy of 19th Century Glass: Facts and Phantoms,” SPIE 11058, Optics for Arts, Architecture, and Archaeology VII, 110580W, Munich, Germany, June 24-27, 2019.

Montagnino, Elizabeth, I. Muller, K. Gilbo, A. Buechele and X. Xie, “Multilinear Regression Analysis of Alkali Silicate Heritage Glass Degradation," The American Ceramic Society (ACerS), 25th International Congress on Glass (ICG 2019), Boston, MA, June 9-14, 2019.

Brostoff, Lynn, K. Fogle. C.L. Ward-Bamford, E. Montagnino, I. Muller, A. Buechele,, M. Loew, and F. France, “19th-century Glass Manufacture and Its Relevance to Photographic Glass Stability,” American Institute for Conservation (AIC) 47th Annual Meeting, Uncasville, CT, May 13-15, 2019.

Brostoff, Lynn, C.L. Ward-Bamford, S. Zaleski, D. Klein, I. Muller, A. Buechele,, and M. Loew, poster presentation, “Reconsidering “Crizzling”: 19th Century Potash Glass Deterioration as Exemplified in Claude Laurent’s Flutes,” Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research, Gordon Research Conference (GRC), Barcelona, Spain, July 22-27, 2018.

Zaleski, Stephanie, Brostoff, L., C.L. Ward-Bamford, E. Montagnino, N. Kamona, I. Muller, A. Buechele, F. France, M. Loew, poster presentation, “’Glass at Risk’ – Investigation of Simple Analytical Methods to Assess Degradation of 19th-century Heritage Glass, Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research,” GRC, Barcelona, Spain, July 22-27, 2018.

Montagnino, Elizabeth, I. Muller, A. Buechele, S. Zaleski, N. Deems, poster presentation, “Understanding Nineteenth Century Glass Deterioration Through Artificial Accelerated Aging,” PNCS-ESG, Saint Malo, France, June 2018.

Brostoff, Lynn, C.L. Ward-Bamford, S. Zaleski, and I. Muller, “Collaborative Technical Study of Claude Laurent’s Glass Flutes,” Science Meets Music Symposium, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, April 10, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gCgf6xnKqs.

Zaleski, Stephanie, Brostoff, L., C.L. Ward-Bamford, N. Deems, E. Montagnino, A. Buechele, I. Muller, F. France, I. Pegg, M. Loew, “‘Glass at Risk’ –Preliminary Results of an Investigation of Simple Analytical Tools to Understand 19th-century Heritage Glass Degradation,” Research Day, George Washington University, April 10, 2018.

Brostoff, Lynn, “Chemical Analysis and Conservation of “Crystal” Flutes,” Chemistry and Music, Indianapolis Chapter of ACS, Dec. 14, 2017.

Brostoff, Lynn, C.L. Ward-Bamford, T. Villafana, A. Buechele,,  I. Muller, S. Vaiedelich, N. Kivi, D. Klein, and R. Perez, “Glass at Risk: Stability Issues in Claude Laurent’s 19th Century Glass Flutes,” American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS)/Galpin Society Joint Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, UK, June 1-4, 2017.

Muller, Isabelle, Anderw C. Buechele, Nik Deems, Elizabeth Montagnino, Amelia Burberis, Ruhi Perez-Gokhale, Ian L. Pegg, Lynn B. Brostoff, Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford, Fenella France, and Murray Loew, "Role of Potassium in Degradation of Nineteenth Century Glass Flutes,” Goldschmidt2017 Conference, Paris, France, Aug. 13-17, 2017.

Buechele, Andrew, Isabelle Muller, Ian Pegg, Ruhi Perez-Gokhale, Xiaogang Xie, Carol Lynn Ward Bamford, Dana Hemmenway, and Lynn Brostoff, “A Study of Glass Composition and Crizzling in Two Claude Laurent Glass Flutes from the Library of Congress,” Microscopy & Microanalysis Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, Aug. 2-6, 2015.

Ward-Bamford, C.L., L. Brostoff, Dana Hemmenway, Dorie Klein, Andrew Buechele, Isabelle Muller and Ruhi Perez, “Technical Study of Claude Laurent’s Glass Flutes,” AMIS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, June 3-5, 2015.

Brostoff, Lynn, Carol Lynn Ward Bamford, Dana Hemmenway, Dorie Klein, Andrew Buechele, Isabelle Muller, Ruhi Perez, and Ian Pegg, “Technical Study of Claude Laurent’s Glass Flutes,” American Ceramic Society (ACerS) Symposium, Miami, FL, May 18, 2015.

library of congress junior fellow presentations and reports

Fogle, Kate, “19th Century Glass Manufacture & Photographic Technology,” Junior Fellow Presentations, Library of Congress, July 2018.

Klein, Dorie, “Claude Laurent and the Madison Flute: Discoveries through Archival Research,” Junior Fellow Report, Library of Congress, July 2014.

Brum, Olivia, Kivi, Nicholas, “An Examination of Degradation in Claude Laurent’s Glass Flutes,” Junior Fellow Presentations, Library of Congress, July 2015.

Klein, Dorie, “Claude Laurent’s “Cristal” Glass Flutes 200 Years Later: Historical Survey and Research,” Junior Fellow Report, Library of Congress, July 2014.

Klein, Dorie, Sullivan, William H., “Claude Laurent’s “Cristal” Glass Flutes Their History and Condition 200 Years Later,” Junior Fellow Presentations, Library of Congress, July 2014.