Music of Philadelphia and actress. Benjamin Franklin was also a musician, a guitar teacher and inventor of musical instruments like the glass armonica. In 1784 Andrew Adgate organized the Institution for the Encouragement of Church Music, renamed the Uranian Academy (1787–1800). The school was the center of the city's choral music scene during the latter part of the 18th century. The earliest known performance of a musical drama in Philadelphia was Colley Cibber’s "Flora, or Hob in the Well", a ballad opera performed by a touring opera company from England in 1754. In 1757 Francis Hopkinson mounted an elaborate production of Thomas Arne’s
European hand fans in the 18th century or ribbon runs across the top of the fan, holding the sticks together. A cockade fan opens into a complete circle around the pivot. Their style can be either pleated or brisé. They were not very practical and considered too flamboyant, and thus they saw little popularity. Fans in the 18th century were made from a wide variety of materials depending on their style and purpose. During the 18th century fans were a fashion accessory and thus were made from the fashionable materials of the time. Sticks and handles could be made of gold, tortoise shell, ivory, mother-of-pearl, horn, or