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 fan, “Moses Striking the Rock” shows the Israelite encampment in the wilderness and Moses standing by the rock from which water flows. Later in the 18th century, rococo pastoral scenes became popular. Landscapes were common as well as images with love and courtship themes. Cupid was often a principal figure on such fans. The fan, “Pastoral Landscape” shows a river landscape with men and women walking by and sheep grazing. When originated, the fan’s purpose was to cool the face and keep away insects. Before the 18th century their most common use was to keep flies away from church altars.