Harps and Harpists, Revised Edition

Roslyn Rensch

Description

Six thousand years of lavishly illustrated harp history

Revising her classic 1989 book Harps and Harpists, Roslyn Rensch expands her authoritative history of this timeless instrument. This lavishly illustrated edition, with 137 black-and-white images and 24 color plates, surveys the progress of the harp from antiquity to the present day. The new edition includes two new chapters; an extensive bibliography and index; personal anecdotes of the author's studies under Alberto Salvi; and an appendix on the Roslyn Rensch Papers and Harp Collection, which are housed at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.

List of Illustrations
Preface

Part 1. The Harp in the Ancient World
1. The Beginning
2. Beyond the Earliest Sources

Part 2. The Non-Pedal Harp in Western Europe and North America
3. Early Representations
4. The Harp in Art, 1200–1665
5. The Harp in Literature and Music
6. Concerning Non-pedal Harps and Harpists

Part 3. The Pedal Harp in Western Europe and North America
7. Some Early Harps, Harpists, and Music
8. From Single to Double Action
9. The Colonies and the United States
10. The Harp International

Part 4. Retrospection and the Future
11. Some Notable Events
12. Four Essays by the Author

Appendix
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Musique
• Histoire de la musique
• Music
• History
• Strings
• String instrument
• History of classical music traditions
• Criticism
• Multiple signal classification
• Musical instrument
• Musical Instruments

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 27 février 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780253030290
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Harps AND Harpists
The author in her studio c. 1970, with an Egan dital harp. In the background ( left ) are a Cararra marble statue of a young woman playing an Egyptian harp and ( right ) Wurlitzer harp Style CCX, Lyon Healy harp no. 6001, and Wurlitzer harp Style AA.
Harps AND Harpists
REVISED EDITION
R OSLYN R ENSCH
This book is a publication of
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library 350 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
First paperback edition 2017 2017 by Roslyn Rensch All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition .
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992 .
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Library of Congress has cataloged the original edition as follows:
Rensch, Roslyn.
Harps and harpists / Roslyn Rensch
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-253-34903-6
1. Harp-History. 2. Harpists. I. Title.
ML 1005. R 43 1988
787. 5 09-dc19 88-37609
ISBN 978-0-253-03008-5 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-253-03029-0 (e-bk.)
1 2 3 4 5 22 21 20 19 18 17
T HIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN TO HONOR THE HARP AND THOSE WHO HAVE PLAYED THE INSTRUMENT, IN ITS MANY FORMS, THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES .
T HE BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS , C ARL AND M ARIA R ENSCH; MY SISTER , G LORIA K ATHERINE R ENSCH; MY FIRST HUSBAND , P HILIP H. E RBES; AND MY SECOND HUSBAND , E DWARD C. N OAH .
T HEY WERE TRULY THE LIGHTS OF MY LIFE .
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
PART I THE HARP IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
1 The Beginning
2 Beyond the Earliest Sources
PART II THE NON-PEDAL HARP IN WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
3 Early Representations
4 The Harp in Art, 1200-1665
5 The Harp in Literature and Music
6 Concerning Non-pedal Harps and Harpists
PART III THE PEDAL HARP IN WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
7 Some Early Harps, Harpists, and Music
8 From Single to Double Action
9 The Colonies and the United States
10 The Harp International
PART IV RETROSPECTION AND THE FUTURE
11 Some Notable Events
12 Four Essays by the Author
Appendix
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Frontispiece. The author in her studio c. 1970, with an Egan dital harp.
PLATES
(following page 174 )
1. Wall painting, tomb of Nakht, Eighteenth Dynasty, New Kingdom.
2. King David, surrounded by his musicians, tunes his harp. Full-page miniature in the Hunterian (formerly York) Psalter, folio 21 verso, c. 1170.
3. In Hans Memling s panel painting The Virgin and Child with Angels , late fifteenth century, one of the angels plays a slender gothic harp.
4. Giovanni Lanfranco features the chromatically strung Barberini harp in his oil painting Allegoria della Musica ,seventeenth century.
5. Domenico Zampieri (called Domenichino) portrays King David as singing and playing a triple-strung harp in his seventeenth-century oil painting.
6a. Pleyel Chromatique harp, made in Paris, c. 1915.
6b. Lever harp made by Dusty Strings in Bubinga wood, late twentieth century.
7a. A sculpted and richly gilded version of the Royal Portable Harp, made by John Egan, Dublin, c. 1820.
7b. Detail of the classical bust.
7c. Wings carved to resemble feathers sweep back to form the harp s neck.
8a. Single-action pedal harp made in Paris by LeJeune, c. 1770-1776.
8b. Single-action pedal harp made in Paris by Naderman, c. 1783.
9. Madame de Genlis gives a harp lesson. Oil painting by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse, after Jean Antoine Girouste s work of 1791.
10a. Single-action pedal harp made in Paris by Erard, 1806.
10b. Double-action pedal harp made in London by Erard, 1812.
11. Portrait of Mrs. Richard Crowninshield Derby as Saint Cecilia. Oil painting by John Singleton Copley, 1803.
12a. Double-action pedal harp made in Chicago by Lyon Healy, 1889.
12b. Double-action pedal harp made in Chicago by Lyon Healy, 1893.
13a. Salzedo model double-action pedal harp made in Chicago by Lyon Healy, 1928.
13b. Minerva model double-action pedal harp made in Piasco, Italy, by Salvi, c. 2003.
14. Two Lyon Healy Prince William harps on stage at Chicago s Orchestra Hall.
15a. Baroque Polonaise model double-action pedal harp made in Chicago by Venus, c. 2003.
15b. Blue model electro-acoustic harp made in Mouzeil, France, by Camac.
16. Roslyn Rensch (c. 1950) playing her mother s Starke model Wurlitzer harp.
FIGURES
1.1. A bearded harp player is represented on a votive plaque less than eight inches square, c. 3000 B.C ., Khafaje (Iraq).
1.2. One of three onagers plays a small harp. Impression from a seal found at Ur.
1.3. On a seal from Ur, a standing figure holds a harp with a mushroom form capping its string arm.
1.4. Lyre (restored) from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, c. 2600-2350 B.C .
1.5. Harp (restored) from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, c. 2600-2350 B.C .
1.6. Bow-shaped stringed instruments are played by two musicians. Vase fragment, c. 3100-2900 B.C ., from Bismaya (Iraq).
1.7. Drawing of musicians on Bismaya vase fragment.
1.8. A seated musician plays an angular harp. Terracotta plaque, 2025-1763 B.C ., Ishchali (Iraq).
1.9. An angular harp is played near a tree that bears a severed head. Limestone relief, c. 650 B.C ., Nineveh Palace.
1.10. Wall painting of a large arched harp with the red crown of Lower Egypt.
1.11. Wall painting of a large arched harp with the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.
1.12. Painted limestone statuettes with spoon- or spade-shaped harps and a drum, from a Fifth or Sixth Dynasty tomb at Giza.
1.13. Musicians playing a ladle-shaped harp, a lute, and the double pipes. Wall painting from an Eighteenth Dynasty tomb at Thebes.
1.14. Small crescent-shaped harp, painted red, yellow, turquoise, and black, c. 1580-1080 B.C .
1.15. A banquet ensemble includes a musician playing a large boat-shaped harp. Wall painting from an Eighteenth Dynasty tomb at Thebes.
1.16. Angular harp (reproduction) is surrounded by examples of other ancient Egyptian instruments, including the lyre, the shoulder-held harp, flutes and pipes, sistrums, and castanets.
1.17. Musician with a stringed instrument. Incised paving stone, c. 3700-3000 B.C ., Megiddo.
1.18. Marble statuette of a musician, c. 2700 B.C ., from a Cycladic island grave.
1.19. A bronze cauldron stand decoration features a musician playing an angular harp. Twelfth-eleventh century B.C ., Curium (Cyprus).
1.20. A harp-playing muse and two antique lyres decorate a Greek vase, c. 440 B.C .
1.21. Gem carved with a harp player and dog motif. Graeco-Roman, 500-300 B.C .
2.1. Musicians with vertically held angular harps. Relief carving from the Great Cave at Taq-i Bustan (Iraq), A.D . 590-629.
2.2. Drawing of a vertically held harp.
2.3. Drawing of a horizontally held harp.
2.4. Melchior Lorich s sketch of a Turkish woman playing a tall vertically held harp, late seventeenth century.
2.5. Horizontally held arched harp from Burma, twentieth century.
2.6. African harp in the form of a crocodile, twentieth century.
2.7. Arched harp from Afghanistan.
3.1. David the psalmist with harp, cittern, and measuring rod. Utrecht Psalter, folio 63v, illustration detail, A.D . 816-35.
3.2. Wooden statuette of an Egyptian musician with an angular harp, 750-656 B.C .
3.3. Utrecht Psalter musicians, folio 83, upper drawing detail, A.D . 816-35.
3.4. A harp-like stringed instrument from a miniature in the Vivian Bible, folio 215v.
3.5. Principio detail, Book of Kells, folio 292, ninth century.
3.6. A partially burned miniature (folio 2) from a Hiberno-Saxon manuscript was the prototype for this drawing of King David with a stringed instrument.
3.7. Carved on an ivory psalter cover, a youthful enthroned David, flanked by companions, plays a harp with a slightly curved soundbox.
3.8. King David plays a barrel-shaped harp. Carndonagh pillar detail, late seventh century, County Donegal, Ireland.
3.9. Musician playing a harp-like stringed instrument. Castledermot North Cross, arm panel carving, ninth century, County Kildare, Ireland.
3.10. Musician playing a large stringed instrument. Ullard cross, arm panel carving, ninth century, County Kilkenny, Ireland.
3.11. Musician with an instrument whose strings fan out as they ascend. Durrow Abbey High Cross, arm panel carving, tenth century, County Offaly, Ireland.
3.12. A musician playing a harp-like instrument is included in the carving of the Last Judgment, Cross of Muiredach, Monasterboice, c. 923, County Louth, Ireland.
3.13. Seated musician playing a harp-like stringed instrument. Michael 104, cross-slab detail. Tenth or eleventh century, Isle of Man.
3.14. Drawing, Aberlemno cross-slab detail.
3.15. Drawing, Aldbar cross-slab detail.
3.16. The carving of a harp and a sheep accompanies a barely discernable representation of David. Nigg cross-slab, Ross-Shire, Scotland.
3.17. King David playing the harp. Carved panel of a tenth-century cross shaft, Monifieth No. 4.
3.18. Drawing of the harpist carved on the Dupplin cross shaft panel.
3.19. Jubal playing the harp. Caedmon s Metrical Paraphrase of Scripture History, folio 54 illustration detail, eleventh century.
3.20. David the psalmist with harp, cittern, and measuring rod. Harley Psalter, folio 55v, illustration detail, c. 1000.
3.21. Musician with an example of the developed harp. Harley Psalter, folio 28, illustration detail, 1040-1070.
3.22. King David, surrounded by his musicians, plays a developed harp. Min