Gentle and gentle, quiet and far-reaching; not as if Apollo's waving hand is Aphrodite's eyes; not a delicate surprise, but gentle as water. This is exactly the tone of the harp.
When it comes to the harp, people think of the elegant and romantic single-action pedal harp. The harp has evolved over thousands of years, appearing in various forms in the history of human civilization and playing different cultural roles, and now it is mainly a pedal harp, which has become a special color instrument in symphony orchestras and song and dance dramas.
The harp is a plucked instrument. It mainly has a vertical front column, a long diagonal soundbar and a curved neck located above, forming a triangular frame, and the open harp without the front column is an open harp. The strings are stretched from top to bottom parallel to the front column on the neck and the speaker, and the strings are made of nylon, casing, metal strings or silk, and the body is a wooden structure. Depending on the size of the harp, the player can play it on his lap, on a table or on the ground.
— Interpretation of the word "harp" in the Weber Dictionary of 1911.
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A medieval harp (left) and a single-action pedal harp (right)
The history of the evolution and development of the harp
1. Neolithic to ancient Greece and Mesopotamia:
The harp is derived from the primitive stringed harp of the Neolithic era, which often served as a sacrificial tool such as divination, funeral, and rain prayer in primitive tribes. With the continuous need for the development of human musical art, the original stringed violin began to expand the range of efforts, one of which used to increase the number of strings to broaden the range, and the instrument form of the harp was born. By the time of ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, the classical stringed harp had long since moved from the folk to becoming an accompaniment instrument for bards, no longer limited to sacrifice. The earliest harps and lilles are found in the royal tombs and pits of yours in the Sumerian period of the Sumerian plains of Mesopotamia in 3500 BC.
In ancient Persia, from 3000 BC onwards, the prototype of the harp (Persian: چنگ, phonetic chang) appeared, and flourished in Persian civilization until the 17th century.
Ancient Persian Sassanide harp
2. Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia to medieval times:
The word "harpa" first appeared around 600 AD. The first arched harp ever excavated appeared in the plains of Mesopotamia in 2500 BC. It is similar to the Burmese harp, with 13 or 14 strings, which was later introduced to ancient Egypt and, like hieroglyphs, from ancient Egypt to ancient Greece and Europe. In some parts of Central and West Africa, such harps can still be seen. The earliest harp to appear in Europe was the Irish harp.
Harp of the Empress (2600-2400 BC)
Ruins of Ur, South Iraq
Made of lapis lazuli, shells, red limestone, gold and poplar wood, and made of cattle as ornaments is a major feature of the civilization of the Two Rivers Basin.
Ancient Egyptian harp, collection of the British Museum
Three female musicians on the murals of the Tomb of Luxor Nacht,
One of them was holding a harp
(1600-1300 BC), Thebes, Egypt
There is a record of King David playing the harp in the Bible, and to this day, in the city of David in Jerusalem, there is a large harp statue, which shows that the harp was included in the list of royal instruments in the Middle East at that time.
King David Plays the Harp, a painting on paper
An ancient Greek harp, now lost
Harp player (marble statue), ancient Greece
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles
3. Late Middle Ages
The early Irish harp was a medieval instrument (harp already mentioned in irish law in the 6th century AD), also known as the gael, bard or early Clasac (Scottish harp), and the strings were made of copper, silver and even gold. The oldest surviving Irish harp was made in the 14th century and generally has 30 to 36 strings, the most distinctive feature of which is the sound of playing with fingernails, producing a silver bell-like sound. The biggest difference between the harp in the rest of Europe and the Irish harp at that time was that the Irish harp was played with fingertips instead of fingernails.
The Irish Harp from the Late Middle Ages, Collection of the National Museum of Scotland
The Irish harp occupies an important place in Celtic civilization and Irish culture. The original harp players and other musicians had a superb art of playing, had close ties with the poets who played an important role in Irish political life at the time, and were revered by the Galli Court and subsequent family families.
Stone plaque inscribed with an Irish harp
Republic of Ireland (Credit: Eurasian News Agency)
The Irish harp, which became trademarked on the Irish beer brand "guinness"
Far to the East, the harp was known as the "Harp" in the Western Han Dynasty of China. In the "Peacock Southeast Flying" in Hanle Province, it is recorded: "The peacock flies southeast, five miles and one wandering, thirteen can weave, fourteen learn tailoring, fifteen bullet baskets, sixteen poetry books." This shows that at that time, the basket was already a common instrument played by women. Later, the Western harp spread to China through the Western Regions. In this way, in ancient China, there were three forms of reclining, vertical, and phoenix-headed baskets. Chinese harps are more vocal than modern harps.
Chinese baskets also spread to Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
Gong Gong playing diagram, gong stroke drawing
Western Regions (Tang Dynasty, 618-907 AD)
Tibet Autonomous Region Museum Collection
(Photo: Shu Lin)
The strings of the hoop have been broken, but from the paintings full of Western characteristics on it and the copper edges of the base, we can see the exquisite beauty of the instrument in that year.
Replica of the spiral groove, in the collection of Shosoin in Nara, Japan
4. From the Baroque period, the classicist period to modern times
In the 16th century, Juan Bermudo invented the double-string harp, modeled on keyboard instruments. After the double-row string harp, a three-row string harp and a sickle-hook harp appeared in the early 17th century. Following the double-stringed and three-row harps, the cross-string harp appeared in the 18th century.
The Earl of Ellington (1720–1740)
Illustrated by Sir Joe JohWaLea Renoz
Dutar harp, made by Edward Wright (1747-1832).
Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The evolution of the pedal harp can be extended to the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. There was a single-action pedal harp at the time. By the beginning of the 19th century, S. Herald had invented the double-motion pedal harp. The pedal harp used in concerts today was slowly improved from the Herald harp.
Harp front column decoration
Collection of the Musical Instrument Museum in Berlin, Germany (Photo: iain masterton)
Harp, Dublin, Ireland, was made in 1820 by Egan John.
The body is made of lacquered wood and decorated with gold.
Harps around the world
Burmese harp
Egyptian harp
Fang Harp (Normby)
(Late 19th century–early 20th century), Gabon
Ugandan harp
Sudanese harp
Double row electronic harp (patent owner: Robert Grawi)
Classic tracks
In Mozart's Concerto on Flute and Harp in C major you can hear the harp played. Berlioz's Symphony of Fantasia, Johann Strauss's Round Dance of the Sound of Spring, The Round Dance of the Blue Danube, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Mahler's Ten Symphonies, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 in G minor are all excellent scores.
Featured albums
ludovico einaudi: rooms
nancy bick clark: chrysalis
hilary stagg: feather light
Hilary Stagg harp album Feather Light
Disclaimer: This article is original by Nicola Rin, all rights reserved. If you need to reprint, please indicate the author's copyright. When this article was first published, a public account directly copied part of the text of this article, and also called it "learning"...