Fig. 1.

This is the ordinary Æolian harp, but in this country and on the Continent there are many more complicated forms of the instrument in existence. The Æolians of the four Strasburg Cathedral towers, for instance, are well known to tourists. At the castle of Baden Baden also the harps are a great attraction, and we here give a [sketch] of one of the loudest of these celebrated instruments.

Fig. 2.

[Fig. 2 enlarged] (89 kB)

It is set well back in the gallery, and the window opening is gradually contracted by the curious shed, of which one side is removed to show the construction, the air passing out through the grating, which is only slightly wider than the harp. Of the harp itself we give the [plan and section], and to avoid fractions we retain its original measurement in mètres and centimètres—sixty-one centimètres being as nearly as possible two feet, and a mètre being a hundred centimètres, or thirty-nine inches and three-eighths.

It will be noticed that this pattern of the instrument has strings on both sides, and that the inner edge of the box is fitted with narrow sound-holes. The front of the box is of thin wood steamed into shape, and fitted round the curved ends as carefully as the sides are built into the back and belly of a violin.