Fig. 50.—Harp. Old Irish. H. 52 in., W. 43 in. No. 616-’72.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
Considering the scarcity of the old Irish clarseth, mention may be made of a fine specimen formerly in the collection of Irish antiquities belonging to Thomas Crofton Croker, from which it was purchased, in the year 1854, at an auction in London, by Thomas Bateman, Esq. It bears on its front the inscription, Made by John Kelly for the Rev. Charles Bunworth Baltdaniel, 1734. At the contentions or meetings of the bards of Ireland, between the years 1730 and 1750, which were generally held at Bruree, county Limerick, the Rev. Charles Bunworth was five times chosen umpire, or president. Although this harp is not of high antiquity, it is an interesting example of the ancient form and construction, and likewise of the ancient manner of ornamenting the instrument. A wood engraving of it, from a drawing by Maclise, is given in “A Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities and Miscellaneous Objects preserved in the Museum of Thomas Bateman, at Lomberdale House, Derbyshire,” Bakewell, 1855. An account of the Irish harps deposited in the Museum of Dublin is to be found in “A Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy,” by W. R. Wilde, Dublin, 1863. The illustrations of the Irish harp in the works of Bunting and similar writers may be supposed to be known to musicians.
The number of strings appears to have been greater on the older specimens recorded than on the later ones. Prætorius, in his “Syntagma musicum,” etc., vol. ii., Wolfenbüttel, 1619, gives an illustration of the Irish harp, in which it is represented with forty-three strings. He describes the instrument as having a pleasant resonance, and being constructed with a considerable degree of ingenuity. The illustration exhibits the same shape, with the fore-bar bent outwards, which is shown in the present specimen.
Some harps after the model of the old Irish clarseth, which are painted and gilt, were made in Dublin in the beginning of the last century.
The small harp of the middle ages of Central and Western Europe, depicted in old sculptures and paintings, generally exhibits the front-bar of its frame somewhat bent outwardly, much as is the case with the Irish clarseth. Gradually the number of its strings was increased; and, likewise the strength of the frame for resisting the tension of the strings. The front-bar of our harp is straight, or a front-pillar. Until the seventeenth century only the diatonic series of intervals was properly obtainable on the instrument. The performer had, however, a method of producing occasionally a semitone by pressing the finger against the string towards the end, much in the same manner in which the Burmese produce chromatic intervals on the soung. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the Tyrolian harp makers adopted little plates with hooks, which could be moved so as to press upon the strings, and thereby shorten them, for the production of the semitones, more rapidly and unerringly than could be done by the fingers. A French harp of the period of Louis XVI.. is illustrated ([Fig. 51]). It is carved and gilt in the style of Gouthière, and decorated with oak foliage and acorns; at the top of the pillar is a figure of a Cupid.
Students who examine the old instruments above described will probably wish to know something about their quality of tone. “How do they sound? Might they still be made effective in our present state of the art?” are questions which naturally occur to the musical inquirer having such instruments brought before him. A few words bearing on these questions may therefore not be out of place here.
Fig. 51.—Harp. French. About 1770.
H. 63 in., W. 30 in. No. 4087-’57.
Victoria and Albert Museum.