THE ÆOLIAN HARP.
The Æolian harp is a musical instrument which is set in action by the wind. The instrument, which is not very well known, is yet very curious, and at the request of some of our readers we shall herewith give a description of it.
FIG. 1.—KIRCHER'S ÆOLIAN HARP.
According to a generally credited opinion, it is to Father Kircher, who devised so many ingenious machines in the seventeenth century, that we owe the first systematically constructed model of an Æolian harp. We must add, however, that the fact of the spontaneous resonance of certain musical instruments when exposed to a current of air had struck the observers of nature in times of remotest antiquity.
Without dwelling upon the history of the Æolian harp, we may say that in modern times this instrument has been especially constructed in England, Scotland, Germany, and Alsace. The Æolian harp of the Castle of Baden Baden, and those of the four turrets of Strassburg Cathedral are celebrated.
FIG. 2.—FROST & KASTNER'S IMPROVED ÆOLIAN HARP.
We shall first describe Kircher's harp, which this Jesuit savant constructed according to an observation made by Porta in 1558. The instrument consists of a rectangular box (Fig. 1), the sounding board of which, containing rose-shaped apertures, is provided with a certain number of strings stretched over two bridges and fastened to pegs at the extremities. This box carries a ring that serves for suspending it. Kircher recommends that the box be made of very sonorous fir wood, like that employed in the construction of stringed instruments. He would have it 1.085 meters in length, 0.434 meter in width, and 0.217 meter in height, and would provide it with fifteen catgut strings, tuned, not like those of other instruments to the third, fourth, or fifth, but all in unison or to the octave, in order, says he, that its sound shall be very harmonious. The experiments of Kircher showed him the necessity of employing a sort of concentrator in order to increase the force of the wind, and to obtain all the advantage possible from the current of air that was directed against the strings. The place where the instrument is located should not, according to him, be exposed to the open air, but must be a closed one. The air, nevertheless, must have free access to it on both sides of the harp. The force of the wind may be concentrated upon such a point in different ways; either, for example, by means of conical channels, or spiral ones like those used for causing sounds to reach the interior of a house from a more elevated place, or by means of a sort of doors. These latter, two in number, are adapted to a kind of receptacle made of boards and presenting the appearance of a small closet. In the back part of this receptacle there is a slit, and in front of this the harp is hung in a slightly oblique position. The whole posterior portion of the apparatus must be situated in the apartment, while the doors must remain outside the window (Fig. I). In later times the Æolian harp has been improved by Messrs. Frost and Kastner, whose apparatus is represented in Fig. 2. It consists of a rectangular box with two sounding boards, each provided with eight catgut strings. In order to limit the current of air and to bring it with more force against the strings, two wings are adapted near the thin surfaces opposed to the wind, so that the current may reach each group of cords on passing through the narrow aperture between the obliquely inclined wing and the body of the instrument. The dimensions of the resonant box are as follows: height, 1.28 meters; width, 0.27 meter; and thickness, 0.075 meter. Distance between the two bridges, or length of the sonorous portion of the cords, about 1 meter; width of the wings, 0.14 meter. Distance between the sounding board and the wings, 0.42 meter. Inclination of the wings, 50 degrees.
