| Show T THE HA AND HARPERS by aubertine woodward moore no musical instrument can boast of 0 so EO ions find and honorable liono rable a pedigree as tho the harp about none other clui clutters such ruch a wealth of legendary love poetry and romance it la 13 the musical instrument ot of religion and prop hythe musical instrument ment that held so eo sacred a place in ili the vision of the beloved john who heard on siomia zion the voice of 0 harpers harping alth their harps it lias hae been said bald that thai poetry died a out ut of everyday life with the passing ol of the pinning wheel ard and the harp it if this be true its Is at land hand for we have a new i cheel bee and a new harp liard walt whitman saw the hope of america in the preat great debt from the preat great west front roni Chi chicago rago tile the city of promise comes the new haip the tha modern harp the most perfect hall haip that has yet existed poetry B ai not nit dead time was when noble knight and lady fair round their joyance and sot bol ance in ill the harp it was the most ii ehly chy musical instrument in many lards lands and ases ages the choicest adornment lor for castle halt hall and lordly mansion the ancient harp barp was livas parent of the lie and through it ancestor of 0 the piano lino THE blanp IN 1 THE THC DRAWING ROOM it Is eminently fitting lor for the modem harp to take its plax place in our dooma and 11 1 1 music halls wl with it the modern piano A ahoi hoie e lost losi i elation it Is ir X vailous ailous tra dillons claim for various nations the birthplace 0 of the harp tile oldest record of its existence ee Is 1 its form graven on sit an egyptian to tomb nib dated by some authorities at B C it la is found on nuin numerous crous monuments of 0 egypt appears accompanied by gemalo tei nali as 1 well elias as niale male performers and varies greatly greo aly in III fize alze sometimes I 1 it t Is carri carried d by the hie performers sometimes played in it a sitting posture TV IN hile thi the great tern ph harp about the thirteenth century H 11 C I 1 Is six and a half feet high and was played standing whatever What Wha its size aize it has always great beauty of forms form Is I 1 frequently highly ornamented Is bow shaped for riling the fragment of un eclipse and la Is without a front pillar to lapport the tension of the strings string AN ANCIENT I 1 instrument tile assyrian harp was ot of lighter weight and as depicted on the famous bas ba relief excavated from ohp mounds near the digris Zi gris ws aas about tour four fact high livery very mony proves the harp ot of the lara lites as ai a i well to be a small portable instrument but to what noble purposes was it not applied the old testament la is full of the poetry of the harp in grace the popular member of the harp family was the lyre ivre but jar large ge and small harps of the egyptian pattern wre were also known Dlo dorus Pl Si culus at the beginning of the Chil chirstian stiAn era writes ot of an island city sacred acred to apollo the majority of whose inhabitants were harpers continually harping III 1 the magnificent temple tempia of tho the place placa and singing lyrical hymns of aralee to the god eod who hint self descended among the people every nineteenth year them with his hl glorious harp playing the people were called and their island was in the ocean over against the Brile sinn E B C Is tho the authority cite cited d some critics hive have believed these ilip erbo reans to have been inhabitants of britain others have traced them to the scandinavian north their name Y means n e a n 0 literally the north wind still 0 others t h e r a have pronounced them purely mythical whether their existence be tact fact or fic lion their etory Is an ancient tribute to the harp LORE abundant harp lore revolves about the th bards and drinids of early britain the oldest of these are caal claimed c d by the irish whose bardic order ma dates tes back COO years before our prevent present era the harp Is supposed eup posed to have fave appeared with a colony ot at Ibern lan spaniards who invaded the isle into of destiny ti reland 1015 2015 B C the finx fedla in n times endowed at tarn tara hla his capital a college coll we called the wall of 0 the learned here was formed the bardic association and here to adich the ancient life ot of ireland moved was wail sedulously cultivated laws religion rell silon Pe lence history and literature grature were pot ft to music and to instruct the people they were intoned to I 1 the h e accompaniment of p tile the harp traditions OP OF tun I 1 the aid file or chief baryl eta clad d in white with AL a golden circlet ou on lila ills head mt mat next the king at loyal banquets and by tile amo I in ly lay hla his golden harp in moments of ct y ile IB swept lit its chords chord to cb 3 a ot of love or in praise ot of immortal demeo buci marched in fit from 0 ot t to ta the tha 1 ns ng C M with martial harp strains when he wandered through the land fifty minor miner bards bard were permitted to attend him and their persons persona were held sacred slata slaving i g a I 1 harper arper bard entailed en toIled outlawing out lawine in this life and a but none the acm lcm terrible supernatural natural penalty in the emst on the downfall or of Ir elands 1 I the harp became mule move in tarns tams holle hall tom moore in his melodic relates that the harp was wan once jl siren of om old who dwelt under the hie sea aid and wh who wept so for the faith faithless leps couth the loved that heaven in ili pity chan chancel ired hr her soft nod form to the harp her hair tal fal iniz over her whits white arms made the gold bt rings and all tier har erate fully full curled about the rame frame other legends tell that the irish airs so 60 plaintive and tear icar cump aling are but the fain UY cc hoes ot of f balry alv harp music once heard in ili hill ond and dale I 1 IN FAIRY LAND among amone welsh fairies the harp ll 11 agures gures to sit ai extent unknown elsewhere the taw tex balry folli folk make mucio w lilt it behind tile the waterfalls and when they go over tile tho mountains too tones 0 of their harps tile oie heard dying away alvay behind thern the harp of mortals in was waa car carrle leta to waler as according accord ln to dante it was carried to italy liv hv irish harper bards it came to be regarded rue ardad as the national instrument and to this I 1 day Is honored at tile the eisteddfod the congress con gres tor for promoting the culture of 0 national poetry and kausic instituted in III the twelfth century STORIES OP THE HARP one ot of En glands mor most c charming A ar harp stories li iq that of 0 alny A alteo aft in the storm and stress of 0 a danish invasion lie had been forced to seek concealment ceal ce ment hla faithful follower ollow eia soon rallied about him and lie he resolved to spy OPY out the plans DIs ui S in g as a danish harper lie he onte entered e d the hostile camp and so won the D lunes anes by his superb playing of 0 their favorite for lie was a harper abar the desired anfor aaion w waa gained and the juva invaders ders n eventually vanquished squished d it was this alfred akred who in A D established a chair of music at oxford in the scottish highlands famous harper birds bards are claimed for the third fourth and firth fifth centuries of the christian era and nourished flourished abundantly in mediaeval media eval and later times down to the eighteenth century the harper amons among the celtic tribes of scotland w expected to lead this the clan with inspiring music to battle walter scott makes frequent references to the th harp as a well beloved instrument CURIOUS traditions all scandinavia peoples have hava their traditions cf mysterious brin on harps of 0 gold flold the neca or water sprite of norway appears on oa the waters miters water miter ter ot of A an evening singing most enchanting cb ta lays to the of his gold harp he has a flowing white beard wears a sold gold crown crawn and teaches the secrets of music to those who love jt it the sea hil kins lix of 0 the biedes sw edes dwells in ili emerald halls in ili un fathomed reas and pours out on thel th harp over whose strings his liar hands Is are continually straying his profound yearning A proud place Is hold held by the harp in the tales ot of scandinavian heroes of 0 romance and history the royal harper Heir rier eats an icelandic legend had a 1 large i r go harp constructed coni ted and in its bod body y concealed from enor nips who would have lala her ter his foster child golden haired aslaug the tuo tw o year old daughter ot of Ervil hild the valkyrie ric and sigurd the hero in beggars eulsa tie he wandered d northward with his precious burden and v ahen hen the beo maiden grew rest restless lAss in the presence of 0 others lie he lulled her to quiet N with ith his harping ile he was filially murdered for thi the gold it A was discovered he bore alth hint him b but u I 1 the child softening hard hara heavies wl th tier her loveliness was ivas tenderly reared by an aged couple and finally a kins king SOME interesting LEGENDS the binns attributed the harp to tho the minstrel who colstr constructed t lica the lasting histing joy and pride of 0 Xa levola hero here the wise wine and ancient bioni the fragments ot of a feast on oil the mighty pike of 0 northland the enchanting arches he made irom from the jaw bones of the mon trion tei ter the pins ili from pike and the harp strings from maidens hair when played all tile people the bins ot of tile air and the beasts of 0 forest aud and field hastened to hear the high boin heros harping this recalls tho the talo tale of II orand the royal danish harper of the german epic gudrun for when lie ho struck his bis harp strings tile the cattle left their green areen pastures tile tiie birds became silent tho the list ceased to dait in the iho brook the church hells bells no londt sounded bleet priests and people left the church avid and all hastened to hear him As for or youns young daughter ot of wild ilagan of 0 ireland she was nas eo moved by his lay bho bhe con consented vented to follow him to che land avid 0 of f itis ills llego lord king hotel tor for he had come to woo tier her THE HARP OF THE NORTHLAND the mediaeval media eval harp of 0 northland the harp of 0 troubadour inar and stroll alg minstrel inin had ad inci increased eased its capabilities by the addition ot of the so bo called gothic pill from time to time view were added but no signal success was achieved until sebastian erard a ot part in asio constructed the ineyl oved I 1 double action harp aich 1 elija ined the model for all future ma maker 1 ers tile tho invention of 0 I 1 the he plano torte forte in tort tottered ered with the public glory of 0 tile the harp which ho however weer continued to lo be the iho home favorite 0 of many ladles ladies a as it was aith ith r croaa oba dartle darll in david C app pernell per neld rew or us wh who a have reached tho the hall half century milepost mile post dost il mill ill rail fail to recall some silent unused harp about w which fell lingered memories ot of a fair maiden In tIlden long ions passed p m sed onward whose white v alto arms cle ante d about it and ana N whose hose blender alender 1 tigers lingers 1 swept its strings A taste for tho the w was fostered rost cred by the senile gentle nuns ot of our bur convents nho ho to teach it it if they haj had but one pupil a year OUR CLIMATE ON hanpt our climate being so severe on iuro european harps the use of the lie instrument declined and would have oled out had not harp manufacture arisen as an all american industry As previously indicated the height of success has been reached in chicago and ana ws we now cavit hav an american harp adapted to all ail the I 1 requirements of 0 modern music an american harp as far bu to all ther other a harps as the american piano la Is superior to all other planca naturally wo we find ours ourselves elvea face to face with a great harp revival tile the number of 0 harp pupils ladles and gentlemen in our music schools to 1 rapidly increasing our concert baj alao art no ion longer er all europeans and th there ere 1 Is a not n now aw the excessive ne need ed of 0 tuning in public that formerly annoyed the audience the american harp cannot relegate rel cgAle the american plane piano to the background but it can proudly take its lt place beside it |
