Early Music, Vol. xxxvi, No. 4 © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.1093/em/can122, available online at www.em.oxfordjournals.org

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T he early Irish harp is one of the most recognized of all musical instruments, thanks to its use as

a national symbol and a trademark for beer, yet it is almost never heard and is as rarely studied by musi-cologists and scholars. The last article in this jour-nal devoted to the early Irish harp was in May 1987, fn1 1 and previous to that, there was one in January 1983; fn2 2 there were passing references in May 2000 fn3 3 and in June 2006. fn4 4 These, however, only reinforce that there is still much misunderstanding and confusion about this instrument.

Firstly, it is useful to differentiate clearly between the early Irish harp and the neo-Irish harp. The lat-ter was invented by John Egan in the early decades of the 19th century, and was rediscovered in the last decades of that century when the Gaelic revival demanded Romantic harps to accompany Gaelic singing in the parlours of Dublin and Edinburgh. Its ancestor is not the early Irish harp at all, but the orchestral pedal harp; John Egan was a pedal-harp maker, and his ‘ newly invented ’ ‘ Portable Irish harp ’ was equipped with the orchestral harp ’ s gut strings and mechanical semitone-fretting mechanisms, so that classically trained polite aristocratic ladies could easily play it. fn5 5

The early Irish harp, on the other hand, after a long decline, died out during the 19th century. The last of the indigenous players died in the years after 1800; students, from the charitable schools that were set up in a vain attempt to preserve the tradition, survived until the last decade of the 19th century, leaving no further students of their own. fn6 6

The origins of the early Irish harp are obscure; the first unambiguous depiction is dated to circa AD 1000. fn7 7 From the 8th to the 10th centuries, there sur-vives a number of weathered stone sculptures in Ire-land and Scotland, but there is a lack of agreement on what kinds of harps these depict, on whether

they show harps or lyres, and even if, in fact, they are illustrations of instruments at all. fn8 8 This lack of evi-dence has not stopped many confident assertions about the date and location of the invention of the harp, fn9 9 and about the supposedly clear distinction between Gaelic and other European harps. fn10 10

Terminology

Terminology in this field is complex and ambig-uous. I use ‘ early Irish harp ’ to refer to the histori-cal instrument of sturdy shape and with metal wire strings. Especially in the 17th century, it was known in Britain and on the Continent as the ‘ Irish harp ’ . fn11 11 Since it was indigenous to the Highlands of Scot-land as well as Ireland, a more inclusive modern terminology is ‘ Gaelic harp ’ or, to avoid offending present-day Gaels who prefer the Victorian revival instrument, ‘ early Gaelic harp ’ . Its name in Gaelic is cláirseach (Irish) or clàrsach (Scots). In Scotland, the name ‘ clarsach ’ was used from the 13th century onwards to refer to the early Gaelic harp; fn12 12 since the Gaelic revival of the 1890s, ‘ clarsach ’ has instead been used for the modern replacement, and I have been using the term ‘ early clàrsach ’ . Before the 13th century, the instrument seems to have been called cruit . fn13 13 That word is now used in modern Irish to refer to all kinds of harp. fn14 14 In the last few decades, the term ‘ wire-strung harp ’ has gained ground as some harpists experiment with quasi-historical set-ups. fn15 15

‘ Celtic ’ is the more general term, being an outsid-ers ’ description of a family of related languages spo-ken across Western Europe in the 1st millennium BC, and restricted for the last 1,000 years or more to the north-western fringes, including Ireland, Scot-land, Wales and Brittany. ‘ Gaelic ’ is the indigenous term for one of its two main sub-divisions, refer-ring to the language and people of Ireland and the

Simon Chadwick

The early Irish harp

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Highlands and Islands of Scotland. fn16 16 ‘ Celtic ’ is now-adays used extremely flexibly to the extent that it can mean almost anything: ‘ a magic bag, into which anything may be put, and out of which almost any-thing may come ’ . fn17 17

Extant instruments

There are, to my knowledge, 16 early Irish harps surviving complete and two partially complete, from before 1800. fn18 18 Of these, seven are in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin; two are in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; two in Trinity Col-lege, Dublin; one each in the Ulster Museum, Belfast; the Guinness Storehouse Museum, Dublin; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and four are in pri-vate hands in Ireland. There are other instruments that were made in the 19th century as part of the vain

attempt to preserve the tradition by teaching poor blind children to play the early Irish harp. fn19 19

None of the 18 instruments has been properly studied by scholars, the only detailed study being that of Robert Bruce Armstrong, published in 1904. fn20 20 Armstrong devotes a section to each of 14 instruments. The level of detail varies: he seems to have considered some instruments of less impor-tance, and others he did not inspect but instead relied on photographs or observations sent to him by correspondents. His work is generally reliable and his photographs and technical drawings are to the highest standards. Sadly, the manuscript notes and drafts for this project appear to be lost. fn21 21

There is considerable ambiguity about the dat-ing of the extant instruments. Three — the ‘ Queen

1 Simon Chadwick with a replica of the ‘ Queen Mary ’

harp, made by Davy Patton, Co. Roscommon, 2006 – 7.

This instrument can be heard on Simon Chadwick ’ s CD

entitled Clàrsach na Bànrighe (earlygaelicharp.info EGH1)

(photo: Ealasaid Gilfillan)

2 The ‘ Queen Mary ’ harp, made circa 15th century, per-

haps in Argyll; supposedly presented to Beatrix Gardyn in

the 16th century by Mary, Queen of Scots, now preserved

at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh (©The

Trustees of the National Museum of Scotland)

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Mary ’ and ‘ Lamont ’ (National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh) and the ‘ Trinity College ’ (Trinity Col-lege, Dublin) — are generally agreed to be medieval, perhaps from the 15th century. The ‘ Otway ’ (Trin-ity College, Dublin) and the metal fittings from ‘ Ballinderry ’ (National Museum of Ireland) may be assigned to the 16th century. The ‘ Cloyne ’ frag-ments (National Museum of Ireland) bear extensive inscriptions, including the date 1621; fn22 22 the ‘ Kildare ’ (National Museum of Ireland) is dated by inscrip-tion to 1672; the ‘ Downhill ’ (Guinness Storehouse Museum) to 1702 and the ‘ Bunworth ’ (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) to 1734; the other nine are usually considered to date from between c .1650 and 1800. fn23 23

The extant instruments were divided by Joan Rimmer into three types; fn24 24 ‘ small low-headed ’ , ‘ large low-headed ’ and ‘ high-headed ’ . There is some early justification for this, as Edward Bunting ’ s glossa-ries, collected from harpers in the early 19th century, include ‘ cinnard cruit : high-headed harp ’ , and also ‘ crom-cruit : down-bending harp ’ . fn25 25 However, having set out these clear types, Rimmer herself sometimes appears confused about the differences between ‘ large low-headed ’ and ‘ high-headed ’ harps. fn26 26 It seems that the clear division between the two types is the length of the bass strings: while high-headed harps have a scaling that allows monofilament brass strings to be used to the bottom of the range, the bass strings of large low-headed instruments are in the region of 20 per cent shorter. fn27 27 There are also

3 The ‘ Lamont ’ harp, made circa 15th century, perhaps in

Argyll; supposedly brought to Perthshire by Lilias Lamont

in 1460, now preserved in the National Museum of Scot-

land, Edinburgh (©The Trustees of the National Museum

of Scotland)

4 The ‘ Otway ’ harp, made circa 16th century; owned and

played by Patrick Quin ( c .1745 – post 1809) (The Board of

Trinity College Dublin)

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structural differences: the low-headed harps have the neck running over the top of the pillar to the bass, while the more steeply curved, high-headed shape requires the neck to be morticed into the back of the pillar that forms the bass continuation.

Structure

Early Irish harps were typically made from only four pieces of timber, morticed together with-out the use of glue. The com , or soundbox, typi-cally carved from a piece of willow, is hollowed from behind, with a separate back-board often of a harder timber; the corr , or neck, which bears the tuning pins, has a tenon to fit the top of the box; the lamhcrann , or forepillar, has a tenon at each end

to fit into the base of the box and the underside of the neck. A metal band is nailed on each side of the neck, through which the tuning pins pass; metal fit-tings ( crú na d-tead ) are nailed to the front of the box to protect the edges of the holes through which the strings enter the soundbox. The tension of the strings pulls the three mortice-and-tenon joints securely together; while the soundbox is bent up by the tension, the sides of the box grip the back-board tightly.

High-headed harps have a slightly more complex structure, being a later adaptation of the traditional design. The truncated neck bears a tenon which fits into a mortice in the back of the pillar; as this joint is no longer pulled tight by string tension, it is often pegged. The joint is also secured by the metal cheek bands that run in one piece from treble to bass. A few of the high-headed harps do not have a one-piece soundbox; fn28 28 instead, planks are glued together to form a composite box, which nonetheless works

5 Ann Heymann holding the ‘ Downhill ’ harp, made in

1702 by Cormac O ’ Kelly; owned and played by Denis

O ’ Hampsey (1695 – 1807) (Dublin, Guinness Storehouse

Museum) (photo: Ann and Charlie Heymann)

6 The ‘ Kildare ’ harp, made in 1672 for Robert Fitzgerald,

16th Earl of Kildare (Dublin, National Museum of Ireland,

with permission)

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in the same way, since the longitudinal grain direc-tion is maintained.

Many instruments bear repairs and modifica-tions, including nails, pegs and iron straps to hold their parts together, to add extra strings, fn29 29 or to repair cracks and splits. It is possible that some of the extant instruments are composite, as the three components make it possible to dismantle a harp and replace a damaged section, or, indeed, for an unscrupulous collector to assemble an instrument from spare parts. fn30 30

Stringing and tuning

None of the extant instruments which I have seen retains original strings; the harps are either unstrung or have late 19th- or 20th-century cos-metic strings of copper or brass wire. A late example retains strings which may date from its working life, fn31 31 but I do not know the current loca-tion of this instrument. Robert Evans found a tiny fragment of 0.7mm diameter red brass wire stuck

to the tenth tuning pin from the bass of the ‘ Ball-inderry ’ harp fittings. It was analysed and found to be a ‘ simple alloy of copper and zinc with prob-ably no more than 10% zinc ’ . This corresponds closely to ‘ red brass ’ as used on the basses of his-torical harpsichords. fn32 32 Apart from that, we are dependent on historical sources and practical experiment. fn33 33 Historical references are explicit that metallic wire was used exclusively on Gaelic harps, but have little, if anything, to say about materials and gauges. Present experiments use soft iron, yellow brass and red brass from harp-sichord supply-houses, as well as custom-made copper-alloy, silver and gold. fn34 34

Edward Bunting wrote down tuning schemes from various Irish harpers in his pocket notebook in 1792. fn35 35 Only one of the schemes that he noted can be related to an extant instrument: the diagram on p.153, marked ‘ Hempsons Harp 1702 ’ . fn36 36 Denis O ’ Hampsey played the ‘ Downhill ’ harp, which bears an inscrip-tion attributing it to the harp-maker, Cormac O ’ Kelly, in 1702. The harp is now owned by Guin-ness and is displayed in their Storehouse Museum in Dublin. It has 30 tuning pins and 32 string shoes, presumably to allow the lengths and angles of all the strings to be adjusted. Bunting ’ s charts indicate a diatonic scale of 30 notes, with all the Fs sharpened. However, there are two unusual features: there is only one string between D and G in the bass; fn37 37 and there are two adjacent strings tuned to g below mid-dle C. The charts that descend below bass C (two octaves below middle C) also miss out the B below it. Bunting ’ s glossary indicates that the doubled g was called comhluighe , which translates as ‘ compan-ions ’ , or ‘ lying together ’ , although the harpers used the English term ‘ the sisters ’ , for politeness. They were the first strings to be tuned, and they appear to have been standard on early Irish harps from medi-eval times right down to the last players in the mid-19th century. fn38 38 Bunting reports two main tunings, with the F strings either sharp or natural. Although he reported that the ‘ natural key ’ was G with the F strings tuned to F , Ann Heymann argues that the earlier system was to tune the harp in G with natu-ral F strings (a Mixolydian scale). fn39 39 As well as these two main tunings, others seem to have been used occasionally; on p.157 Bunting describes a scordat-ura tuning where only one C string is retuned to C

7 Rose Mooney ’ s harp (commonly known as the ‘ Caro-

lan ’ harp), made circa 18th century; owned and played by

Rose Mooney (1740 – c .1798) (Dublin, National Museum of

Ireland, with permission)

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for certain pieces. Different pieces seem to have been customarily played in other tunings, but further research is needed. fn40 40

Pitch standard is something on which no work has yet been done. Bunting reports that comhluighe g was tuned to ‘ g on the violin ’ . fn41 41 The treble scaling of an instrument places limits on the pitch produced by the treble strings, but without a clearer understanding of the exact alloys used or the notes expected from those strings, nothing further can be ascertained. We know the actual note names of the Downhill Harp, 42 and replicas work very well at a � = 440 with the long-

est stringing configuration (missing out the top two string shoes), using Malcolm Rose ’ s yellow brass. Yet, the pitch could easily be lower with a weaker copper alloy, or higher using the higher string shoes to shorten the treble strings. The medieval small low-headed instruments have shorter trebles; one current debate is whether these should be seen as descend-ing only to cronan G , an octave below comhluighe , or whether they should include the low C , D and E , at a higher pitch standard. I use the former system, at a � = 440, on my instruments. fn43 43 There is also an obvi-ous connection between the Gaelic harp with com-hluighe g , the lowest note as cronan G and scale of G with a flattened 7th, and the Gaelic bagpipe with drones on A and a , and a scale of A with flattened 7th ( c and f ). Further investigation is needed.

Playing technique

All modern European harp techniques require the harp to be held to the right side of the body and played with the right hand in the treble and the left hand in the bass. Medieval pictures of harpists seem to show this orientation as well as its opposite, although orientation in pictures is notoriously diffi-cult to interpret. fn44 44 In contrast, the early Gaelic harp was always held to the left of the body, with the left hand in the treble and the right in the bass. fn45 45 The modern Celtic harps of Ireland and Scotland, being innovations of the 19th century, follow the mod-ern European practice of right-orientation. At the present time, early Gaelic harp specialists use both orientations, most preferring to conform to the modern right orientation fn46 46 while a few use the his-torical left orientation. fn47 47

The older tradition was to sound the strings using long fingernails, but from the 17th century onwards, there are reports of Irish harpers prefer-ring to keep their nails short. fn48 48 This reflects a change across Europe, where medieval harps were played with the nails, while later harps were not. fn49 49 The use of nails may have lingered longer in Ireland and Scotland: Denis O ’ Hampsey had long nails, as did Echlin O ’ Kane who worked in the Hebrides at the end of the 18th century. fn50 50 All the other harpers whom Bunting interviewed, however, had short nails. fn51 51

Given the huge problems with trying to interpret detailed nuances from paintings and drawings, we

8 The ‘ O ’ Neill ’ harp, made circa 18th century (© Belfast,

Collection Ulster Museum 2008; photograph reproduced

by courtesy of the Trustees of National Museums North-

ern Ireland)

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are fortunate that photographs exist of a harper from the old Gaelic tradition: Patrick Byrne was photo-graphed in Edinburgh c .1843 by Hill and Adamson. fn52 52 He can clearly be seen holding his high-headed harp against his left shoulder and holding his left hand in the treble and his right in the bass. fn53 53 His hands are held low and his fingers are at right angles to the strings. In one close-up, it is almost possible to see the detail of how he has trimmed his nails. fn54 54

Bunting ’ s published tables give detailed direc-tions for left- and right-hand figures, with staff notation, fingering and verbal directions as well as Irish names. fn55 55 For the left (treble) hand, the figures appear to be mostly types of mordent and trill; for the right (bass) hand, they are two-note chords, and a few larger chords arpeggiated downwards. Much has been made of the lack of bass-clef set-tings in the field notebooks, fn56 56 but Heymann points out that a number of the draft settings include bass indications. She has reconstructed a way of play-ing the tunes without the lush chords that modern harpists expect but which sit uneasily on early Irish harp. fn57 57

Repertory

Three of the tunes which Bunting noted are tagged in the manuscripts as the first, second, third or fourth tunes taught to young harpers. fn58 58 Heymann bases her teaching curriculum on these tunes, fn59 59 and notes especially the importance of Burns March. fn60 60 With its short theme and progres-sive variations, it is related to other early Gaelic musical forms, such as pìobaireachd , and also to the Welsh harp-playing techniques that were written down by Robert ap Huw in the early 17th century. fn61 61 The variations use a most ingenious interlocking of right- and left-hand patterns, which is more like African kora playing than modern Irish, Scottish or classical harp.

No music written down by or for Gaelic harpers appears to survive, although there are references to literate harpers writing out tunes. fn62 62 The Gaelic harp tradition was an oral one, with music being com-posed, performed and transmitted directly from teacher to student. fn63 63 However, Gaelic harp reper-tory was written down by other musicians from the early 17th century onwards. fn64 64 Scottish lute players,

mostly students, included a number of Gaelic harp tunes in their lute books in the 17th century. Written in tablature, these tunes seem to preserve idiomatic styles, harmonized in parallel octaves and with large melodic ranges. fn65 65 In the 18th century, a number of Gaelic harp tunes appear in printed collections in Scotland and Ireland. Often set with a bass line, these tunes are intended for domestic perform-ance on flute or fiddle, with cello or harpsichord accompaniment. Some of them, though, seem to use Gaelic harp idioms, such as the melody line drop-ping into the bass for short sections, fn66 66 or harmonies that move in parallel with the melody, emphasizing the accented notes. fn67 67 At the end of the 18th century and into the 19th, Edward Bunting collected a large number of tunes directly from the last of the harp-ers and, crucially, the field notebooks into which he scribbled his draft impressions of the perform-ances survive. fn68 68 The amount of tidying up to which Bunting subjected the tunes before publication is a warning of how to approach the earlier printed collections — though with the benefits of the manu-scripts, one can still see Bunting attempting to cap-ture elements of the Gaelic harp idiom in his piano settings. fn69 69

Since earliest times, the main role of the Gaelic harp was the accompaniment of song, but progress investigating this area has been slow. fn70 70 Bunting did not speak Irish, and although he employed Irish-speaking secretaries to collect the words of songs, they worked separately from him and the tunes he col-lected rarely match the words. fn71 71 Ann Heymann fn72 72 and Siobhán Armstrong fn73 73 have both recently recorded collaborations with Gaelic singers, which explore possible solutions.

Another area of early Irish harp repertory that remains under-explored is non-Gaelic music. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Irish harps were played solo and in consort across Europe from England to Poland. fn74 74 Though the possibility that William Lawes composed his ‘ Harp Consorts ’ fn75 75 for the chromatic early Irish harp has been discussed in this journal before, fn76 76 the problems of building and setting up a workable chromatic Irish harp remain. fn77 77 In any case, much continuo repertory is quite playable on a diatonic instrument. fn78 78 Further, the relationship between the Irish and Italian Baroque fn79 79 traditions is complicated by comments published by Vincenzo Galilei in 1581,

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where he implies that chromatic Italian harps were produced in imitation of earlier chromatic Irish harps. fn80 80 Irish harpers were still interested in foreign music into the 18th century, such as Echlin O ’ Kane who played Corelli, or Dominic Mungan who played Handel. fn81 81

Conclusion

While other early instrument traditions, such as harpsichord and lute, were revived during the early and mid-20th century, the early Irish harp remained neglected, and it was the 19th-century Romantic replacement that was revived instead. fn82 82 When inter-est did begin in historical reconstructions of early Irish harps, their so-called ‘ Celtic ’ provenance gave them second-class status alongside the more famil-iar classical instruments. What work was done happened in isolation; the instrument was redis-covered a number of times, for example by Arnold Dolmetsch, fn83 83 Gráinne Yeats fn84 84 and Derek Bell. fn85 85

Since the 1970s, Ann Heymann, who plays only the early Irish harp, has been the most impor-tant exponent in the field, and continues to lead new research and discoveries. fn86 86 As well as making acclaimed recordings, fn87 87 she has written the three definitive tutor books for the instrument. fn88 88 She is also responsible for most of the important new developments in the revival, including the study of key source texts, the interpretation of historical techniques and the development of working string-ing regimes for replica instruments.

None of the original instruments is in a state where it can be strung and played, but instrument makers have had little success in making good rep-licas. Indeed, since Armstrong ’ s seminal work in 1904, fn89 89 there has been no significant study of the instruments, and colour photographs and techni-cal drawings of many have never been published. Jay Witcher, working in America in the early 1970s, was the first maker to produce replica instruments

based on study of the originals and without adapt-ing them to modern harp-makers ’ conventions. Other instrument makers who did important work in the 1980s and 1990s were Robert Evans in Wales, Tim Hobrough in Scotland and George Stevens in England. A worrying development, echoing the invention of the neo-Irish harp in the 19th century, is the widespread acceptance of small instruments of modern design. Prominently featuring elements drawn from the historical tradition, such as brass wire strings, one-piece carved soundboxes and no mechanical semitone devices, these instruments are, however, notably lacking in other important features such as comhluighe and cronan tuning, and their scaling and soundbox characteristics are very different from the extant historical instru-ments. Marketed by their makers as ‘ wire-strung harps ’ , they sell well and in many historically aware circles are more popular than historical replicas. At present, two individuals are producing rep-lica instruments which have impressed me: David Kortier, in Minnesota, and Davy Patton, in County Roscommon.

There has been a significant boost to the whole field in the last few years with the founding of the Historical Harp Society of Ireland by Siobhán Arm-strong in 2002. fn90 90 As well as organizing regular classes and other events, and commissioning a series of affordable early Irish harps, the HHSI runs Scoil na gCláirseach — Summer School of Early Irish Harp, which brings Ann Heymann over from America every year and provides a regular forum for inter-ested parties to come together and share ideas.

However, scholars such as Seán Donnelly and Keith Sanger, and performers such as Ann Heymann and Siobhán Armstrong, are still working independently; there is no institutional support any-where and, indeed, in the wider academic and musi-cal world, the early Irish harp remains an enigma, mostly ignored or otherwise misrepresented.

Simon Chadwick has been working on the music and traditions of the early Irish harp, or early clársach, since 1998. He runs an informational resource project, earlygaelicharp.info, and is Honorary Secretary of the Historical Harp Society of Ireland and Assistant Director of its annual early harp summer school, Scoil na gCláirseach. His debut CD, Clàrsach na Bànrighe, was released in 2008. simon@simonchadwick.net

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1 Early Music , xv/2 (May 1987), ‘ Plucked string issue ’ , includes three articles entirely or largely about the early Irish harp: J. Rimmer, ‘ Patronage, style and structure in the music attributed to Turlough Carolan ’ , pp.164 – 74; M. Billinge and B. Shaljean, ‘ The Dalway or Fitzgerald harp ’ , pp.175 – 87; and P. Holman, ‘ The harp in Stuart England ’ , pp.188 – 203. All three of these were important studies that are still influential amongst early Irish harp scholars.

2 Early Music , xi/1 (1983) includes an article by R. Hadaway, ‘ A knot of harp strings ’ , pp.65 – 8, covering the development of the early Irish harp and apparent chromatic experiments in the 17th century.

3 Early Music , xxvii/2 (2000), ‘ Early music of Ireland ’ issue, includes two articles that touched very briefly on the early Irish harp: A. Buckley, ‘ Music and musicians in medieval Irish society ’ , pp.165 – 90; and J. Cosart, A. Mariani, C. Smith and D. Sattelman, ‘ Reconstructing the music of medieval Ireland ’ , pp.271 – 81. Concentrating on providing an overview of the entire national medieval scene, neither of these had anything new to say specifically about the early Irish harp.

4 Early Music , xxxv/2 (2007) includes an article by C. Macklin, ‘ Approaches to the use of iconography in historical reconstruction, and the curious case of Renaissance Welsh harp technique ’ , pp.213 – 23 which makes extensive reference to the early Irish harp though includes a number of errors.

5 John Egan advertisement, from Pigot & Co. ’ s 1824 City of Dublin and Hibernian Provincial Directory, facsimile in United Kingdom Harp Association (February 2002), pp.16 – 17.

6 A. McClelland, ‘ The Irish Harp Society ’ , in Ulster Folklife , xxi (1975), pp.15 – 24; also J. Magee, The heritage of the harp (Belfast, 1992).

7 The St Mogue Shrine, National Museum of Ireland, illustrated in Macklin, ‘ Approaches to the use of iconography ’ , p.220.

8 A. Ross, ‘ “ Harps of Their Owne Sorte ” ? A reassessment of Pictish chordophone depictions ’ , Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies , xxxvi (Winter

1998), pp.37 – 60; M. van Schaik, The harp in the Middle Ages: the symbolism of a musical instrument (Amsterdam, 2005).

9 For example, in K. Sanger and A. Kinnaird, Tree of strings (Kinmor, 1992).

10 For example, H. Myers, ‘ Harp ’ , in A performers guide to medieval music , ed. R. Duffin (Bloomington, 2000), pp.330 – 35, suggests on p.333 that the Irish harp was ‘ completely different ’ from other medieval harps, was ‘ elegant in its own way ’ , and was ‘ played with sharpened fingernails in contrast with the players of gut-strung harps who used the fleshy part of the fingers ’ — an anachronistic but surprisingly tenacious modern comparison.

11 For example, John Evelyn ’ s diary, 20 January 1654 and 14 November 1668 (W. Bray (ed.), The diary of John Evelyn (London, n.d.), pp.273 and 418); Frances Bacon, Sylva sylvarum (1627), items nos.146, 223 and 278 (James Spedding et al. (eds.), The works of Frances Bacon (London, 1859), ii, pp.399 – 400, 420, 433; Michael Praet-orius, Syntagma musicum ii (Wölfenbüttel, 1618), ch. 32, p.56 ( ‘ Irlandisch harff mit messinges saiten ’ ).

12 J. Bannermann, ‘ The clàrsach and the clàrsair ’ , Scottish Studies , xxx/3 (1991), pp.1 – 17.

13 The early terminology is disputed, however.

14 For example, Cairde na Cruite, ‘ Friends of the Harp ’ , the Irish society promoting the neo-Irish harp. www.cairdenacruite.com (accessed 18 July 2007).

15 For example, the Wire Branch of the Clarsach Society, a ‘ special interest group for wire strung harp enthusiasts ’ within the Scottish organization which promotes the neo-clarsach. www.clarsachsociety.co.uk (accessed 18 July 2007).

16 S. James, The Atlantic Celts (London, 1999).

17 J. R. R. Tolkien, ‘ English and Welsh ’ , in The monsters and the critics (London, 1983), pp. 162 – 97.

18 S. Chadwick, ‘ Old harps ’ (2004), www.earlygaelicharp.info/harps (accessed 18 July 2007).

19 I have yet fully to catalogue these late ‘ Society ’ instruments. See S. Chadwick, ‘ Late 18th and early 19th century Gaelic harps ’ (2005), www.earlygaelicharp.info/harps/others.htm (accessed 18 July 2007).

20 R. B. Armstrong, The Irish and Highland harps (Edinburgh, 1904).

21 The papers for his other work, The history of Liddesdale , are in the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.

22 For text and translation of the inscriptions, see A. J. Fletcher, Drama and the performing arts in pre-Cromwellian Ireland (Woodbridge, 2001), pp.210 and 525.

23 Unless otherwise stated all instrument details are referenced from Armstrong, The Irish and Highland harps .

24 J. Rimmer, ‘ The morphology of the Irish harp ’ , Galpin Society Journal , xvii (February 1964), pp.39 – 49; also The Irish harp (Dublin, 1969).

25 E. Bunting, The ancient music of Ireland (Dublin, 1840), pp.20 and 31 – 2.

26 For example, the ‘ Downhill ’ and ‘ Kildare ’ harps are clearly of the high-headed type but Rimmer suggests they are perhaps large low-headed.

27 S. Chadwick, ‘ Stringing a Gaelic harp ’ (2006), www.earlygaelicharp.info/stringing/advice.htm (accessed 18 July 2007).

28 The ‘ Hollybrook ’ and the two ‘ Malahide ’ harps; possibly also Rose Mooney ’ s. This may be a development of the later 18th century, though none of these instruments is even approxi-mately dated.

29 The ‘ Queen Mary ’ harp has added iron fittings for a 30th string in the bass; these are copied on my replica and I am currently experimenting with their use.

30 It has been suggested to me by various people that both the ‘ Trinity ’ and ‘ Otway ’ harps may be composites; I have never seen any real evidence in support of either case. Both have been

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heavily restored with plastic resin filler, however.

31 N. Carolan, ‘ Two Irish harps in Co. Dublin ’ , Ceol , vii (December 1984), pp.40 – 5.

32 R. Evans, ‘ Brass wire ’ , Newsletter of the Wire Branch of the Clarsach Society , iv (June 2001), pp.11 – 13; also ‘ A copy of the Downhill harp ’ , Galpin Society Journal , l (March 1997), pp. 119 – 26. For harpsichord wire, see M. Goodway and J. S. Odell, The historical harpsichord , vol.ii: The metallurgy of 17th and 18th century music wire (New York, 1987).

33 S. Chadwick, ‘ Stringing ’ (2004) www.earlygaelicharp.info/stringing (accessed 4 July 2007).

34 The original argument for silver and gold strings was made by A. and C. Heymann, ‘ Strings of gold ’ , Journal of the Historical Harp Society , xiii/3 (2003), pp.9 – 15, reprinted online with emendations at www.annheymann.com/gold.htm (accessed 27 July 2007).

35 Queens University, Belfast MS 4/29, pp.150, 153, 155, 156, 157. They are transcribed in C. Moloney, The Irish music manuscripts of Edward Bunting (Dublin, 2000), p.69.

36 The same chart was published (without the O ’ Hampsey attribution) by Bunting, The ancient music of Ireland , p.23.

37 According to Bunting, the string between D and G was tuned to F if the harp was tuned with f s, or E if the harp was tuned with F s. Alasdair Codona (personal communication) says that some tunes seem to require f s with bass E, and so suggests that this may not always have been strictly followed.

38 A. and C. Heymann, ‘ The lore of the Irish Harp ’ , Éire-Ireland , xxvi/3 (1991), pp.84 – 7; W. Taylor, ‘ Sister strings ’ , Sounding Strings , xv (Winter 1998), pp.15 – 16; A. Heymann, ‘ Harp, construction of the clairseach ’ , in The companion to Irish traditional music , ed. F. Vallely (Cork, 1999), pp.175 – 81.

39 Personal communication.

40 A. Codona, ‘ Harp keys ’ , www.calumcille.com/modhan/iuchraichean/priomh.html (accessed 4 July 2007).

41 Bunting, Ancient music of Ireland .

42 30 strings, C D E G A B c d e f g g a b c ' d ' e' f ¢ g ¢ a � b ¢ c ¢ ¢ d ¢ ¢ e ¢ ¢ f ¢ ¢ g ¢ ¢ a ¢ ¢ b ¢ ¢ c ¢ ¢ ¢ d ¢¢¢ (where c ¢ is middle C).

43 For ‘ Queen Mary ’ and ‘ Trinity ’ replicas with 29 strings, G A B c d e f g g a b c ¢ d ¢ e ¢ f ¢ g ¢ a¢ b¢ c¢ ¢ d ¢ ¢ e¢ ¢ f ¢ ¢ g ¢ ¢ a ¢ ¢ b ¢ ¢ c ¢ ¢ ¢ d¢ ¢ ¢ e ¢ ¢ ¢ f ¢ ¢ ¢ .

44 Macklin attempts to grapple with this in his article ‘ Approaches to the use of iconography ’ . See also J. C. Schuman, ‘ Reversed portatives and positives in early art ’ , Galpin Society Journal , xxiv (July 1971), pp.16 – 21.

45 Bunting, The ancient music of Ireland , p.24.

46 For example, Siobhán Armstrong, Bill Taylor and Javier Sáinz.

47 For example, Ann Heymann, Violaine Mayor and Simon Chadwick.

48 Billinge and Shaljean, ‘ The Dalway or Fitzgerald harp ’ , pp.184 – 6, also S. Chadwick, ‘ Nails ’ , www.earlygaelicharp.info/nails (accessed 3 March 2008).

49 There are references in Chaucer ’ s Troilus and Criseyde , book II, stanza 148, line 1034, The complete works of Geoffrey Chaucer , ed. W. W. Skeat (Oxford, 1894), ii, p.221. Also in King Horn : R. B. Herzman, G. Drake and E. Salisbury (eds.), King Horn , www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/hornfrm.htm line 235 – 6 (accessed 4 July 2007).

50 C. Ó Baoill, ‘ Some Irish harpers in Scotland ’ , Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness , xlvii (1970 – 72).

51 Bunting, The ancient music of Ireland , p.73.

52 Copies of six calotypes are in the National Gallery of Scotland, reproduced in S. Stevenson, David Octavius Hill and Richard Adamson, a catalogue of their calotypes … [1843 – 1847] (Edinburgh, 1981). Edinburgh Central Library holds four, including one which is not in Stevenson ’ s catalogue, cat. no. (12) pYTR 140 H B4 B99. There is also one photograph, possibly later and by a different photographer, repro-duced in Ulster Journal of Archaeology , xvii (1911). See K. Sanger, ‘ Patrick Byrne (1794 – 1863) ’ , www.clarsach.net/Patrick_Byrne.htm (accessed 4 July 2007), also at http://spanglefish.com/Clarsach/documents/ARTICLES/KEITH_SANGER/Patrick_Byrne.doc

(accessed 4 July 2007). Also see K. Sanger, ‘ Portraits of an Irish harper ’ , Folk Harp Journal , xlv (June 1984), p.19.

53 One of the 19th-century ‘ Society ’ harps referred to above. This instrument is currently lost but there are persistent rumours of its existence in Ireland.

54 Ann Heymann, personal communication.

55 Bunting, The ancient music of Ireland , pp. 24 – 8, published online at www.earlygaelicharp.info/Irish_Terms (accessed 27 July 2007).

56 For example, Moloney, The Irish music manuscripts of Edward Bunting , p.48; G. Yeats, The harp of Ireland (Belfast, 1992), p.26.

57 A. Heymann, Coupled hands for harpers (Minneapolis, 2001).

58 A. Codona, Burns March: progressive lessons , www.calumcille.com/faoidheall/burnsmarch/7.html (accessed 4 July 2007).

59 A. Heymann, Secrets of the Gaelic harp (Minneapolis, 1988); Heymann, A Gaelic harper ’ s first tunes (Minneapolis, 1998).

60 Queens University, Belfast MS 4/29, pp.30 – 1 (ff.14 v – 15 r ); Heymann, Secrets of the Gaelic harp , pp.66 – 9; Heymann, A Gaelic harper ’ s first tunes , pp.24 – 7; Simon Chadwick, Clàrsach na Bànrighe , egh 1, 2008, track 8.

61 F. Buisman, ‘ A parallel between Scottish pibroch and early Welsh harp music ’ , Hanes cerddoriaeth Cymru / Welsh music history , vi (2004), pp.1 – 46. For the mythical Irish origins of Welsh harp music, see S. Harper, ‘ So how many Irishmen went to Glyn Achlach? Early accounts of the formation of cerdd dant ’ , Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies , xlii (Winter 2001), pp.1 – 25.

62 For example, Cornelius Lyons and William McMurchy; see S. Chadwick, ‘ Written tradition ’ , (2005), www.earlygaelicharp.info/tradition/written.htm (accessed 4 July 2007). Also Cormack MacDermott; see Holman, ‘ The harp in Stuart England ’ , p.190.

63 For oral tradition in Welsh harp music, see P. Toivanen, The pencerdd ’ s toolkit: cognitive and musical hierarchies

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in medieval Welsh music , Jyväskylä Studies in the Arts 78 (Jyväskylä, 2001).

64 S. Chadwick, ‘ Sources ’ http://earlygaelicharp.info/sources (accessed 4 July 2007).

65 Sanger and Kinnaird, Tree of strings , pp.174 – 7.

66 For example, J. Bowie, Collection of strathspey reels and country dances (Perth c.1789), p. 31 system 3.

67 For example, National Library of Ireland, lo 1635, commonly known as The compositions of Carolan .

68 Queens University, Belfast MS 4/29.

69 E. Bunting, A general collection of the ancient Irish music (London, 1796); A general collection of the ancient music of Ireland (London, 1809); The ancient music of Ireland (Dublin, 1840).

70 B. Ó Madagáin, ‘ Irish vocal music of lament and syllabic verse ’ , in The Celtic conciousness , ed. R. O ’ Driscoll (Portlaoise, 1981), pp.311 – 32, at p.327; T. P. McCaughey, ‘ The performing of Dán ’ , Eriu , xxxv (1984), pp.39 – 57, at p.43; J. Rimmer, ‘ Harp function in Irish eulogy and complaint ’ , Galpin Society Journal , l (March 1997), pp.109 – 18.

71 For a fairly successful attempt to match tunes and lyrics, see D. O ’ Sulli van, ‘ The Bunting collection of Irish folk music and songs ’ , Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society , xxii – xxix (1927 – 39), and D. O ’ Sullivan with M. Ó Súilleabháin, Bunting ’ s ancient music of Ireland edited from the original manuscripts (Cork, 1983). These only cover the tunes in Bunting ’ s three published volumes; there is a lot more music and text in the manuscripts that remains unpublished and unstudied.

72 Ann Heymann, Cruit go nór , Clairseach cmcd 0706 (2006).

73 Siobhán Armstrong, Cláirseach na hÉireann — The Harp of Ireland , Maya mcd 0401 (2005).

74 S. Donnelly, ‘ A Cork musician at the early Stuart court: Daniel Duff O ’ Cahill (c.1580 – c.1660), “ The Queen ’ s harper ” ’ , Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society , cv (2000), pp.1 – 26.

75 J. Achtman (ed.), William Lawes: the harp consorts , Viol Consort Series No.62A (Albany, 2007).

76 Holman, ‘ The harp in Stuart England ’ .

77 Billinge and Shaljean, ‘ The Dalway or Fitzgerald harp ’ ; Hadaway, ‘ A knot of harp strings ’ ; Taylor, ‘ The Cloyne harp ’ , Sounding Strings (Spring 1998), published online at www.clarsach.net/Bill_Taylor/cloyne.htm (accessed 18 July 2007).

78 ‘ “ What did move you to play the harp? ” Interview with Andrew Lawrence-King ’ , Harpa Internet Magazine , xxii (24 May 2004), www.harpa.com/harpahom000z3l5h4x9r7/022 – 24.5.04/lawrence_king.htm (accessed 12 September 2006); also Siobhán Armstrong, personal communication after Aldeburgh 2007, ‘ Masque of Moments ’ .

79 For the Italian Baroque harp tradition, see J. Rimmer, ‘ The morphology of the triple harp ’ , Galpin Society Journal , xviii (March 1965), pp.90 – 103; J. Rimmer, ‘ The morphology of the triple harp II: addendum on a late Italian example ’ , Galpin Society Journal , xix (April 1966), pp.61 – 4; R. Hadaway, ‘ The recreation of an Italian renaissance harp ’ , Early Music , viii/1 (1980), pp.59 – 62; S. Capp, ‘ Historic harps: a makers eye view ’ , in Aspects of the historical harp: proceedings of the international harp symposium, Utrecht 1992 , ed. M. van Schaik (Utrecht, 1994), pp.99 – 104.

80 V. Galilei, Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna (Florence, 1581), p.143.

81 S. Donnelly, ‘ The famousest man in the world for the Irish harp ’ , Dublin Historical Record , lvii (Spring 2004), pp.38 – 49.

82 www.earlygaelicharp.info/history/19th.htm (accessed 27 February 2008).

83 A. Dolmetsch, Translations from the Penllyn manuscript of ancient harp music (Llangefni, 1937), with three gramophone records.

84 Personal communication; she described visiting modern harp makers who were openly derisive about the idea of wanting an early Irish harp.

85 N. J. Clark and C. Stauffer, Derek Bell, harper-composer (Lynwood, 2002).

86 www.annheymann.com (accessed 27 February 2008).

87 Queen of Harps , Temple comd 2057 (1996), and Cruit go nÓr , Clairseach cmcd 0706 (2006).

88 Secrets of the Gaelic harp (1988); A Gaelic harper ’ s first tunes (1998); Coupled hands for harpers (2001).

89 Armstrong, The Irish and Highland harps .

90 www.irishharp.org (accessed 3 September 2007).

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