DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

HARP HARP-LUTE 327
so ingenious that tlie position of the upper
disk— the second to move but the first to act
upon the strings— is not changed when the
lower disk completes its movement of revolu-
tion and acts upon the strings also.
Tlie drawing represents three sections of the
neck of Erard's double-action harp, and shows
the position of the forks and external levers, (1)
when the strings are open, (2) when stopped for
the first half tone, and (3) when stopped for the
second. Two strings are shown for each pitch.
It is not necessary to keep the foot upon a
pedal, as it may be fixed in a notch and set free
when not required ; spiral springs with two arms
fixed beneath the pedestal accelerate the return
of the pedals. Unlike the weighty expedient of
the Cousineaus, there are but two brass plates
which form the comb concealing the greater part
of the action. Lastly, Erard made the convex
body bearing the sound-board of one piece, doing
away with the old lute-like plan of building it
np with staves.
As already stated, the double-action harp is
tuned in Cb. By taking successively the seven
pedals for the half-tone transposition, it can be
played in Gb, Do, Ab, Eo, Bt>, F, and Cj. By
tlie next action of the pedals, completing the rise
of the wdrole tone, the liarp is set successively
in G, D, A, E, B, Fj, and Cj. The minor scales
can only be set in their descending form, the
ascending requiring change of pedals. Changes
by transposition constitute a formidable difficulty
in playing keyed instruments through the altered
fingering recpiired. On the harp passages may
be repeated in any key with fingering absolutely
the same. The complication of scale fingering,
so troublesome to pianoforte playing, is with the
har[t practically unknown. The difficulties attending
performance on the harp, the constant
tuning necessitated by the use of catgut strings,
and tire absence of any means of damping the
sounds, have induced M. Dietz, of Brussels, to
invent a harp-like instrument with a chromatic
keyboard, which he has named the Claviharp.
It was introduced into England through the
advocacy of Dr. ^V. H. Cummings, but it can
hardly be said to have succeeded as it was expected
to do, and it has certainly not expelled
the ordinary harp from our orchestras. It is
sufficient to say that the action of the Claviharp
is highly ingenious, the strings being excited
mechanically much in the same way as the
strings of the harp are excited by the player's
fingers. Tliere are two pedals—one being like
the pianoforte damper pedal and the other
jiroducing the harmonics of the octave. The
Claviliarp is of pleasing appearance.
The harmonics of the harp are frequently used
by solo-players, and the ' sonorousness of these
mysterious notes when used in combination with
flutes and clarinets in the medium ' called forth
the admiration of Berlioz {Modem Instriimenta-
tion, Novello, 1S58).
In describing the Double - action Harp of
Sebastian Erard, the writer has been much
helped by a report, read before the French
Institute in 1815, and lent to him by M. George
Bruzaud. A. J. H.
[Quite recently, since 1897, a chromatic harp
has been manufactured by the Pleyel firm. It
was patented in 1894, and perfected in 1903
by M. Gustavo Lyon, chief director of the firm
it has no pedals, and the strings are arranged to
cross each other, so that the strings representing
the white notes of the pianoforte keyboard are
fastened to the left side of the console and the
right of the sound-board, whilst those representing
the black notes of the keyboard are fixed to
the right side of the console and the left of the
sound-board. There are ingenious details to
facilitate tuning, and the full compass of the
ordinary harp is available. It has already come
into general use in many of the orchestras,
theatrical and otherwise, in France, and is in
gi'eat favour in the Brussels Conservatoire.]
HARP-LUTE or DITAL HARP, one of the
attempts made about the beginning of the
19tli century to replace the guitar. Edward