AHJ, Vol. 5 No. 3, Summer 1976

that in the modern harpsichord, by which the sound of
the preceding could be stoppt ... To avoid actual discord,
it was therefore necessary that the succeeding
emphatic note should be a chord with the preceding, as
their sounds must exist at the same time ... " He also
added, "I believe our ancestors, in hearing a good song,
distinctly articulated, sung to one of those tunes, and
accompanied by the harp, felt more real pleasure than is
communicated by the generality of modern operas,
exclusive of that arising from the scenery and dancing.
(Letter to Lord Karnes, Edinburgh, June 2, 1765 3 ).
EARLY HARPISTS AND THE MUSIC
THEY PLAYED
Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, was a performer on
the Irish harp and played and sang for President
Thomas Jefferson on a visit to America, in return for
Jefferson's hospitality.4
Concert programs of the last decade of the 18th century
reveal only a few names of performing harpists,
and even fewer names of the composers of the works
performed. A typical example is the program (quoted
by Sonneck5) of a Baltimore concert played in 1794,
which included the usual variety of works, vocal and
instrumental. The harp is mentioned twice: first, "A
Duetto between a Forte Piano and Harp by Mr. Vogel
and an amateur"; and, later, "A Sonata on the Harp, by
a French Amateur." Another concert, presented in
Philadephia in the same year, included a "Concerto
on the Harp, by a Lady." (This program was given "for
the benefit of a person, who has fallen from the most
independent affluent situation to the most abject
state of distress, in consequence of the massacre at
Ft. Dauphin, on the island of St. Domingo.")"
During this period, five harpists were named as appearing
in concerts in the East: Mme. DeSeze, Mrs.
D'Hemard, M. Salomon, M. Relain, and M. Mechtler.
Of the last two, little information can be found (except
that Mechtler had in his repertoire a "Symphony of
Krumpholz on the harp" which he performed in 1795).7
The other names all seem decidedly French; and it is
very likely that Salomon was a Frenchman, since a
Philadelphia program of 1792 mentions "A Sonata
and Marlborough's variations on the harp by M. Salomon
who taught to play on that instrument in Paris." 8
Mme. DeSeze was much in the public eye in New
York in the year 1792. 9 It seems that she was a singer
as well as a harpist and often accompanied herself on
the harp. We are at a loss to know the composers of the
works in her repertoire; the pro~rams only list such information
as:
"Song accompanied on the Pedal Harp" 10
"Sonata Harp"
"Favorite Airs on the Harp"
"The pretty French potpourri, on the Harp, with
many favorite airs"
"Concertante on the Harp and Flute"
"The much admired song 'C' est pour toi que je les
arrange' accompanied by the harp"
4
In fact, the only pieces on Mme. DeSeze's programs to
which we have a clue as to origin are "Song of the opera
Aty on the harp' (Sonneck notes that this opera is by
Piccinni) 11 and "An Engli h Song on the Harp 'A
Lovely Rose', Composed by Mr. Capr n and Mme. De­
Seze".12
Mme. DeSeze performed often with Mr. Hewitt and
Mr. Capron, well-known New York musicians. But it
seems that for some reason she did not make a great
success financially; at one point the French consul was
obliged to sell at auction the trunks and instruments
belonging to her and her husband. A notice of this proceeding
was printed in the "American Minerva" of
February 10, 1794, as well as M. DeSeze's comment
that he considered it unwarranted and hoped that 'no
good feeling man' would bid on his things. 13
Whatever the reason, Mme. DeSeze seems to have
intended to quit the concert stage as of April 8, 1794,
when she played what was announced as her "last" concert
and retired to assist her husband with his new
French school for young ladies and young gentlemen.
Her next appearance before the public seems to have
been in 1800, in a concert with her husband and
others. 14
As for Mrs. D'Hemard, her appearances seem to have
been limited to the Maryland-Virginia area, around
Washington. She is known to have given programs in
Baltimore and Alexandria in 1795, and was advertised
in publications of that vicinity. One of these advertisements
tells us that Mrs. D'Hemard was among the
French refugees who came to this country; it announces:
"A small concert on the harp only, wherein she will
execute several pieces of music and particularly beautiful
songs with their variations"
and remarks that she was forced to give a concert:
" ... by the unhappy circumstances common to all
the unfortunate French, to have recurse for the means
of her sustenance to a talent which, in happier times,
would have served only to embellish her education."
She also advertised in the Federal Gazette-not very
modestly- "... to obtain the suffrages of the public by
the superiority of her talent over those who have performed
on the same instrument in this country." 15
(Perhaps she and Mme. DeSeze would have come to
some sort of reckoning, had they ever chanced to meet.)
Possibly her claims were well-substantiated; at least we
find in the record a testimonial by an admirer, Mr. Elisha
Dick (writing for the Columbian Mirror, June 13,
1795):
"I have heard Mrs. D'Hemard perform upon the
harp ... Mrs. D'Hemard's judgement, taste and execution
upon the pedal harp are not, in my opinion,
to be surpassed by anyone." 16
Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, has
acquired a considerable quantity of early American
music, including twenty-three titles of music for harp,
published by firms in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
and Boston between 1794 and 1860. Many of
these were found to have been printed in several dif-
AMERICAN HARP JOURNAL