AHJ, Vol. 7 No. 4, Winter 1980

MORE CORRECTIONS
FROM DAVID WATKINS
To the Editor:
I am very touched at your enthusiasm
and precision regarding
the Petite Suite. Yes, you are absolutely
right about the first note of
the left hand at m. 2, last line of
page 6: it should be F, not A as
printed. As far as the fermata is
concerned on the first page, a piacere
would be more what I want
now. The arpeggio is to be played
like a tiny cadenza rather than with
stops or starts.
David Watkins
Fordcombe Manor, Kent
Other misprints were corrected in
this Journal, vol. 6, no. 2 (winter,
1977), p. 15.
-Ed.
A PLEA FOR
AUTHENTIC INSTRUMENTS
To the Editor:
I read with interest Dr. Music's
article on the use of the harp as a
continuo instrument, and I am
sure we are all grateful to him for
drawing the attention of the harp
world to a much neglected role
available to the instrument.
However, I believe that the use
of the harp in baroque ensembles
was more widespread than he
suggests. The lack of parts written
out specifically for the harp was
neither a function of the instrument's
cost nor its "chromatic
limitations." It can be explained by
the fact that the harp, unlike many
other instruments of the time, had
been in use for centuries, and the
techniques and conventions of
playing were thoroughly familiar to
professional musicians who could
easily improvise on a bass line or
even adapt at sight written-out
keyboard parts. This lack of "harp
music" also explains the neglect in
the early music world of early harp
Winter/1980
playing, since that movement (Mr. Hadaway is a builder of modsprings
almost entirely from sur- em replicas of historic instruviving
music.
ments.)
May I draw your readers' attention
to two articles which appeared
recently in Early Music (an Oxford
REQUEST FROM THE
University Press quarterly). One by LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Michael Morrow discusses the role
of the renaissance harp in performance
practice of the time and in
particular to its role in the Florentine
Intermedii of 1589 which were
performed in London last September
as one of the European
Broadcasting Union's concerts.
The other, by myself, discusses the
task of making a renaissance (or
baroque) arpa doppia, or double
harp in the context of early-harp
construction.
I cannot agree that baroque
harps were either particularly
costly or lacked whatever musical
versatility was required of them at
the time. The instrument that I
copied was part of Count Vincenzo
Correr' s 17th century "school orchestra"
and was a completely
plain and simple instrument. Indeed,
the presence of it in a school
orchestra is itself evidence of the
instrument's universal use at that
time.
As for its limitations, the music
of a particular era was, per se, written
expressly for the instruments in
use at that time. To play baroque
music on a pedal harp is like playing
Bach on a grand piano. Not
only does it make a completely
different sound, but in the case of
the harp it is incapable of some of
the techniques available to a double
harpist, such as fast chromatic
runs and most of the expressive
qualities that slack strings and
braypins can produce.
I would very much like to add to
Dr. Music's appeal to play baroque
continua parts on the harp: my
own appeal, to play them on the
right harp.
Robert Hadaway
To the Editor, American Harp Journal
The Library of Congress requests
permission to transcribe articles
from the above periodical into embossed
and/or recorded form in
order to make them available free
of charge to blind and physically
handicapped persons who are unable
to read ordinary print in a
conventional manner. The transcriptions
will be produced in response
to individual requests in
accordance with regular procedures.
National Library Service
for The Blind and
Physically Handicapped
Write to the above agency at the
Library of Congress, 1291 Taylor
St. NW, Washington, DC 20542
for further information.
-Ed.
PRAISE FOR JUDITH BEATTIE
To the Editor:
Starting on page 20 of the
Winter 1979 American Harp Journal
there is a most useful article by
Judith Beattie entitled "How to
Load Your Harp Alone." As Editor
of the Newsletter of the South African
Harp Society, I would very
much like to reprint this article as
it would be so helpful to our harpists
here. I would be very grateful
if you could give me permission to
use this article for one of our
Newsletters.
Hester Krausey
Johannesburg, SA
Tregaron, Dyfed, Wales Permission extended gladly. -Ed.
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