The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-05-23
Playing on I he Harp.

It is curious fact that few women
care about the harp, yet there is not
sweeter instrument and there is none bet
ter adapted to women and the exhibition
of her charms. Everybody has q piano,
and the banging that is going on from
one end of the land to the other, is a
source of much amusement to close OBJ
servers, but harps are scarce and harpists
are even scarter. A harp, moreover, is
an ornament to any drawing room,
library or parlor. With pretty girl
sitting by it and deftly touching its
strings the picture is one which delights
the eve as mu:h as the music does the
ear. For change a harp craze would
be great relief from the piano craze.
There is one great obstacle in the way
of popularizing the harp. That is the
immense cost OF the instrument. What
is known as grand Gothic harp, made by
Erard, of Paris, cannot be had tor less
than $1,000 in this country. Of that
amount $3.50 goes into Uncle Sans
pocket for the purpose of protecting the
harp.makers in this country, if there are
any. The Reeds, on State street. sold
secondhand instrument the other day
for $500. 'If a harp would only cost
5000 or $780," said Nine. Chatterton,
the great harp artist and teacher, the
other day, there is no doubt in my
mind that the harp would soon bacome
popular in society. Now, father will
hesitate before he invests small for
tune in an instrument of which very lit
tie is known. His daughter may be ever
so eager to play the harp, the father will
perhaps fear that she may tire of it after
a few years, or the young lady may get
married and quit playing. The general
knowledge of the capabilities of harp is
so limited that men like Damrosch and
Thomas even give 1T no other placeiu the
orchestra than that of obligato. Yet
there is much music in the harp. 1t is
much like the human voice, capable
of ever so much modulation.
sStill, the composers have turned
more attention to the harp than they
used to do. Hector Berlioz has written
some fine music for the harp, and
Brahms Enchanted Swans is sublime.
Both these composers understand the
harp and wrote their music in the proper
key. Wagner had the harp in his
orchestration, but his music for it was
arranged for the piano, necessitating on
the part of the harpist no mean talent
as composer in transporting the origi.
nal music for the harp. The lack of
proper music for the harp, and the ne
cessity of transportation, makes the harp
sound exceedingly shrill and spoils the
intricate mechanism of the instrument.
A pupil of the average musical talent can
do more on the harp in two years than
on the piano in seven. Of course it is
necessary 20 interest the mind as well as
the hands. Here is where the difficulty
comes in. Our ladies are taken up too
much with society. They are tired in
che forenoon, go shopping in the after
noon, and are in society at night. In
Europe every society lady, if she has
any intellectual ambition at all, keeps
some hours of the day to herself, and
practices music, paints or writes.
Though I must say that harp-playirg
has become more popular of late, and
were it not for the cost of the instru-
ment, it would soon be a society insti-
tuition. - Chicago Herald.