The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-07-14
THE GOLlAN HARP.
The Original Crude Affair Has Been Much
Improved.

Improved.
The Eolian harp is musical instru-
ment which is set IN action by the
wind. 1t is not very well known, but
is very curious. and is supposed to have
been invented by Father Kircher, the
Jesuit savant, who lived in the
seventeenth century and invented
many ingenious machines. But the
fact of the spontaneous reso-
nance of certain musical instru-
ments when exposed to current of air
had struck the observers of nature in
times of remotest antiquity. One of the
Talmuds says that the harp of David
sounded when the north wind blew on
it, and it has been suggested that he
had an aolian, as we understand it.
The sounding of his harp by gust of
wind would be nothing extraordinary
if it stood near his north window. which
was probably open for air and chosen
for GOODNESS and shade in the climate of
Judea.
Kircher's harp had sixteen strings of
of catgut. and the force of the wind
was DETECTED on to it by various shut
tiers or screens. In later times this was
improved upon by Messrs. Frost and
Kastner, but was similar to the pre-
ceding form in principle and construc-
ton. The Eolian harps in the old cas-
tie of Baden Baden, and those in the
four turrets of Strasburg cathedral are
celebrated. They are all made of
strings stretched over sounding box,
and require tuning to keep them in har-
mony. They are also large and cum
brous, and have a limited number of
strings, which make the music more or
less monotonOus, and they are depend
ent on the wind from one direction
only. The changes of temperature and
dampness of the atmosphere make them
constantly out of tune, and, indeed, Of
ten cause the strings to break.
These difficulties and drawbacks
have hitherto prevented the Eolian
harp from being so well known and
popular as such an interesting and
curious instrument deserves to be; but
the latest development of this harp,
named the .Eolian, invented in 1891 by
Mr.. G. Crosland Taylor, F. R. G.. S.,
Helsby, near Warrington, is a step in
the right direction.
The music is produced by sensitive
metallic rods instead of strings, so that
it never requires tuning, and as there
is eighty separate notes there is great
variety of sound. 1t is intended to
hang on the bough of tree land may
be left there without damage from the
weather.. 1t turns round before the
wind and is, therefore, exposed to every
point of the compass, and the music
passes into an organ pipe by which it
is greatly enriched and improved.
The principle of an 1Eolian harp may
be Familiarity shown on large scale by
the action of telegraph wires stretched
from one pole to another. In windy
day these will be found, to omit musical
tongues, rising and falling in proper
ton to the strength of the wind and
the tension of the wires.
Hector Berlioz, in his Voyage Mu-
sicale en- Italie," has given the follow
ing curious effects that an Eolian harp
has produced upon his lively and i'm
passioned imagination: ''On one of
those gloomy days that sadden the
end of the year, listen, while
reading Ossian to the fantastic har-
mony of an Eolian harp swinging at
the top of tree deprived of its verdure,
and l defy you not to experience a
profound feeling of sadness and of
abandon and vague and infinite de-
ire for another existence" Cha
teaubriand, in. LES Natchez," COM
pares its sound to the magic concerts
that the celestial vaults resound." Be-
sides inspiring writers of both prose
and poetry, the Eolian harp possesses
remarkable properties which act upon
the nervous system and cause very diff
ferert impressions, according to the
temperament of those who listen to its
accordS Queen