The Irish standard., 1907-03-30
THE IRISH HARP.
Story Of the National. Musical lnstru.
snent Of ireland.

Miss Violet Kelly, the noted Irish
harpist, now residing in London, has
furnished the basis for the following
interesting story of the national musi-
cal instrument of her native land.
The story of the harp is best told in
Ireland. for though the harp is as old
as the world almost, and figures in the
relics of nations that were young with
the world, and are now no more. it is
more closely connected with Ireland's
song and story, ancient and modern.
than with that Of any other of the
great national families. The Aryan
settlers of Ireland brought their harps
with them from western Asia and east
ern Europe, upon which the praise of
the Creator was played, and through
all the stories Of war and wassail. in
great national gatherings, and individ
ual chieftain's festivities, and at fu-
nerals, the harper has been an import
ant parsonage, and the playing of the
harp a regular and well paid profess
sion. Canbrensis tells of abbots and
bishops who in the fifth century trav-
eled about with their harps, utilizing
their music to help win souls to Cod
to melt sinners hearts.
In $50, A. D., there was a. great three
days national parliament or Feis at
Tara at which over thousand bards
were present with their harps-.both
cruit and clairseach. In the fifth and
sixth centuries Irish missionaries in
even so late as the eleventh century
the practice continued among the
Welsh bards of receiving instructions
in the bardic profession from Ireland
At the Eisteddfod in Caerwys. in HOO,
Welsh music was .codiied under the
direction OF the Irish hard Malachi,
and twenty-four musical canons we're
adopted.
And so 1t went,on. Not only was the
harp a necessity IN every Irish home.
but Irish harpers were. down to the
very days Of the English invasion. a
recofnized institution in England,
Scotland and Wales. The musician
was generally the poet and historian,
though the bard and the poet were two
distinct persons. the poet writing for
the bard's singing. The great deeds
of Irish kings and chieftains were thus
sung at home and abroad, and events
of local as well as national Importance
kept before the people. After the Eng
lish invasion the bard's missions be-
came even more important-they kept
up the spirit of rebellion to the usur-
per and encouraged the people to hope
and to fight until the jealousy and
anger of the invader were aroused and
death to harp and harper became a
fixed English policy.
In the statute of Kilkenny in 1867,
it was made penal to receive or enter
| tain Irish harpers or minstrels within
the English pale in Ireland. Henry
| VI commissioned his marshals to i'm
prison the harpers in Ireland and ap-
| propriate their goods and chattels, in
Guiding their harps
| A notable exception to the English
hatred Of the Irish harp was that Of
Charles T., who was partial to it and
encouraged the Irish harpers. Under
James l. the harp. as the national en-
blem of Ireland, was first quartered
on the English royal arms. A promi-
nent official of st. James court is re-
corded as saying: "The best eason
for the adoption of the harp as repre-
sentative of Ireland was that 1t re-
sembled Ireland itself. in being such an
instrument that it required more cost
to keep it in tune than 1t was worth"
which remark, coming from that
source, quite compliments the Irish
people.
Galilei, writing in 1885, praises the
Irish harp and acknowledges Italy's
| indebtedness to ireland for it. Bacon
said about the same time, "No harp
hath the sound so melting and pro-
longed as the Irish harp" A French
historian writing in 1914 said, "The
Irish are very fond Of the harp. on
which they nearly all play" Under
Charles l. the harp was still commonly
in the hands of the Irish people, every
house having one or two. Then came
Cromwell and fierce crusade was be-
gun against Irish music. His rage
could not stand the sight Of an Irish
harp, and by his orders they were not
only confiscated, but broken into pieces
wherever found in Ireland. Archdeacon
| Lynch, in Ireland at that time. In the
secrecy of his hiding place, wrote a
history of the Irish harp, giving the
minutest details of its construction and
appearance in it's various forms, so