Henriette Renié (France, 1875-1956), was one of the first successful female harp virtuosos and a respected teacher and composer.Īlberto Salvi (Italy, 1893-1983), renowned harpist, performed many solo concerts in a time when more harpists were accompanists performed in many operas recorded with RCA Victor and was popular on radio.Ĭarlos Salzedo (France, 1885-1961), widely credited as establishing the harp as a significant instrument in the 20th century composed a large body of music pieces for the harp esteemed harp virtuoso and beloved teacher designed the Lyon & Healy Salzedo model harp. Turlogh O’Carolan (Ireland, 1670-1738), blind harpist and composer of the harp, wrote many popular Irish airs.Ĭharles Oberthür (Germany, 1819-1895), renowned harpist and composer.Įlias Parish-Alvars (England, 1808-1849), considered one of the best harpists of all time composer of concertos, fantasias and solos for harp, many still popular today.
#Lyon healy harp bench with queen anne leg movie#
Harpo Marx (USA, 1888-1964), second oldest of the “Marx Brothers” – the popular vaudeville act and movie team of the 20’s and 30’s taught himself to play the harp while never learning to read music his two gold Lyon & Healy harps were donated to an Israeli university for student use upon his death. Lily Laskine (France, 1893-1988), harp prodigy with a long career including posts at the Paris Opera, Orchestre National de France, Theatre Francais and as professor of harp at the Paris Conservatoire also a successful recording artist. Marcel Grandjany (France, 1891-1976), successful harp virtuoso, esteemed teacher, helped found the American Harp Society.Īlphonse Jean Hasselmans (Belgium, 1845-1912), refined the techniques known as the French method of harp playing, instructed many respected harpists while harp professor at the Paris Conservatoire. Sebastien Erard (Germany, 1752-1831), developed the single action and double action harp, revolutionized the harp by the invention of the fourchette mechanism (discs with prongs) that is still used today.Ĭlelia Gatti-Aldrovandi (Italy, 1901-1989), esteemed harp soloist and respected teacher. Jacques-Georges Cousineau (France, 1760-1824) invented the bequille and other mechanisms for the harp, was also a harp virtuoso. When the corresponding pedal was depressed, the discs turned and the strings sharpened a semitone, held firmly against the prong. Two brass prongs (or forks) extended from a disc that a string passed through before attaching to the tuning peg. The most important improvement was the disc system. Brass action plates were attached to the outside of the harp neck, rather than inside providing strength to the linkage system. A model was introduced that had a soundbox built with a separate pine soundboard and a body that was reinforced with internal ribs. Near the end of the 18th century, the single-action pedal harp was greatly improved. While a better system, they were prone to breakage and produced a buzzing noise. The hooks were quickly improved to crochets, which were right-angled rather than u-shaped hooks, then to bequilles, sets of two small levers in which each string wrapped through when a pedal was depressed, one lever would turn clockwise and the other counter-clockwise, providing a firmer grip. When depressed they connected to hooks that would sharpen the strings of the same note via linkages that passed through the column. Five pedals (eventually seven) were housed in the bottom of the soundbox. The harp was even delivered to my front door by one of the Venus employees himself….Approximately 1720, a less cumbersome way to get some chromatic notes from a single-strung harp tuned diatonically was introduced. I also felt that Venus took more of a personal interest in my harp design, working with me to make sure the finish was correct, etc. I’ve played all kinds of harps and have never played a new model L&H that was satisfactory to me….I love the Venus sound. They have less overhead, since they don’t do sheet music and trinkets, so they can probably charge less for their harps than L&H. I think Venus is more harp for the money. I have had the need for the low C on many, many occasions with orchestras but have not needed the high G. One of the reasons I got the Venus semi-grand is because of the range: low C to high F, rather than the low D to high G of the L&H or Salvi. I own two Venus 46-string harps….a Traditional in birdseye maple and a Protege in two tone walnut/maple.
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