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Dear colleagues, I am delighted to announce the publication of my new book The Erard Grecian Harp in Regency England by Boydell and Brewer. The book presents the results of my research project ‘A Creative Triangle of Mechanics, Acoustics and Aesthetics: The Early Pedal Harp (1780–1830) as a Symbol

Dear friends and colleagues, I am delighted to announce the publication of my new book, Erard: Empire of the Harp. This is the second of my two monographs on the history of the Erard firm; a companion volume to my book on the Erard piano released last year. This new book on the harp is different

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce the publication of my book La famiglia Érard. Un percorso storico fra documenti e strumenti musicali, n. 31 of the book series "Personaggi della musica", by Zecchini editore. Thanks to an extensive cross-data reference between documents and instruments,

Although a little late having been postponed before Christmas, I will be holding an online launch for my book, Harp Making in Late-Georgian London, on Saturday 20 February from 18:00-19:30 GMT. Tickets are free and can be booked here. All are welcome https://www.eventbrite.com/e/harp-making-in-la

Does anyone know the whereabout of Erard single-action, no. 357, bought by the Princess of Wales on 11 November 1800? A site member is revising the late Sir Oliver Millar's work on British pictures in the Royal Collection and has enquired about the instrument that appears in the portrait by Thomas

Dear colleagues and friends, thanks for the possibility of further communication through this discussion forum. I would like to point out to all people who are interested a new article about Erard Harps in the Collection of the Czech Museum of Music Prague https://content.sciendo.com/view/journa

Dear colleagues and friends, a report of the harp workshop in Munich, written by Elise Kolle, a harpist and currently a harp researcher at Stiftelsen Musikkulturens Främjande in Stockholm, has been published in the latest Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society: https://docs.wixstat

Whilst working through the journals of the J. G. Morley harp company, the following entry (20 July 1892) grabbed my attention. It refers to a Grecian harp (no. 11) by Head of Dublin. I've not encountered this maker before. That the harp is described as 'Grecian' suggests that it was made before c

Over the time I’ve been researching harp makers (some twenty-five years), I’ve held to the belief that it is best to keep my unpublished research close, to not share newly discovered sources or realisations, fearing that someone will ‘steal my work.’ I’ve sat on more or less all of it. I have a d

During the early nineteenth century, the harp was transformed into a sophisticated instrument that became as popular as the piano. This was largely the result of the harp's intensive technical, musical and visual upgrading, which gradually led to the transition from the single- to the double-actio

Dear colleagues, Maria Cleary has just published a fascinating and important preliminary report about the recently discovered harp method (1774) by Michel Corrette. The full citation of the article is: Cleary, Maria Christina. “The Rediscovery of the Nouvelle Méthode Pour Apprendre à Jouer De La H

Dear colleagues, I wonder whether anyone might be able to help me to locate the Erard (London) double-action harp numbered 1955, if it still exists, or might have any information about its history after it was sold on 11 February 1824 to a Miss Shearman of 73 Guildford Street, [London]. Students

My new book went on sale last Friday. It's been a long time coming (10 years of continual solid work - over 25 years working on and off) and has been doubly hard as I chose to start a publishing company and to release it myself. I hope you like it. -----------------------------------------------

I found this web page when researching family members, and there was a post about Charles Groll. My question is, is he the same person as Karol Gröll, brother of Tomas, and Kataryna, and son of Wilhelm, who had a clock-making workshop in London in the 1790's? I know that 'Katherine' and 'William' st

I’ve come across a company www.georgejackson.com who have been in business since 1780 and originally supplied Erard who was charged £66, apparently in 1811 (‘To 55 harps ornamentd compleat @ 24/-) with some of the compo decoration for the Grecian harps. George Jackson Ltd. still has the original s

Dear colleagues and harp enthusiasts, I would like to inform you about a new article related to Erard harps in the journal 'Studies in Conservation'. The article focuses on a detailed technological study of the decoration on the Erard harp No 2631 (London, 1818) at the Deutsches Museum, includi

Book is now available online. Dublin maker John Egan (fl. 1797-1829), known for his Portable Irish Harp model, also produced single-,double- and triple-action pedal harps. Awarded the royal warrant as harp maker to George IV, Egan presented an extraordinary winged-maiden harp to the king and suppli

Dear colleagues and friends, a report of the harp workshop in Munich, written by Daniela Kotašová, curator of musical instruments at the National Museum Prague, has been published in the latest Galpin Society Newsletter: http://www.galpinsociety.org/index2_htm_files/GSNFeb2019.pdf see pp.12-14. Al

Dear colleagues and harp enthusiasts, a recently produced podcast focusing on the Erard double-action harp at the Deutsches Museum was published last week. It is available (Podcast No 2, only in German) here: www.deutsches-museum.de/forschung/podcast Some of the music heard during the podcast w

I have an Erard harp that I recently bought at auction. I am either looking to restore it or resell it. I just read the article about the restored harp, but I would need some serious guidance on the process and find a reputable person in the USA to restore it. Can anyone out there give me some ad

Dear colleagues and harp enthusiasts, I would like to inform you that my article „So wenig kultivirt, so ganz vernachlässigt“: Die Pedalharfe in Deutschland um 1800 has been published in the “Open Access” journal Phoibos: Zeitschrift für Zupfmusik (University of Bayreuth). The article provides a c

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book, Erard: A Passion for the Piano (Oxford University Press, 2021). This is the first of my two monographs on the history of the Erard firm; a second on the Erard harp is in preparation. Here is a brief description of the book f

Hello everybody, After discussing with Robert Adelson regarding a harp I'm currently restoring, he suggested to write in this forum to hear different opinions. The harp is an Erard Empire simple-action, with soupape. The plate doesn't bear any number whatsoever Harp number III. Plate Harp number II

Hi all! I have created an online database of portraits of female harpists between 1720-1850. This database is a free resource and I hope it will be useful to members of this community! I am always looking for additions to the database, and there is a "submissions" section of the website where you ca

In around 6 weeks theearlypedalharp.net will be a year old. Over the past year 60 people have signed up as members, and we've had excellent contributions to our blog and forum pages. What next? The website will continue its focus on the early pedal harp - that is non-negotiable - but we're open t

Dear colleagues, I am currently studying the phenomenon of harp makers who collected instruments (their own—for example, by preserving prototype models—or by other makers), even if these were not always acknowledged as 'collections' per se. I am aware of collections maintained by Erard, Pleye

Dear colleagues and harp entusiasts, here is the link to an Open Access publication which includes a new article on Erard harps: http://woodmusick.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/COST_FP1302%20Book.pdf The article details are: Panagiotis Poulopoulos and Julin Lee, ‘A Synergy of Form, Function and Fa

Dear colleagues, Might anyone have any information on a Thomas Hamilton (or member of his family) who lived near Glasgow in the period 1810-1820? I am studying a harp that belonged to him, and thought that perhaps his name might appear in some of your databases or research notes. Thanks in advance

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