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 to suggestions about how we go forward. What would support the community, your research and practice best? Please share your ideas below. Mike

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, including references to similar instruments in other collections. Here is the link to the article: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/9pgWxR3JhinwQWdSIdFm/full?target=10.1080/00393630.2019.1622317 The article details are: Panagiotis Poulopoulos, Marisa Pamplona, Luise Richter & Elke Cwiertnia (2019) Technological Study of the Decoration on an Erard Harp from 1818, Studies in Conservation, DOI: 10.1080/00393630.2019.1622317 The collaborative and interdisciplinary research for this article was supported financially by the Volkswagen Foundation (‘Research in Museums’ Programme) and was part of my current project ‘A Creative Triangle of Mechanics, Acoustics and Aesthetics: The Early Pedal Harp (1780-1830) as a Symbol of Innovative Transformation’ at the Deutsches Museum. For more details see: https://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/research/forschungsbereiche/wissenschaftsgesch/sonic-visual-exhibit/a-creative-triangle-of-mechanics-acoustics-and-aesthetics-the-early-pedal-harp-1780-1830-as-a-symbol-of-innovative-transformation/ and also: https://www.deutsches-museum.de/forschung/forschungsbereiche/sammlungen/restaurierungsforsch/pedalharfe/ I would be happy to know of similar publications or research intitiatives concerning historical pedal harps and I am also looking forward to receiving any feedback on the article. Best wishes Panagiotis Poulopoulos

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/journals/muscz/10/1-2/article-p85.xml https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/muscz.2018.10.issue-1-2/muscz-2018-0003/muscz-2018-0003.pdf The article details are: Daniela Kotašová: Erard Harps in the Collection of the Czech Museum of Music, Musicalia 10, 1-2, 2018, ISSN 1803-7828, pp. 85-114. At the same time I would like to discuss my next project. We have more musical instruments in our collection that are related to their owner, resp. interpreter. The collection contains two keyboard stringed instruments, which Mozart played during his stays in Prague, pianos of significant Czech composers such as Antonín Dvořák ect., violin owned by František Ondříček, who became famous worldwide ect. Knowing these facts, I gradually reveal harpists, who once played instruments from our current collection of musical instruments. I write about the owners of Erard harps in my last year's article (page 94-98). In the next article I would like to reconstruct a "story of harp No. 2284" (double-action pedal harp Erard, Gothic model, Paris, 1892) from its creation in 1892, till its donation to a collection of National Museum in 1984. Based on the preserved sources (archives, contemporary photos, literary adapted harpist memories, etc.) I can assemble this "biographic" as a puzzle. Concerning the fact that I would like to extend my research to a wider context, I need to find out if and in what form, the relationship between the harp and its performer was dealt with abroad. If somebody has an idea or a comment to this question, I would be grateful for it. Best Regards, Daniela Kotašová National Museum Prague - Czech Museum of Music