A very well-known instrument, giving soft, subtle but lovely music. Nevertheless, a strange and not frequently used instrument. If we restrict ourselves to the Romantic era, we rarely come across the harp. I know of only a very few harp concertos. I think Boïeldieu's famous concerto is late classical and not early romantic. We all know Reinecke's op. 182, which is a lovely concerto. Glière wrote his beautiful op. 74 in 1938, but it is fully romantic. In chamber music the harp is rarely used. And in how many symphonies the harp is part of the standard instruments?
I wonder why the harp seems to be a neglected instrument. Difficult to play? Too expensive?
Maybe this instrument is worth a thread to find out how many composers and compositions there are. Any examples (BTW, I haven't searched on the internet)?
Quote from: Peter1953 on Saturday 26 June 2010, 07:44We all know Reinecke's op. 182
I've never heard it, so thanks for the tip!
There are three harps in Bruckner's 8th Symphony.
There are two harps in The Passion of Angels by Mozetich, which is a fully Romantic work.
Smetana used two harps in Má Vlast.
There is also a Harp Concerto by Rautavaara, which I have not yet heard (I find his style variable).
(There is also a host of baroque and classical harp concerti.)
Quote from: Peter1953 on Saturday 26 June 2010, 07:44
A very well-known instrument, giving soft, subtle but lovely music.
(...)
I wonder why the harp seems to be a neglected instrument. Difficult to play? Too expensive?
You've answered your own question before asking it.
It's way too soft to be clearly audible in an orchestral apparatus playing not-so-subtle-and-everything-but-lovely music. That's why most romantic composers had it contributing on accompanimental basis only.
Romantic harp concertos you'll find by Parish-Alvars, Reinecke & Zabel, amongst (even) lesser composers. I do love Reinecke, but I fear this CD will never be played by me again... (knock on wood)
In a symphony orchestra the harp is frequently not loud enough in tutti passages to make its presence felt - which is why many late-romantic composers (I think of Richard Strauss, Vaughan Williams, Elgar) ask for two (or more) harps - playing identical parts - in many of their orchestral works where they employ this instrument. It is beautiful when played well but it demands a light orchestral accompaniment. It can also go out of tune quite easily - and, of course, with all those strings, demands a lot of pre-tuning - which is why you often see the harpist tuning his/her instrument a long time before the other players appear on the platform.
Spohr wrote a lovely concertante work for violin and harp.
There was some talk of the Parish-Alvars concertos on the old forum. I remember hearing an 'arrangement' of one in G minor once when I was a kid. I guess the original score had been lost and the orchestral parts had to be reconstructed from the piano reduction. I had seen on the old forum that someone had done some research and that full scores or recordings (or both) had been found for a couple of others. And I agree with you about the Reinecke. It is a beautiful piece, which is deftly scored so that the harp can be used to its full advantage without being drowned out by the orchestra. I don't understand what Kriton was talking about. What CD does he have? I have the Naxos, and even if he didn't like the Harp Concerto, the Flute Concerto (another work deserving standard repertory status) would make me return to that CD often!
P.S. Don't forget the use of the harp by Bruch in his Scottish Fantasy!
I'm very fond of Pierne's Konzertstuck for Harp and Orchestra and play it quite often. It's lush, very srong melodically and beautifully written. The recording that Lily Laskine made still sounds well. There's also that late "Morceau de Concert" for Harp and Orchestra by Saint-Saens which is attractive but rather insubstantial and a splendid "Concierto" by Ginastera, not a Romantic work of course but very attractive with its Latin American rhythms and catchy folky tunes. Gliere's Concerto is also attractive if you've got a sweet tooth (as usual with this composer) and Rodrigo's "Concierto Serenata" for Harp and Orchestra strikes me as one of his best works. But the finest work for the harp must surely be the wonderful "Introduction and Allegro" by Ravel.
I seem to remember a recording of a concerto by Nicholas Bochsa (d.1856) He was a colorful character, a 'Svengali' of the harp, who convinced the singer Anna Bishop to leave her husband Sir Henry (composer, ironically, of 'Home, Sweet Home') and run away with him.
Less well known, the 19th century harper (ist?) John Cheshire, who continued to style himself 'Harpist to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh' long after he had moved to America, made a name for himself on this side of the Atlantic in the 1880's and 90's. His mss. (and there are many) are in the New York Public Library, Lincoln Center. There are several concertant works, if I remember, including at least one concerto and a concertino. He died a few blocks north of where I live on the Upper West Side.
David
There's also Dietersdorff's concerto, and of course Mozart's entry. Classical period both of them, but still.
It does seem that it's most often used in ballet, with opera quite common as well. For symphonies, there's probably more than people think -- Symphonie Fantastique is the most obvious one, and Tchaikovsky uses (two) as well in Manfred. Saint-Saens also uses it to quite a nice effect in Danse Macabre, and there's plenty of other romantic tone poems where it's used
Elias Parish-Alvars wrote quite a lot for harp, including several concertos, I believe (some recorded.)
Not sure if Franz Lachner's harp concerto has been recorded, but it was published a decade ago.
The instrument indeed does seem to project far worse than many others, apparently, in an orchestral setting, but has received a number of concerto (Boieldieu's C major/minor one gets lots of radio time :) ) and concertante (Saint-Saens morceau de concert, too) works...
Eric, not that helpfully alas
Dvorak used it in a couple of his early symphonies. The slow movement of #3 and the middle movements of #4 come to mind.
I know nothing about the harp, but I am interested in Parish-Alvars as he influenced my hero Thalberg.
A while back I digitalised the score of Parish-Alvars Grand Fantaisie sur des Motifs de l'opera Moise de Rossini and it interesting to compare it to Thalberg's version. If anyone is interested, here it is.....
http://rapidshare.com/files/403075478/Elias_Parish_Alvars_-_Rossini_-_Grand_Fantasie__sur_des_motifs_de_Moise.pdf.html
(http://rapidshare.com/files/403075478/Elias_Parish_Alvars_-_Rossini_-_Grand_Fantasie__sur_des_motifs_de_Moise.pdf.html)
I find it beyond belief that this is playable on the harp, but according to Floraleda Sachi, it is. Regretfully, I don't think this particular piece has been recorded, which is a shame as i would love to hear it.
Thal
If it's the same work?, recorded on MDG in 1999 - "Great Fantasy on Rossini's Moise, op. 58" among other works. Catherine Michel and students, harp. Apparently still available from the website of one of the harpists - http://www.carolingruber.de/cds_eliasparishalvars.php4 (http://www.carolingruber.de/cds_eliasparishalvars.php4) .
Eric
Er, Eric the link you posted led straight to - the Op. 59 Fantasie on Themes from Weber's 'Oberon'. Oops!
Quote from: JimL on Sunday 27 June 2010, 01:27
Er, Eric the link you posted led straight to - the Op. 59 Fantasie on Themes from Weber's 'Oberon'. Oops!
No, it's a CD with that work and quite a few others. Click on "Inhalt".
Eric
Dang! That's the only sample?
Quote from: JimL on Sunday 27 June 2010, 01:43
Dang! That's the only sample?
Erf, it seems so, and I think it's out of print- at least, it's not listed at the MDG site that I can see (actually, it's a "Hochschule für Musik Detmold" CD, not a MDG one, now that I look at the U of Cincinnati catalog listing, so no wonder!). Northwestern University and the University of Cincinnati both have the CD, if they let it on ILL and if you have such privileges. That might work too.
Eric
There are also some outstanding British works: Bantock's Celtic Symphony (1940) for strings and six harps, and William Alwyn's beautiful concerto Lyra Angelica (1954).
Thank you all for your contributions.
An interesting figure seems to be the English harpist Elias Parish Alvars (1808-1849), according to Berlioz the Liszt of the harp. See http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:l5LHhcqiMLUJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Parish_Alvars+parish-alvars+composer&cd=5&hl=nl&ct=clnk&gl=nl (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:l5LHhcqiMLUJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Parish_Alvars+parish-alvars+composer&cd=5&hl=nl&ct=clnk&gl=nl)
There are some harp concertos and chamber music with harp available on CD.
David mentioned another celebrated harpist, the Frenchman Nicolas Charles Bochsa (1789-1856). I used to had on audio tape a Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in D minor, op. 15 and Air Irlandais for Harp and String Orchestra.
If I am not mistaken, Beethoven scored a harp in his ballet "Creatures of Prometheus." Berlioz utilized a harp in "Harold in Italy" and Lalo in "Symphonie Espagnole." Of course, none of the above are unheard.
Parish Alvars's Concerto for 2 harps in D minor is beautiful - especially the last movement. Just saw a splendid rendition in a video of the 3rd International Harp Festival. Unfortunately the credits are in Russian so couldn't say who the soloists are.
Interestingly he seems to have written a Piano Concerto in G minor (dedicated to Liszt!)
Parish-Alvars' works for harp and orchestra pop up on a number of CDs/LPs, and I think they are delightful, despite the difficulties of marrying the delicacy of the harp with the power of the orchestra. Same goes for the Gliere concerto, IMHO. But, perhaps one has to love the harp!
I'm not very crazy about the harp but the Parish-Alvars compositions are very effective.
There's many works with harp and for harp from the Romantic era, so far as I know, and even more for which the harp is one of several alternatives including piano in an ensemble. Consider the works of Gabriel Verdalle (1847-1918), Alfred Holý (1866-1948), Alphonse Hasselmans of course, Edmond Schuëcker, Charles Oberthür, Félix Godefroid... (and somewhat later, Henriette Renié) (see eg this list at IMSLP (https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Scores_featuring_the_harp) - not subdivided by era but subdividable - to begin with. (List of works featuring harp not necessarily harp solo, so contains - for example!... - duos, trios, orchestral works, with harp by eg Renié, Ferdinand Ries, Debussy and many others (Oberthür wrote quite a few of these), though if one uses the category-walker link provided to limit to composers from the Romantic era or works described on their pages as being in a Romantic style, some of these will not appear. Of course by the nature of the site only those we actually have uploaded will appear. Worldcat and other sources are useful for further searches from those starting-off points etc though, I suspect.)
Actually, while looking at the link I posted above, I notice this (https://imslp.org/wiki/Traumsommernacht%2C_Op.25_(Thuille%2C_Ludwig)) by Ludwig Thuille for chorus, violin and harp (or alternately piano), which looks interesting. IMSLP has only an arrangement posted (... not a reduction, but an arrangement for chorus and orchestra!...), but the arrangement includes a harp/piano part in the score (possibly the original- not sure?), it seems, and maybe the original parts can be found somewhere for performance, if it looks worthwhile... Thuille has seemed so in general to me.
Francois Joseph Dizi wrote a fair amount for the harp - though no concerted works, I think...
There is at any rate a fair amount of chamber and solo music for harp from the Romantic era. Just off the top of my head: Donizetti: Sonata for violin (or flute) and harp ("sonata" is bluffing: I'd call it "rondino with introduction". But it is a pretty piece of about 5 minutes, quite effectual without being terribly difficult. I used to have a girl friend who played the harp and this piece was one of the few that did not exceed her capabilities, so we played it often.)
Saint-Saëns: The piece is called "Fantaisie" if I remember correctly, also for violin and harp. I find it boring and repetitive but then I am far from a Saint-Saëns fan. Spohr has 4 good sonatas for violin and harp and a trio for violin, cello and harp which is not on IMSLP). (I want to recommend his already mentioned sinfonia concertante for violin and harp; I like it best among Spohr's concertos.)
Decades ago I was in a concert where a famous French harpist (I have forgotten her name) played a concerto by (I believe) Poulenc. There I found out that a temperamental and competent player can get much more noise out of a harp than some of the above posters seem to believe and that the harp is not quite such a wallflower among the instruments (outside the remit I know but I am hoping to make a point about the harp).
Double-A: of course. Not only noise but other things (Frank Martin wrote a work iirc, Benjamin Britten's suite for harp, etc.) And the early 20th century had the brief life of the chromatic harp (which allowed much more flexible playing than the pedal harp.)
The piece by Juon about which I posted 2 weeks ago, Ingeborg's Lament, has a fairly substantial part for the harp, though it's not concertante by any means.
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5527.msg76153.html#msg76153 (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5527.msg76153.html#msg76153)
Eric, just to set the record straight: The word "noise" in my first post is meant strictly to characterize the harp's capacity to be loud. No depreciating innuendo as to the music was intended. In fact it was a good piece very convincingly played, which is probably the reason I still remember the occasion.
Ok!
By the way did anyone mention this 20-minute work by Graener (https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphonietta_f%C3%BCr_Streichinstrumente_und_Harfe%2C_Op.27_(Graener%2C_Paul)) for harp and strings from 1904-8?...