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The
Bardic Harp is derived from the medieval harp of Brian Boru, and it
is now at Trinity College, Dublin. This harp is thought to have been
made for an Irish king called Brian Boru who was defeated by the Danes
near Dublin in 1014, and died of grief soon afterwards.
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A harp
of the same type is housed at the Edinburgh National Museum of Antiquities
and according to tradition it belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots.
It seems clear that this dating has more to do with legend than
history: the Dublin harp can't possibly be that old, it seems like
roughly the same generation as the Queen Mary harp, perhaps 1500
at the latest.
The
bodies of these very old harps were made by hollowing out a solid
piece of willow and the cavity at the back was covered by a board.
The strings were made of brass or silver, which gave a bell-like tone
to the instrument.
In
1933, Arnold Dolmetsch from Haslemere, constructed several little
harps of this type and used one of them to decipher the manuscript
of Robert ap Huw, thought to contain the earliest examples of Welsh
harp music. Robert ap Huw is said to have been a harper at the court
of James I, King of Scotland from 1406 to 1437. In the manuscript
there is a note in Welsh stating that one particular tune was played
at a dinner attended by King Arthur's knights when the salt was ceremoniously
placed on the table! The music as deciphered by Arnold Dolmetsch is
certainly very fascinating.
A young
harper from Brittany, Alan Stivel, is successfully reviving the ancient
tunes in concert halls, and on the radio and television, playing the
tunes of Robert ap Huw even at "pop" festivals.
