Irish Harp

The Lamont and Queen Mary harps of National Museums Scotland are two of the oldest surviving examples of the harp of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. Growing interest in these iconic instruments has led to a need for new research into their materials and construction. With recent advances in imaging and analytical tools, these instruments can now be examined and understood to a much greater degree than previously possible.

With this in mind, the authors have undertaken a research project to study the Lamont and Queen Mary harps. Each harp underwent CT-scanning, and a visual and photographic survey, with x-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy – energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy of selected areas of interest.  The CT scanning was conducted at the Clinical Research Imaging Centre of Queen's Medical Research Institute, and the survey and laboratory analysis were conducted at the National Museums Scotland Collection Centre.

This paper presents the initial findings of this project. The interior construction of the harps, hidden internal damage and repairs, pattern of the wood grain, and current state of the wood are discussed. Results of the visual and photographic survey and analysis of the composition of pigments and metal parts are also presented and discussed in the context of the findings from the CT scans. Additionally, contour maps of the soundboard thickness generated from the CT scanning data for each harp are presented.

This is the abstract and table of contents of my PhD dissertation, "The Organology of the Queen Mary and Lamont Harps," an in-depth study of the construction and craftsmanship of two ca. 15th-century harps. The complete dissertation is available for download from the University of Edinburgh Research Archive at https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/19551.

"This paper focuses on the process, method and influence of the cultural transmission of Irish harp repertoire at the harp school of the Irish Harp Society of Belfast (1819-39). The foundation, in 1819, of a second Irish Harp Society in Belfast funded by subscriptions from expatriate Irish men and women resident in India marked an important phase in the history of the tradition as it was indicative of a wider international interest amongst the Irish Diaspora in the patronage of Irish harpers and the perpetuation of the Irish harp tradition. Over 300 subscribers, many of whom were army officers from Ulster residing in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, facilitated the formation of a harp school that educated approximately forty Irish harpers until its demise in 1839. This paper draws on material from the India Office Records, with particular focus on records of the East India Company, Indian Army Lists, and biographies of major Irish figures in the British army, civil service and merchant claseses, to illuminate the role played by the Irish Diaspora in India in the perpetuation of the Irish harp tradition.
I believe this study will document an important aspect of Irish cultural history in the mid nineteenth century and complement Aiken McClelland’s seminal article, ‘The Irish Harp Society’, which provided a comprehensive account of the history and influence of the first Irish Harp Society formed in Belfast in 1808, but which failed to engage with the second Harp Society in similar detail."

Third article in a series of bardic history published in Harptime in 2017.  Ireland has an ancient tradition of music, harps, harpers, and bards.  Where do myth, legend and history meet?  Are the ancient tales true?

Harptime,  December, 2017, Vol 16, No 4, Issue#63