Harpist
A medieval harp (left) and a single-action pedal harp (right)
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| String instrument | |
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| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 322–5 (Composite chordophone sounded by the bare fingers) |
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The harp is a stringed musical instrument which has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard, which are plucked with the fingers. Harps have been known since antiquity in Asia, Africa, and Europe, dating back at least as early as 3500 BC. The instrument had great popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, where it evolved into a wide range of variants with new technologies, and was disseminated to Europe's colonies, finding particular popularity in Latin America. While some ancient members of the harp family died out in the Near East and South Asia, descendants of early harps are still played in Burma and in Sub-Saharan Africa, while other defunct variants in Europe and Asia have been revived by musicians in the modern era.
Harps vary globally in many ways. In terms of size, many smaller harps can be played on the lap, while larger harps are quite heavy and rest on the floor. Different harps may use strings of catgut or nylon, or of metal, or some combination. While all harps have a neck, resonator, and strings, "frame harps" have a pillar at their long end to support the strings, while "open harps", such as arch or bow harps, do not. Modern harps also vary in techniques used to extend the range and chromaticity of the strings, such as adjusting a string's note mid-performance with levers or pedals which modify the pitch.
The earliest harps and lyres were found in Sumer, 3500 B.C., and several harps were found in burial pits and royal tombs in Ur. The oldest depictions of harps without a forepillar can be seen in the wall paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs dating from as early as 3000 B.C. which show an instrument that closely resembles the hunter's bow, without the pillar that we find in modern harps. The chang flourished in Persia in many forms from its introduction, about 3000 BC, until the 17th century.
Around 1900 B.C. arched harps in the Iraq-Iran region were replaced by angular harps with vertical or horizontal sound boxes. By the start of the Common Era, "robust, vertical, angular harps", which had become predominant in the Hellenistic world, were cherished in the Sasanian court. In the last century of the Sasanian period, angular harps were redesigned to make them as light as possible ("light, vertical, angular harps"); while they became more elegant, they lost their structural rigidity. At the height of the Persian tradition of illustrated book production (1300 to 1600 A.D.), such light harps were still frequently depicted, although their use as musical instruments was reaching its end.
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