~ information about the harp ~

On this page you will find general information about the harp and harp music, programme notes, etc. At the moment (June 2008), the amount of information is still limited, but we will gradually bring more.

Pleyel's chromatic harp

Chromatic harp by Pleyel

Playing the chromatic harp

In the course of the 19^th century most musical instruments got their definitive form in which we know them today. The modern concert harp with double action pedals was designed in 1810 by Sébastien Érard. Due to the diatonic character, this instrument has limitations when playing music with many chromatic tones, however. In order to meet the requirements of the more and more chromatic music during the 19^th century, at the end of the century the firm Pleyel developed a chromatic harp, which has a string for every tone in the octave. Chromatic harps had existed in earlier times, but never made it. During her study at the Conservatoire, Renske investigated the history of Pleyel's chromatic harp and wrote an essay about it. A summarizing article (in Dutch...), which has been published earlier in the Dutch periodical 'Nederlands Harpbulletin' can be read here.

Article about the chromatic harp (Dutch)

The composer Ferenc Farkas (1905-2000)

Renske's programme includes work of the Hungarian composer Ferenc Farkas. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, has the following to tell about him.

Ferenc Farkas (born December 15, 1905 in Nagykanizsa; died October 10, 2000 in Budapest) was a Hungarian composer.

Farkas began his studies in composition at the Budapest Academy of Music (1922–1927), where his teachers were Leo Weiner and Albert Siklós. He later studied with Ottorino Respighi in Rome (1929–1931). After spending a number of years abroad, Farkas taught and conducted in his home country, and in 1949 he was appointed professor of composition at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. He retired from this post in 1975. His pupils included György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Emil Petrovics, Zsolt Durkó and Attila Bozay.

As a composer, Farkas wrote more than 700 works in a wide variety of genres. His style is melodic, quirky and broadly traditional, although he used dodecaphonic techniques on occasion.

More information on Ferenc Farkas can be found on the website dedicated to him: www.ferencfarkas.org.

In 1991 harpist Erzsébet Gaál had an interview with Ferenc Farkas about the role of the harp in his work, which originally appeared in World Harp Congress Review (1991) and which we re-publish here with permission.

Interview with Ferenc Farkas

Email: renske.harp@hotmail.com