Harp Making in
Late-Georgian London
At the end of the eighteenth century, after the French Revolution, the centre of pedal-harp making moved from Paris to London. There, building on the work of its Bavarian originators and Parisian developers, mainly immigrant makers elevated the instrument to new musical, technical, and decorative heights, and placed it in the hands and salons of the British upper classes and aristocracy. Until recently, the story of harp making in England has been dominated by the Erard family who built about 7,000 of an estimated 15,000 harps made in London during the nineteenth century; some 20 other makers have been all but forgotten.
This book, the story of harp making in late-Georgian England, assesses the role and consumption of the harp in society whilst describing its decorative and technical development. Forgotten makers and their innovations are identified. Through the lens of newly discovered documents and the reinterpretation of others, Jacob Erat's manufactories are reconstructed. His working methods, illustrative of those used in the wider industry, are rediscovered, and employees and suppliers are revealed anew.
​
ISBN: 9781527265110
428 pages
Price: £60
Harp Making in
Late-Georgian London
At the end of the eighteenth century, after the French Revolution, the centre of pedal-harp making moved from Paris to London. There, building on the work of its Bavarian originators and Parisian developers, mainly immigrant makers elevated the instrument to new musical, technical, and decorative heights, and placed it in the hands and salons of the British upper classes and aristocracy. Until recently, the story of harp making in England has been dominated by the Erard family who built about 7,000 of an estimated 15,000 harps made in London during the nineteenth century; some 20 other makers have been all but forgotten.
This book, the story of harp making in late-Georgian England, assesses the role and consumption of the harp in society whilst describing its decorative and technical development. Forgotten makers and their innovations are identified. Through the lens of newly discovered documents and the reinterpretation of others, Jacob Erat's manufactories are reconstructed. His working methods, illustrative of those used in the wider industry, are rediscovered, and employees and suppliers are revealed anew.
​
ISBN: 9781527265110
428 pages
Price: £60
INSTRUMENTAL
featuring
Deborah Henson-Conant
How Imagination, Exploration, Vulnerablity and the Harp Led to Artistic Breakthroughs
Deborah Henson-Conant, DHC, is a composer, performer, educator, and one of the most influential voices in redefining what the harp can be.
In this episode we talk about how she came to the harp late, not through lessons, but through an unstoppable need to make music and tell stories, and how a few songs, a restaurant job, and a near mutiny from a waiter pushed her into improvisation.
From there, we follow a path of invention, Baroque flamenco, jazz, stagecraft, vulnerability, and the dream of a harp loud enough and free enough to stand in front of an orchestra.
Along the way, Debora shares how the heart became her laboratory, a place to explore character, physicality, identity, and the sheer joy of discovering what is possible. This is a conversation about music, yes, but even more, it's about creativity, transformation, and what it means to hide less.