Single action pedal harp
Maker
Sebastien Erard
Date1800 ca.
Place MadeLondon, England, Europe
Serial No.292
SignedEngraved on brass plate for the mechanism, at the player’s right: Sebastian Erard,s Patent, London, N.292 / N.18. Great Marlborough Street.MarkingsEngraved over the Erard inscription: Wm Theiss
Engraved on the brass plate for the mechanism, at the player’s left: Rebuilt / By / R.L.
Jetton, Nashville, Tenn.
DescriptionSingle-action pedal harp with Erard’s patent fourchettes. Compass EEb to f3, 37 strings reduced (presumably by Jetton) from the original 42 strings, compass EEb to d4. Originally with swell louvers controlled by an eighth pedal, no longer present (presumably removed by Jetton). Grecian-style decoration, of the earlier type with ram’s heads at the top of the column (rather than the caryatids used later). Rounded back, veneered in figured maple.
Accessories: 1) A very dark green wool cloth cover made to fit this harp; possibly original, certainly pre-twentieth-century. 2) A tuning hammer, evidently “hand-made” to fit this instrument, perhaps by R.L. Jetton; it’s not neat enough to be original. 3) A modern piano-style long tuning wrench with two heads also fitting the square tuning pins.
Dimensionsin mm: Height (floor to top of column at its joint with the neck): 1715 Body: 357 wide at bottom of soundboard; 87 at top String lengths: (d4 76) (c4 89) f3 137 c3 187 c2 334 c1 572 c 984 C1325 EEb1497
ProvenanceThe entry for this harp in the Erard ledger at the Royal College of Music, London, indicates its original owner: No.292 Lady Liddell, xxx Wimpole St. [London]. See e-mail of 21 April 2006 from Michael Mullen of the RCM. Christians obtained harp from Field’s Select Antiques (Leon Fields), Little Rock, Arkansas, July 16, 1975
According to Dave Christian, the seller of this harp told him that it was played in the Sioux City Symphony in the first half of the 20th century. An archival photofrom 1948 shows a harp the same type of ram's head pillar as this harp has.
Credit LinePaul and Jean Christian Collection
Object number10992
On View
Not on view1890-1910 ca.
