Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/817

 Among the races identified with the improvement of this ancient instrument the Celts are entitled to first mention, the Irish and Welsh being in particular associated with it in the pages of history and romance. It still occupies a place in the festivals of the hitter nation. Owing to the use of gut strings, the tones produced are more mellow and sympathetic than those of the piano, but this one advantage can not compensate for the various other disadvantages on its side as compared with the piano; that is, for popular use. What is not the case with the piano, the performer must be able to string and tune the harp. It gets out of tune rapidly, while the method of playing it calls for considerable expertness in the performer, owing to the absence of finger-keys and other mechanical conditions familiar in the piano.

The harp only became worthy of a place in the orchestra toward the end of the last century, when Southwell, of Dublin, and Erard, of Paris, invented the modern pedal-action system. Hochbrucker and Volter, German makers, made some notable changes in its construction about 1730, but until the invention of the system referred to it was not acceptable to musicians of culture.

The name of Erard ranks first in Europe to-day, after the lapse of a century, among harp-makers, but there are several other manufacturers of note in Berlin, Paris, and London, who produce instruments of the first grade. The pedal-action system of Erard enables the performer to raise the pitch of each string two semitones mechanically, which facilitates execution and effect to a wonderful degree. Harps were made in this country as far back as 1790. In that year Charles Watts, of New York, exhibited instruments of his own construction, but they met with little demand. For over a half-century harp-makers have existed here in a few cities, but up to about fifteen years ago the instrument had a very limited circle of patrons. Brown and Buckwell are the