"The Muses' Concord" harp and organ recital at the "Rosenbacchanal" annual Rosenbach fundraiser, May 12, 2022. Photo by Ryan Brandenberg.
"Biblioharp" is the interpretation of rare books and
manuscripts through harp music.
Harp in the historic Rosenbach parlor. Photo by Judith M. Guston.
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The boundaries between the arts (music, literature, and various visual media) are thin, and often fluid. Biblioharp encourages exploration of rare books and manuscripts through music.
Music has played a key role in social and cultural history, and many great works of poetry and prose literature are best understood within the musical context of which they were a part. For example, much of Robert Burns's poetry was written to be sung, and the great Irish author James Joyce makes frequent references to Irish music in Ulysses, Dubliners, and his other works. What is more, the visual arts often reference the performance of music, making sound a key element in interpreting paintings, prints, sculptures, and other media. Biblioharp is a strategy I have developed to bring historical topics and literary masterpieces to life by resurrecting, to the extent I am able, the musical worlds with which they are associated, and inviting audience members to engage multiple senses in understanding material texts. |
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Links to biblioharp programs:
"James Joyce's 'The Dead': A Literary & Musical Salon at the Rosenbach Museum & Library," November 15, 2024. "The Sacred Harp," performance at the Gertrude Kistler Library, Rosemont College, for May Day celebrations, May 1, 2024. "An Evening with American Royalty" performance at Grace Kelly's childhood home in Philadelphia, March 20, 2024. "Spiritual Torrents: A Service of Tenebrae Venerating the Women of the Passion," Lenten service offered at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Roxborough, Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 7:00 - 8:15 p.m. "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver: Poetry and Carols for the Season," broadcast live from the Marianne Moore Room at The Rosenbach, December 15, 2021 The Rosenbach Podcast Episode 1: "The Celtic Muse: Afternoon Tea, Scones, and Celtic Harp with Dr. Alexander Lawrence Ames" Highland Heart: The Music of Robert Burns Performed for The Rosenbach on January 21, 2021 Love's Old Sweet Song: The Music of James Joyce Performed live in The Rosenbach's historic parlor for a virtual audience on June 24, 2021 Links to Free Library of Philadelphia Music Department digitized sheet music distributed as part of Love's Old Sweet Song: The Music of James Joyce: "Bonny Doon" "Love's Old Sweet Song," Edition Supreme "Love's Old Sweet Song," Beaux Arts Edition "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls" "The Last Rose of Summer," Wm. Hall Edition "The Last Rose of Summer," Klemm Edition "I Dreamt That I Dwelt in Marble Halls" |
Engraving and etching of Robert Burns, 1847.
Rosenbach accession no. 1996.0002.
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Angelica Kauffman and P. Bettelini, “Harmony,” color stipple engraved print on laid paper, 1785. 11.625” H x 14.375” W. Rosenbach catalogue number 1954.0627.
“To speak in the poetical language of my country, the seat of the Celtic Muse is in the mist of the secret and solitary hill, and her voice in the murmur of the mountain stream. He who woos her must love the barren rock more than the fertile valley, and the solitude of the desert better than the festivity of the hall. … A few irregular strains introduced a prelude of a wild and peculiar tone, which harmonised well with the distant waterfall, and the soft sigh of the evening breeze in the rustling leaves of an aspen, which overhung the seat of the fair harpress.”
Sir Walter Scott, Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since, 1814
"The Sound of Harps Angelical":
A Celtic Harpist Residency at the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan
Funded by the Mary G. Stange Fellowship for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers
Coming March & April 2025!
Coming March & April 2025!
Allegorical female figure of America, with a harp. Clad in classical robes, the figure holds a piece of sheet music titled “UNION 1800.” Mezzotint, 30.2 x 25.1 cm. Prints POR.E Ame. Clements Library.
Come, sing to me of other days,
When Fortune sweetly smiled,
When Time, entranced in pleasure’s maze,
Was of his wings beguiled.
—Juliana Frances Turner, “Stanzas Addressed to My Harp, on Receiving it from England,” The Harp of the Beech-Woods (1822)
How do rare books, manuscripts, and printed works on paper sound?
This may seem like a discordant question, but when I meander through the grand halls of the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, an angelic symphony of history and cultural tradition meets my ears. As one of the 2024/2025 recipients of the Mary G. Stange Fellowship for Creative and Performing Artists & Writers at the Clements, I have spent several months engaging with historical music in the library’s collection, reinterpreting pieces for performance on my Celtic harp and considering how the holdings of this distinguished library document so many modes of human expression.
My day job in Philadelphia is that of a rare book and manuscript curator; I moonlight as a harpist. Bringing this background to the Clements, two themes have emerged to inform my performances during my visit. First, the harp appears in literature, visual culture, as well as the titles and lyrics of musical pieces, serving as a metaphor for the arts across disciplines. We encounter images and textual descriptions of the harp deployed in this way throughout the media and genres in the Clements collection. Many of the selections on which I have worked reflect the omnipresence of the harp in poetry, prose, historical collections, and printed music. See, for example, the symbolic use of the harp in the allegorical image in Figure 1, where we encounter a female figure representing America reclined against her instrument. Second, through my study of Clements Library musical holdings and my visit to this spectacular library and university campus, my belief has strengthened that harp music is a wonderful feature to bring into a contemplative library environment, immersing scholars and students in a rich, evocative, and nourishing soundscape inspired by the library’s collection.
During my residency at the Clements, I will focus on using the harp to draw library patrons closer to the collections, and deeper into the stacks. I will offer a formal performance at the City Club of Ann Arbor for the library’s Thomas Gage event there on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. The following evening, Thursday, April 3, I will play background music for open study hours in the library itself, which I hope will inspire curiosity among students about the Clements and its diverse, world-renowned holdings. Pieces that inspired my repertoire, along with other collection items that showcase the cultural resonances of the harp, will be on display in a mini-exhibition at the Clements Library from March 26 – April 11.
Collection Objects of Focus for the Clements Library Harpist Residency
Unknown artists, Allegorical depiction of America with a harp
Hand-colored mezzotint, ca. 1800-1820
Prints POR.E Ame
Juliana Frances Turner, The harp of the beech woods: original poems
Montrose, PA: Adam Waldie, 1822
C2 1822 Tu
The collections of the Clements Library underscore that the harp is not just a musical instrument; it is a symbol that artists, poets, prose authors, composers, lyricists, and religious thinkers have embraced as a symbol for culture, history, and the arts broadly conceived. This image from the United States in the early national era places an allegorical female figure representing America next to a harp. Clad in classical robes, America holds a piece of sheet music reading “UNION 1800.” Taken together, these figures (the woman and the harp) may represent the flourishing of the rapidly expanding young United States.
The title of Juliana Frances Turner’s book The Harp of the Beech Woods, which is contemporaneous to the image, suggests something of the symbolic power of the harp in the era, as do some of the verses contained within the volume. An ambitious poet, Turner viewed her work as an effort to elevate American literary culture. “In the hope that example may elicit from others flowers of deeper dye, fruits of richer flavour, I have been induced to offer this little volume to my friends and the public,” she wrote. “The pleasure with which I have read fugitive pieces of native talent in this county, suggested the idea that I might form a volume solely of the wild flowers of the forest.” Several poems in the book focus on harps of various forms.
The jubilee harp: a choice selection of psalmody, ancient and modern, designed for use in public and social worship
Boston, Massachusetts: Advent Christian Publication Society, 1867
Music 1867 Ju
James Weldon Johnson, editor, and J. Rosamond Johnson, arranger, The book of American Negro spirituals
New York: Viking Press, 1925
Music 1925 Bo
The harp is closely associated with religion and spirituality, especially Judaism (given the instrument’s connection to King David, perhaps history’s most famous harpist) and Christianity, a faith whose angels are often depicted holding harps. Many hymn collections have used the word “harp” in their titles over the years, including The Jubilee Harp, the compendium seen here. As an historian of religion, harpist Alexander Ames takes a special interest in historic religious music and highlights several pieces from The Jubilee Harp in his Clements Library performances.
References to harp abound in lyrics of pieces featured in James Weldon Johnson’s The Book of American Negro Spirituals. For his Clements Library performances, Ames has selected the piece “Deep River,” a spiritual that lives on in American popular memory in no small part because of its association with the legendary Philadelphian contralto Marian Anderson. While the famous spiritual’s lyrics make no explicit reference to harp, the piece lends itself to lush, arpeggiated chords—a characteristic aural strength of the Celtic harp.
Boston, Massachusetts: Advent Christian Publication Society, 1867
Music 1867 Ju
James Weldon Johnson, editor, and J. Rosamond Johnson, arranger, The book of American Negro spirituals
New York: Viking Press, 1925
Music 1925 Bo
The harp is closely associated with religion and spirituality, especially Judaism (given the instrument’s connection to King David, perhaps history’s most famous harpist) and Christianity, a faith whose angels are often depicted holding harps. Many hymn collections have used the word “harp” in their titles over the years, including The Jubilee Harp, the compendium seen here. As an historian of religion, harpist Alexander Ames takes a special interest in historic religious music and highlights several pieces from The Jubilee Harp in his Clements Library performances.
References to harp abound in lyrics of pieces featured in James Weldon Johnson’s The Book of American Negro Spirituals. For his Clements Library performances, Ames has selected the piece “Deep River,” a spiritual that lives on in American popular memory in no small part because of its association with the legendary Philadelphian contralto Marian Anderson. While the famous spiritual’s lyrics make no explicit reference to harp, the piece lends itself to lush, arpeggiated chords—a characteristic aural strength of the Celtic harp.
Robert Burns, lyricist; John M. White, composer, Fairest maid on Devon’s banks
Boston: Henry Prentiss, 1841
Ill 1841 Wh
Thomas Moore, lyricist, William Dressler, arranger, and Catherine Hayes performer, The harp that once thro’ Tara’s halls
New York: William Hall & Son, 1851
Ill 1851 Dr
The harp is closely associated with the music, history, and culture of the Celtic lands (including Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany in France). Seen here are two well-known Celtic pieces represented in the Clements collection.
“Fairest Maid on Devon’s Banks,” by Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, and “The Harp That Once Thro’ Tara’s Halls,” by Thomas Moore, each showcase the emotion and atmosphere that mark so much traditional Irish and Scottish music. Burns’s piece is a romance, whereas Moore’s is a paean to ancient Irish history written in an era of colonial occupation by the British.
The harp has long functioned as a political symbol in Ireland and Scotland, representative of golden ages of Celtic culture before outside domination. It remains a particularly potent symbol of Irish identity to this day.
Boston: Henry Prentiss, 1841
Ill 1841 Wh
Thomas Moore, lyricist, William Dressler, arranger, and Catherine Hayes performer, The harp that once thro’ Tara’s halls
New York: William Hall & Son, 1851
Ill 1851 Dr
The harp is closely associated with the music, history, and culture of the Celtic lands (including Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany in France). Seen here are two well-known Celtic pieces represented in the Clements collection.
“Fairest Maid on Devon’s Banks,” by Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, and “The Harp That Once Thro’ Tara’s Halls,” by Thomas Moore, each showcase the emotion and atmosphere that mark so much traditional Irish and Scottish music. Burns’s piece is a romance, whereas Moore’s is a paean to ancient Irish history written in an era of colonial occupation by the British.
The harp has long functioned as a political symbol in Ireland and Scotland, representative of golden ages of Celtic culture before outside domination. It remains a particularly potent symbol of Irish identity to this day.
The New York quadrilles: arranged for the piano forte or harp
New York: Atwill’s Musical Saloon, [1836]
Ill 1836 Ne
Dr. J. Anton Fremon, lyricist; and George H. Briggs, arranger, The heart-harp
New York: Wm. A. Pond & Co., 1872
Ill 1872 Br
Can you imagine a more romantic instrument than the harp? From the era of Jane Austen to the era of Bridgerton, the harp conjures images of tête-à-têtes in the drawing room, and longing glances across the dance hall. The romantic, sentimental associations of the instrument come into focus in the Clements Library’s collection. The New York Quadrilles were arranged for pianoforte or harp—two of the most popular (and, by the mid-nineteenth century, feminized) parlor instruments. These delicate pieces make for pleasant listening today.
While “The Heart-Harp” was arranged for voice and piano in this sheet music, the title and lyrics of the piece make it a natural selection for exploration as part of this residency, given their embrace of the harp as a symbol of tender sentiments. “Blame not this heart-harp, if over its frame, lone words doth float,” the lyrics read, linking the ethereal ambience of the instrument to lovelorn feelings.
New York: Atwill’s Musical Saloon, [1836]
Ill 1836 Ne
Dr. J. Anton Fremon, lyricist; and George H. Briggs, arranger, The heart-harp
New York: Wm. A. Pond & Co., 1872
Ill 1872 Br
Can you imagine a more romantic instrument than the harp? From the era of Jane Austen to the era of Bridgerton, the harp conjures images of tête-à-têtes in the drawing room, and longing glances across the dance hall. The romantic, sentimental associations of the instrument come into focus in the Clements Library’s collection. The New York Quadrilles were arranged for pianoforte or harp—two of the most popular (and, by the mid-nineteenth century, feminized) parlor instruments. These delicate pieces make for pleasant listening today.
While “The Heart-Harp” was arranged for voice and piano in this sheet music, the title and lyrics of the piece make it a natural selection for exploration as part of this residency, given their embrace of the harp as a symbol of tender sentiments. “Blame not this heart-harp, if over its frame, lone words doth float,” the lyrics read, linking the ethereal ambience of the instrument to lovelorn feelings.
