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AEOLIAN HARP (Fr. harpe eolienne; Ger...

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 258 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AEOLIAN See also:

HARP (Fr. harpe eolienne; Ger. Aolsharfe, Windharfe; Ital. arpa d' Eolo)  , a stringed musical See also:instrument, whose name is derived from See also:Aeolus, See also:god of the See also:wind . The aeolian See also:harp consists of a See also:sound-See also:box about 3 ft. See also:long, 5 in. wide, and 3 in. deep, made of thin See also:deal, or preferably of See also:pine, and having See also:beech ends to hold the tuning-pins and hitch-pins . A dozen or less See also:catgut strings of different thickness, but tuned in exact unison, and See also:left rather slack, are attached to the pins, and stretched over two narrow See also:bridges of hard See also:wood, one at each end of the sound-See also:board, which is generally provided with two See also:rose sound-holes . To ensure a proper passage for the wind, another pine board is placed over the strings, resting on pegs at the ends of the sound-board, or on a continuation of the ends raised from r to 3 in. above the strings . See also:Kaufmann of See also:Dresden and Heinrich Christoph See also:Koch, who improved the aeolian harp, introduced this contrivance, which was called by them Windfang and Windfliigel; the upper board was prolonged beyond the sound-box in the shape of a See also:funnel, in See also:order to See also:direct the current of See also:air on to the strings . The aeolian harp is placed across a window so that the wind blows obliquely across the strings, causing them to vibrate in See also:aliquot parts, i.e . (the fundamental See also:note not being heard) the See also:half or See also:octave, the third or See also:interval of the twelfth, the second octave, and the third above it, in fact the upper partials of the strings in See also:regular See also:succession . With the increased pressure of the wind, the dissonances of the 11th and 13th overtones are heard in shrill discords, only to give See also:place to beautiful harmonies as the force of the wind abates . The principle of the natural vibration of strings by the pressure of the wind was recognized in See also:ancient times; See also:King See also:David, we hear from the Rabbinic records, used to hang his See also:kinnor (kithara) over his See also:bed at See also:night, when it sounded in the midnight See also:breeze . The same is related of St See also:Dunstan of See also:Canterbury, who was in consequence charged with sorcery . The See also:Chinese at the See also:present See also:day See also:fly kites of various sizes, having strings stretched across apertures in the See also:paper, which produces the effect of an aerial See also:chorus . See See also:Athanasius See also:Kircher, Musurgia Universalis, where the aeolian harp is first described (1602-1608), p .

148; See also:

Mathew See also:Young, See also:Bishop of Clonfert, Enquiry into the See also:Principal Phenomena of Sounds and Musical Strings, pp . 17o-182 (See also:London, 1784); See also:Gottingen See also:Pocket See also:Calendar (1792) ; Mendel's Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon, See also:article " Aeolsharfe." An See also:illustration is given in See also:Rees' Encyclopedia, plates, vol. ii . Misc. pl. See also:xxv . (K .

End of Article: AEOLIAN HARP (Fr. harpe eolienne; Ger. Aolsharfe, Windharfe; Ital. arpa d' Eolo)
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