|
AEOLIAN HARP (Fr. harpe eolienne; Ger. Aolsharfe, Windharfe; Ital. arpa d' Eolo) , a stringed musical instrument, whose name is derived fromSee also: Aeolus, See also: god of the See also: wind
.
The aeolian harp consists of a See also: sound-box about 3 ft. 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
.
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 funnel, in See also: order to See also: direct the current of 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 aliquot parts, i.e
.
(the fundamental note not being heard) the See also: half or 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 succession
.
With the increased pressure of the wind, the dissonances of the 11th and 13th overtones are heard in shrill discords, only to give 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 fly kites of various sizes, having strings stretched across apertures in the 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, article " Aeolsharfe." An See also: illustration is given in See also: Rees' Encyclopedia, plates, vol. ii
.
Misc. pl. See also: xxv
.
(K
.
|
|
|
[back] AENESIDEMUS |
[next] AEOLIS (AEOLIA) |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.