Haydn's Folk Harp, the Exhibition
In collaboration with Armin Linke, Harfenlabor staged an exhibition to accompany the first edition of the Harp Biennale. The exhibition extended through two "playgrounds," with the historical instruments presented at the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, and images and video works at the Haus der Musik.
The Barberini Harp
Before and After Restoration
Mara Galassi and Armin Linke photographed the Barberini Harp at the Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali in Roma, thirty years apart, before and after its restoration. In this period, the museum has undergone renovations and the harp is now displayed under more controlled conditions. This double photo story can be placed on the arc of our transition from analogue to digital technologies, echoing Harfenlabor's dual existence.
Report on the Convening in Roma
14-16 December 2016
Bernhard Schrammek's report offers a concise account of Harfenlabor's interdisciplinary international symposium Convening around the Barberini Harp Project, which took place on 14-16 December 2016, in Roma, in collaboration with the Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali, Istituto Storico Austriaco a Roma, and the Deutsche Botschaft Rom, bringing together musicologists, harpists, harp and string makers, and art historians.
What We Know, and What We still Do Not Understand about the Barberini Harp
Chiara Granata and Dario Pontiggia present findings and analysis related to new facts about the Barberini Harp. By integrating technical and historical research, they offer facts as well as open questions about this sumptuous musical instrument and its contexts. Unlike the other analyses presented by Harfenlabor, Granata and Pontiggia posit that Giovanni Lanfranco's painting Venus Playing the Harp does not depict the Barberini Harp.
“Venere che sona d’arpa e due amori”:
Marco Marazzoli at the Barberini Court
Giovanni Lanfranco’s painting Venus Playing the Harp depicts a harp very similar to the Barberini Harp. Elisabetta Frullini shares analysis and archival research to propose that Lanfranco might have indeed depicted the Barberini Harp, on commission by his friend, the harpist Marco Marazzoli. Frullini’s research highlights the aesthetic and social importance of this precious instrument and the representations of it.
The Harp in Intermedi and Early Opera
Joachim Steinheuer provides rich overview of the different uses of harps in the intermedi, madrigals and early opera and its relation to the mythological figures of Apollo, Orpheus and Arion. Through intriguing comparisons of the musical and iconographic sources, the harp appears as an ensemble instrument, as the main continuo, and as a solo instrument, and in some unusual accompaniment combinations.
Designs for Musical Instruments
A drawing titled Progetto per un’arpa, in the collection of the Uffizi, presents a project for a harp with a richly decorated column. Ursula Verena Fischer Pace presents arguments stating that not only was this a design drawing for the Barberini Harp, but also that the drawing ought to be attributed to Giovanni Battista Soria. Soria had worked for the Barberini; his hand is clearly recognisable in this design for a harp.
Examining the Harp in Roma: The Process
This is a video account of aspects of the scientific process deployed by the wood scientists Volker Haag and Valentia Zemke during the The Barberini Harp Wood Species Identification in the Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali Roma in 2018. It’s a delicate process, as the scientists must approach this precious harp with utmost care, due to conservation concerns.
The Barberini Harp Wood Species Identification
In December 2018, Volker Haag and Valentina Zemke from the Thünen-Institut, Institut für Holzforschung transported comprehensive microscopy equipment, including a state-of-the-art 3D-RLM (3D-reflected light microscopy) microscope from Hamburg to Roma for investigation of wood species on the Barberini Harp. This advanced technology enables completely non-destructive material analysis.
Marzia Faietti provides art historical context for music iconography and its relation to mythological figures within the graphic art of the 16th and the 17th century at the Uffizi. Faietti's analysis of a preparatory drawing for a richly decorated harp, often attributed to Giovanni Battista Soria, offers a fascinating insight into the aesthetic, political, musical, ceremonial and economic importance of such an instrument.
The Barberini Harp Wood Species: The Biology of Sound
Volker Haag explains some of the science and methods underpinning the process of the Barberini Harp wood species identification conducted in 2018. The same scientific principles and methods also help us understand what types of wood are most suitable for instrument making and why this is so—an introduction, in a sense, into the biology of sound as produced by tone woods.