Cupid’s Instrument of Choice?

Well, of course I think we’d all respond “arrows” to this question….gold-tipped for love, please…

{the amazingly-executed Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss,
Musee du Louvre,
by Antonio Canova 1757-1822}

Perhaps if you discount his unerring arrows, or if I specified musical instrument, you might respond that Cupid carries a harp, or at least many of his little assistants do ~

The harp first appeared around 2500 BC in Egypt. Here is a slightly “later” version around 800 BC~

While I could write an extensive post on the history of the harp, with tales of troubadours, Celts and courtly love, today I am zooming in like Cupid’s Arrow on a lifelong desire,
a full-sized French Pedal Harp~

The Celts believed that the harp was the bridge of love, between Heaven & Earth. In Norway, it was a “ladder” symbolizing the ascent to higher states of love. Universally, the harp is a symbol of love…a representation of lyrical art, poetry and music. Tell me, doesn’t the sound of a harp put you in a lovey-mood? Or if you are like me, does it also make you drool…?

Via the Musee de La Musique in Paris,
just look at the workmanship~

The modern harp was developed in Paris by Sebastien Erard in the late 18C; he devised a complex mechanism in collaboration with a watchmaker that allowed the harp to play naturals, flats & sharps with the movement of foot pedals…musical genius!

Erard made similar advances in the mechanisms of pianos,
but oh that’s another post…

Coming from a family of ebenistes and gilders, Erard conceived fantastically technical yet unbelievably beautiful instruments in his atelier, creating harps and pianos for the likes of Beethoven, Chopin, Marie Antoinette and the royal court~

But why am I telling you all of this? Well, because I have wanted to play the harp since I was five, and with the only harp teacher being 1.5 hours away, I had one lesson, and then instead of the harp I got piano and violin lessons down the street.

Fast forward many years, this last Christmas I decided that gosh darn it, I’m going to do it, I am going to play the harp! With the guide of a teacher but largely self-teaching and playing by ear, I am on the road. Every night it is scales and fingering exercises, easy melodies and a few glissandos to the joy of my “audience,” usually Mom, Honey & Biscuit. While I aspire to play Claude Debussy’s Arabesques, right now it’s the basic stuff. I have a small rental harp of course, nothing like this beautiful Erard harp, but one can dream…

But this leads me to my final point of this post, which is that I have asked God and the Universe to please send me an antique French Harp…for a reasonable price. Here is one that was on Antique Roadshow, a late 18C harp that the harp teacher snagged after a student’s mom asked her to evaluate it at an estate sale~

“Not a harp for a student,” the teacher said, as she instead bought it for herself for about $2,500. Roadshow’s estimate of worth: $60,000. Nothing online says what the student’s Mom thought about being snaked out of this harp, but I suppose it is proof that antique harps can be found in unlikely places. So, all of you estate sale and antique store shoppers out there, if you see one of these locally, you know who to call! In the meantime, I’m going to continue practicing and hope to one day soon put up a little music here.

Wishing you a lovely Valentine’s day, with your loved ones and your passions~