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Be very careful with the magic eraser if you try it. It’s quite as abrasive as wet sanding with 400 gauge sandpaper or 0000 gauge steel wool and can easily remove the finish as well as the dirt.
Well, according to most of the biographies of Ravel, it means “dead” as in “long dead, from a century long ago”, as opposed to a funeral march or something like that. Although they say it was just meant to be a sort of homage to antique Spanish court life and dances, it’s certainly true that Velazquez’s “Las Meninas” was extremely popular around that time and inspired a number of other creative works around the same time, so I’ve always wondered if that weren’t really what Ravel was thinking of when he wrote it.
EDIT Although many of Ravel’s biographers say he always wrote first, then thought up a title.
No problem, Kay. Actually, I was kind of hoping you might come back and tell me about someone who can play “Chanson dans la nuit” on a lever harp. 😉
Hi, Gretchen. ‘Pavane pour une infante defunte’ means ‘Pavane for a Dead Infanta’ (i.e., Spanish Princess). However, that piece is by Ravel. The Faure Pavane is just called “Pavane”, so first I’d clarify which they mean. There’s no harp in the original scoring for the Faure, if that’s the piece.
If it’s really the Ravel, you can download the original harp part here:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Pavane_pour_une_infante_défunte_(Ravel,_Maurice)
(just noticed the typo in the title–sorry about that)
Sunita’s arrangement is just Siman Tov. Offhand, I can’t think of a harp arrangement of Mazel Tov. The two are often played together, but we always just played them from a lead sheet, so I never really looked.
F-minor is the most common vocal key for Siman Tov, but of course it’s a problem for lever harps, because of the d-flat. Sunita transposed it for her arrangement.
Teva, I think maybe Kay was misled by the word “concert” in the description of the Melusine. Both those pieces are very much for pedal harp. La Desirade is nothing but pedal slides, for example.
Kay, the Concert Melusine is a lever harp. It’s called “concert” to distinguish it from the regular Melusine, which is more of a student type harp.
Here it is:
http://us.harp.com/info/products/pact_show/id_19395678/
EDIT But if there’s a cantor it’s probably not the key he’ll want.
You know, I live in the steamy subtropics and don’t use my AC much and the humidity is over 90% most of the time in the summer here. Gut strings break easily, but the harps are just fine. Don’t sweat it. It’s the huge swings from desert dryness to rainforest conditions and back again that get to the instruments. Humidity will not hurt a well-built harp, although your string bill will be higher.
EDIT Oh, if you have a gold harp, things are tougher, but that’s the gold, not the instrument itself.
I would contact wherever you bought the harp. I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen one in person, but they look like they would need strings designed for much less tension than bow brand is.
Robinson’s and Vermont Strings have string specs for many different kinds of harps. You could also try asking them.
