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Get in touch with Cairde na Cruite (Friends of the Harp) who will be able to guide you, and would also be good to connect with generally. Their website link is below, and the contact details are right at the bottom of the page in teensy little letters.
http://www.cairdenacruite.com/index.html
I’m based on the south coast of Ireland. What sort of music do you play? Nice to know there’s a new harper coming to Erin’s fair shores
Just to let everybody know that this piece can be freely downloaded in PDF format at:
http://www.archive.org/details/thmeetvariatio00tour
There’s a lot of other harp music on there too – if you’re coming in through the main entry page (www.archive.org) and want to browse, type “harp music” in the search box, and restrict the field to “Texts” in the drop-down menu beside it. They’re mostly older things, many of them standard warhorses, but it’s a fun trawl nonetheless, and includes some ensemble music as well. You can also search by name.
There is a Yahoo Group devoted to Egan harps, which is a good place to ask this question. Link is
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/johneganharps/?yguid=327814981
The Egan I have personal experience of (a Grecian, hence not a single-action, made in 1835) had the maker’s current address engraved on the forepillar, which was 30 Dawson Street, Dublin.
I also have the following list (though I don’t quite understand the repetitions and date-sequences, nor whether the “harp & piano maker” in Bride Street is also Egan).
HARP MAKERS IN IRELAND – From the Galpin Society Journal, May 1963
JOHN EGAN Pedal and Portable Harp Maker to His Majesty
25 Dawson St Dublin, 1804-1810
30 Dawson St Dublin, 1821
30 Dawson St Dublin, 1830-1831
23 Dawson St Dublin, 1832
30 Dawson St Dublin, 1833-35
Harp and Piano Maker
57 Bride St [Dublin]
26 Dawson St, 1838
44 Dawson St, 1841
EGAN, READ & TAYLOR
21 Aungier St [Dublin], 1821
FRANCIS HEWSON, Harp Maker
19 South King Street [Dublin], 1830
WILLIAM JACKSON Pedal Harp Maker
38 Grafton St [Dublin], 1834-1835
7 Molesworth St [Dublin], 1838
JOHN READ Harp Maker
28 French St [Dublin?], 1837-1839
NICHOLAS READ
21 Aungier St, 1833-1835
4 Peters Row [Dublin?], 1833
Take a look at Ralph Vaughan Williams’ lovely “Six Studies in English Folk Song” composed in 1926 for cello and piano – I feel pretty sure that at least some of them could be adapted for lever harp, even if it means in a few passages only playing the bass-clef line, divided between both hands, or simplifying somewhat. Worth checking out, anyway: there’s plenty of info out there if you google it.
You can listen to some free snippet-samples on this site, though it means enabling their media player, which I didn’t, so I haven’t actually heard these particular examples. You’ll probably find loads on YouTube too. It’s beautiful music.
http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/56577.html#tvf=tracks&tv=music
Take a look at Ralph Vaughan Williams’ lovely “Six Studies in English Folk Song” composed in 1926 for cello and piano – I feel pretty sure that at least some of them could be adapted for lever harp, even if it means in a few passages only playing the bass-clef line, divided between both hands, or simplifying somewhat. Worth checking out, anyway: there’s plenty of info out there if you google it.
You can listen to some free snippet-samples on this site, though it means enabling their media player, which I didn’t, so I haven’t actually heard these particular examples. You’ll probably find loads on YouTube too. It’s beautiful music.
http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/56577.html#tvf=tracks&tv=music
Take a look at Ralph Vaughan Williams’ lovely “Six Studies in English Folk Song” composed in 1926 for cello and piano – I feel pretty sure that at least some of them could be adapted for lever harp, even if it means in a few passages only playing the bass-clef line, divided between both hands, or simplifying somewhat. Worth checking out, anyway: there’s plenty of info out there if you google it.
You can listen to some free snippet-samples on this site, though it means enabling their media player, which I didn’t, so I haven’t actually heard these particular examples. You’ll probably find loads on YouTube too. It’s beautiful music.
http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/56577.html#tvf=tracks&tv=music
I realise this post is late and you may have dealt with this matter already, and I don’t know where you’re based, but the main UK dealer for Aoyama harps is Morley’s, and their website should help give you an idea. I don’t know how the shipping costs from Japan-Britain compare against Japan-USA, but it’s useful info for this thread anyway:
Ken, you can buy it here (location is England, but he accepts credit cards):
http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/emporium/books/carolan.htm
My suggestion is to go for the latest edition of Donal O’Sullivan’s biography, in one volume (black cover, second title down). It contains every word of the original two volumes, plus an appendix I wrote concerning some newly-discovered material from a manuscript in Scotland, and some other updates. (The first edition is about 60-odd years old.)
If that link doesn’t work you can email an enquiry to simon@simonchadwick.net
Dr. O’Sullivan’s work has not been bettered, and you’ll probably also like some of the amusing anecdotes that Carolan and other harpers got up to. They make great stage chat!
I’d be very grateful to have one too (Sib 5 score is fine for me) – many thanks.
Glenn Cronkhite’s are very good – I’ve got one of his keyboard cases and have recently seen three different custom harp cases, all of which are excellent quality. I will be ordering one (possibly two) of them soon for my own harp(s). (I don’t think the picture at the top of the page really does them justice, BTW.)
There’s also
http://eu.harp.com/info/products/pact_show/id_19412955/
They are Harp.Com’s British branch, also based in Cardiff (you can get their details from the Contact link).
PS: You might email her first, just to confirm that this IS the solo harp version, and not some other arrangement. i think there is only one, but better safe than sorry!
It also seems to be available from Rowlands in Cardiff
http://www.rowlandsonline.co.uk/acatalog/Harp.html
Be sure to type “Grace Williams” in the search box, because Hiraeth is a general Welsh word meaning a nostalgic longing, and there are a number of pieces by that name. The lady who runs Rowlands is herself a Welsh harpist, so she will be pretty clued up. I do see the Hiraeth you’re after listed in her catalogue so you should be in luck.
Grace Williams was a Welsh composer, so the people there are bound to be able to help. If the above fails, try:
