windharp.com - History



		The precise origin of the wind harp is not known. Although there are no antique and only a few modern wind harps, they are mentioned frequently in literature which show that the wind harp is very old and had influence on different cultures. - The oldest reports come from the period between 1004 and 965 before Christ. The Talmund (the two great works of literature in Judaism) mentions King David and his "Chinor" which was played by the North wind at midnight. - The ancient Indians used to stretch dried animal gut between trees so the wind could create sounds. - About 800 years BC Homer describes how Hermes streched dried sinews across turtle shell and held it up to the wind. He was, so-to-speak, the first to use an object to create resonance.

- In the Tales of King Arthur huge wind harps stood on cliffs in the sea. Their ghostly sound was intended to put fear into the hearts of enemies.
- In 1785 Abate Gattoni built a harp which he claimed enabled him to forecast the weather.
- Also Goethe used the word aeolean harp in his book called "Faust" (lines 27, 28, 4613):
"There are hoving undetermined sounds.
My whispering song, just like an aeolian harp". Right at the beginning of part two of the tragedy there is an aeolian harp added to the voice of Ariel.
- These traditional tales demonstrate that the wind harp was seen both as something mysterious and celestial and as something given by God.
- In Romantic period people used primeval Nature and the combination of Nature and music. They believed that the aeolian harp "enabled them to listen to" the cosmos and Nature.