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.
“My Hands are Armed with Nought but Sweet-toned Strings?" Different Ways to Use the Same Instrument
Chiara Granata argues for keeping open the tension between the opposite viewpoints expressed by Dario Pontiggia and Mara Galassi in About the Barberini Harp on the need for a true copy of the Barberini Harp. Granata presents a variety of performance situations and argues that the harp had a varied use: the contradictions preserved in an absolute copy would allow for diverse solutions.
Master string maker Mimmo Peruffo is one of the very few remaining makers of musical gut strings. He has learnt this secret art from an old master from Abruzzo through oral transmission and teaching of gestures. In his workshop in Vicenza, Peruffo demonstrates elements of this ancient technique and its simple tools, and offers insights as to why gut string making has been such a closely guarded secret for centuries.
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.
In this Harfenlabor online zoom lecture, Anne Marie Dragosits, harpsichordist, brings “New information on Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger - with special focus on his material for the basso continuo”; Michele Pasotti, lutenist, conducts close reading and analyses of manuscripts and transcripts in “Passaggi per suonare sopra la parte. Kapsperger and other 17th century Italian sources for basso continuo on the theorbo.”
Michele Pasotti, musician, lutenist, conductor, researcher and philosopher shares fascinating insights into his musical passion, the “medieval music,” in particular the musical style known as Ars subtilior. Thrilled by the refinement, elegance and complexity of this music, moved by its dulcedo and sensuality, Pasotti shares his discoveries of the layers of subtle information between the lines in the manuscripts of the period.
Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo : Speaking in Song
Ottavio Dantone shares his insights into the modernity of Monteverdi's musical language in this interview and demonstrates recitar cantando, accompanying himself on the harpsichord, through some of the key moments in Claudio Monteverdi´s masterpiece L'Orfeo. The interview took place in the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara where Dantone conducted L'Orfeo, staged for performance conditions similar to those in which the opera would have been performed in the 17th century.
Wood Science Meets Historical Instrument Making
Volker Haag and Eric Kleinmann come together in this zoom conversation in order to comment on their respective earlier contributions and conclusions: The Biology of Sound and Practical Examination of the Barberini Harp. Their dialogue of is part of a continued conversation between the two disciplines—wood science and harp building—involved in preservation and construction of historical instruments.