Harps and Harpists, Revised Edition

by Roslyn Rensch

Revising her classic 1989 book Harps and Harpists, Roslyn Rensch expands her authoritative history of this timeless instrument. This lavishly illustrated edition, with 137 black-and-white images and 24 color plates, surveys the progress of the harp from antiquity to the present day. The new edition includes two new chapters; an extensive bibliography and index; personal anecdotes of the author's studies under Alberto Salvi; and an appendix on the Roslyn Rensch Papers and Harp Collection, which are housed at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1989

Reviews

[Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even as I'm on the computer! This site is a total mess! Goodreads really needs to take some UI tips from Letterboxd. I feel like this site hasn't been updated since 2012. Harps and Harpists was terrific. Got the information I wanted with a bunch of great photos. A little dry, but not really in a position to complain, it's harp history.

[Brent Woo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty straightforward if not dry history of the instrument. I guess I'm more interested in the modern history of the instrument and repertoire, post-double-action. The whole section on modern non-pedal harps is just 3–4 pages. I choose to interpret this positively: the harp world is vibrant and moving fast. Any history is doing its best job not if it can spell out how the harp world looks right this very moment, but if it brings you to the point where you can jump off into and discovery the dizzying variety of today's instruments on your own. Which this does.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellently informative and thorough book on the history of the harp! I found it very interesting, and would have rated it five stars for content. Unfortunately it is a heavy, dry academic read which makes it less accessible to young students or those with only a light interest in the subject; I only persevered due to being a professional harpist who felt I should be more educated on the topic! For this reason I’ve reduced the rating to four stars.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, straight-forward, interesting, well-researched. I took copious notes and also appreciated the many images.

Covered all the bases - early harps, Celtic, European, triple, chromatic, single-action pedal, double action pedal, etc.

[jOsEpHiNe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent non-fiction book that I received as a gift.

The cover artwork is lovely, a C-D is included (the music is beautiful), and it contains great info about harps.

Nice for leisurely reading.

Contains color photos and detailed history of the harp.