The Harp and Its “Essential Resonance”

One of the primary differences between the harp and its keyboard counterparts is the resonance. The default nature of the harp is to resonate, or ring. The resonance is stopped by either muffling (dampening the strings with the hands) or by replaying the notes. Conversely, the default nature of keyboard instruments is to immediately dampen the sound, unless a note is manually sustained by the key or damper pedal.

This stark difference between the harp and keyboard instruments has huge considerations for composition. In a recent article with the American Harp Journal, Melina van Leeuwen explores the work of harpist-composer Carlos Salzedo titled “Salzedo’s New Harpism: The Philosophy of Essential Resonance and the Elimination of Rests as a Compositional Principle.”

While I highly recommend reading the entire article (see below), I want to highlight a few specific sections: adapting piano music for the harp and the dismissal of rests.

(Access the American Harp Journal here and follow the link to the PDF archive and select Summer 2023 issue.)

Adapting Piano Music to the Harp.

Most composers start writing for the harp by adapting their pianistic writing to the harp. Modern composers are certainly not alone in this endeavor. Many harpist-composers from the 20th century sought to expand the harp repertoire by transcribing piano compositions to the harp. The challenge is in navigating the difference in resonance (and technique) between the two instruments. However, historic harp music from the 18th and 19th centuries tended be very pianistic, just with fewer notes and less chromaticism.

Salzedo’s adherence to “essential resonance” caused him to consider many older compositions, like the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto, as perpetuating the “old harpism” which utilizes the more pianistic sound. Interestingly, while many of his contemporaries were actively transcribing piano repertoire, Salzedo refused to transcribe works of “Beethoven, Weber, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt” which he “characterized as absolutely out of place on the harp, no matter how well played…the pianistic conception of these masters was complete in itself.” (Carlos Salzedo, “Evolutions & Possibilities of the Harp”) Conversely, Salzedo identified Debussy as “the first composer to sense the acoustic principle of essential resonance.” (van Leeuwen) Salzedo was also a highly skilled pianist and undoubtedly familiar with the piano literature.

While those of us who are experienced with the modern harp might find this “essential resonance” discussion intuitive, we should remember that the harp has also evolved over the last two centuries. The early pedal harps did not have the same resonance as our modern harps. (See brief harp history here.) Effective writing for the modern harp is not the same as effective writing for Mozart’s or Berlioz’s harps.

Dismissal of Rests

One of the recommendations that I give composers is to eliminate unnecessary rests. This is both for ease of reading (many of the rests that are necessary on the piano are superfluous on the harp), and to communicate intent.

Van Leeuwen highlights that Salzedo’s “dismissal of rests was an acknowledgement that essential resonance is fundamental to the character of the harp and, as such, the principle in playing should be that the performer does not muffle strings unless specifically instructed to do so.”

It is true that harpists tend to ignore rests, because rests do not always equate to practical muffling. (Side note: this is why I recommend composers include muffles or some other notation along with rests to indicate that the sound should be stopped!) However, Salzedo found it to be “aesthetically disturbing to see printed rests when notes are being sustained. Rests are thereby omitted unless needed for rhythmic clarity.” (Van Leeuwen)

One of the interesting aspects of this article is that Van Leeuwen shows the engraving differences between Salzedo’s early works, like the Ballade (1910) which uses traditional rests, and his later works, like the Five Preludes for Harp Alone (1917) which completely omits rests. I love this example of how a composer’s ideas can evolve and change over time.

While, as a composer, you may not need to take the omission of rests guideline completely literally, it is worth evaluating each rest and whether it is necessary or contradictory to the musical intent.

Closing Thoughts

You might wondering how to practically embrace this principal of “essential resonance” in your writing. Rather than giving you a set of rules, I want to encourage you to think of the harp as a resonating instrument. Each string will continue to ring unless the sound is intentionally stopped. And we will discuss more specific topics in later articles.

Salzedo was an early pioneer in writing for the modern harp. Over the past century, we have continued to explore and refine these ideas. Not all of Salzedo’s specific notation ideas are still used (for instance, the notation of harmonics). Our ideas may also change as both the harp and our understanding of it continues to evolved.

However, Salzedo was successful in his goal to “create a compositional language that embraced the “essentialness” of the vibrating harp.”

Join the Discussion

What are your thoughts on the “essential resonance”? Do you have any other questions? Leave a comment and let me know!