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Dolmestch Welsh harp music

Dolmetsch Harp of Antique Form
“harp of antique form made for the Bardic music by Arnold Dolmetsch”1

Towards the end of his life, Arnold Dolmetsch turned his attention to a number of disparate ancient music projects. One of these was the enigmatic Welsh harp notation in Robert ap Huw’s manuscript1.

This manuscript was compiled in the early 17th century, and contains tablature for a number of pieces of harp music dating from the late medieval Welsh “cerdd dant” tradition. A number of music scholars had attempted to decipher the tablature, and Arnold made a good go at getting to grips with it. His efforts are nowadays not considered entirely accurate, but they were a great advance on previous attempts2.

It is not entirely clear when Arnold discovered the medieval Welsh music. He was working on the medieval Notre Dame polyphony, almost certainly from the 1931 facsimile3. Discussing the style of this polyphony, he writes:

A new light was brought on this point by my discovery that the ancient Welsh harp music of some centuries earlier contained perpendicular harmony of the most complex kind.

Arnold Dolmetsch, 19344

Arnold published some staff-notation editions and commentaries on the music in 1934 and 19375, and in 1937 Mabel recorded three double-sided 78rpm gramophone records of this music6.

An interesting question is which instrument was intended for the Welsh music. At first, the gut-strung harps seem the most obvious choice, as being the closer to Robert ap Huw’s own harp:

...small, gut-strung diatonic harps... produced a singing tone of sustained resonance, whose roundness of timbre served to temper the harshness which can occur in certain progressions used in the ancient Bardic harmony of Wales, whilst imparting an unearthly sweetness to the concordant passages.’

Mabel Dolmetsch, 19576

However, Mabel mentions using “the two harps”5 for a concert in Wales. I used to think that these recordings were done on the wire-strung instruments but now I am starting to doubt that. What do you think?

Thanks to Karen Loomis for letting me have these original shellac discs. I have transferred them using a hifi turntable and lightweight pickup.


78rpm disc label


D.R.1
Caniad Llywelyn ap Ifan ab y Gof
Part 1.
Transcribed by Arnold Dolmetsch
Played by Mabel Dolmetsch
on the Bardic Harp

78rpm disc label


D.R.1
Caniad Llywelyn ap Ifan ab y Gof
Part 2.
Transcribed by Arnold Dolmetsch
Played by Mabel Dolmetsch
on the Bardic Harp


78rpm disc label


D.R.2
Caniad Marwnad Ifan y Gof
Part 1.
Transcribed by Arnold Dolmetsch
Played by Mabel Dolmetsch
on the Bardic Harp

78rpm disc label


D.R.2
Caniad Marwnad Ifan y Gof
Part 2.
Transcribed by Arnold Dolmetsch
Played by Mabel Dolmetsch
on the Bardic Harp


78rpm disc label


D.R.3
Proviad Yr Eos
Part 1.
Transcribed by Arnold Dolmetsch
Played by Mabel Dolmetsch
on the Bardic Harp

78rpm disc label


D.R.3
Proviad Yr Eos and first strain of Caniad Bach ar Y Gogywair
Part 2.
Transcribed by Arnold Dolmetsch
Played by Mabel Dolmetsch
on the Bardic Harp


References

image: Arnold Dolmetsch, Translations from the Penllyn Manuscript of Ancient Harp Music, Early Welsh Music Society, Llangefni, 1937, p.1 ^

1. British Library, Add MS 14905. Published as a facsimile in 1936: Lewis, Henry, Musica: British Museum Additional Manuscript 14905 Cardiff, 1936. The publication of this manuscript may have spurred on the publication of the 1937 Dolmetsch edition and recording.^

2. For a discussion of scholarly attempts on the manuscript, including Dolmetsch’s, see Pekka Toivanen, The Pencerdd’s Toolkit , Jyväskylä Studies in the Arts 78, 2001, p.104 on ^

3. An Old St Andrews Music Book (Cod. Helmst. 628), St Andrews University Publications No. XXX, 1931 ^

4. Arnold Dolmetsch, ‘Concerning my recent discoveries’, The Consort , Special number, June 1934, p7 ^

5. Arnold Dolmetsch, ‘An analysis of the Harmonies and Forms of the Bardic Music’, The Consort , Special number, June 1934, p12-20 plus score p.1-5 Also, Arnold Dolmetsch, Translations from the Penllyn Manuscript of Ancient Harp Music, Early Welsh Music Society, Llangefni, 1937^

6. Mabel Dolmetsch, set of three 78rpm gramophone records. DR1 CANIAD LLYWELWYY AP IFAN AB Y GOF (PART 1) / CANIAD LLYWELWYY AP IFAN AB Y GOF (PART 2). DR2 CANIAD MARWNAD IFAN Y GOF (PART 1) / CANIAD MARWNAD IFAN Y GOF (PART 2). DR3 PROVIAD YR EOS (PART 1) / PROVIAD YR EOS AND THE FIRST STRAINS OF CANIAD BACH AR Y GOGYWAIR. ‘Transcribed by Arnold Dolmetsch, played by Mabel Dolmetsch on the bardic harp’. The Early Welsh Music Society, 1937 ^

5. Mabel Dolmetsch, Personal Recollections of Arnold Dolmetsch , RKP, 1957, p152 ^

6. Mabel Dolmetsch, Personal Recollections of Arnold Dolmetsch , RKP, 1957, p148 ^