Pedal harp

The body of the harp is splayed downwards, formed of seven parts, with four longitudinal sound slots in the middle one. The resonator is framed by a gilt lath. There is a marking below the neck: NADERMAN A PARIS. The harp is equipped with seven pedals, which means that the tuning of the strings can be done by foot instead of hand-tuning. The register of the pedal harp, tuned E-flat Major, is E-flat C. The edges of the neck are gilt. The keys are placed to the right, while the hook action is on the left. The action is engraved with the marking: J. Guibert. The column is decorated with gilt flutes. The gilt head shows a narrow strip of five-pointed stars, surmounted by a relief scene: dancing Graces holding garlands. The hooked pedal harp of one compartment was developed between 1760 and 1800, by French masters. This harp is a developed version of the hooked type the only exception being that it can be tuned by foot in contrast to the hand-tuned hooked harp. With the help of the metal strings and the action in the neck, the seven pedals in the plinth draw the hooks in front of the strings on a little saddle. Thus, by pushing the corresponding pedal, the homogeneous notes of different octaves can be simultaneously raised by a semitone. Henri Naderman and his two sons, Pierre-Joseph (*1773) and Jean-Henri (*1780) were among the most excellent Parisian harp-makers.