'The Harp in Middle-earth', Norbert Maier

[Faramir Jones]

Norbert Maier's 'The Harp in Middle-earth' is another of my favourite articles in Music; beacuse I liked how Mr. Maier, in dealing with this instrument, and rightly emphasising its importance in Tolkien's story of Middle-earth, built on and gave more detail to the mentions of it in other articles in Music, in particular those by Steven Linden and Heidi Steimel.

I also have a personal curiosity, being Irish, whose country has the harp as its national symbol, and having seen the 'Brian Boru Harp' in Trinity College Dublin.

I don't have the kind of knowledge to properly comment on the author's attempt to reproduce the harps that might have been used in Middle-earth; but I could not but admire his attempt to answer these questions:

Of what materials are they made? How large were the harps and which shape did they have for the various peoples of the Elves, Humans, Hobbits, and Dwarves? Above all I am interested in the question: How did the harps sound? (p. 108)

I also admired the beautiful drawings he used to illustrate his attempted answers.

I found of particular interest the author's attempt to find the possible Elvish words, in High-elven and Sindarian, for 'harp', and his explanation for why Tolkien mentioned the harp most above all instruments, both of which I feel are well worth reading. (pp. 108-109)