Chromatic wolf
In a 1581, Vincenzo Galilei wrote of the Irish in
1581 that "the harps which this people use are
considerably larger than ours, and have
generally the strings of brass, and a few of steel
for the highest notes, as in the clavichord... the
number of strings is fifty four, fifty six and even
sixty ..." Such harps were undoubtedly strung for
chromatic notes.
Galilei provides the pitches of a 58 string
chromatic gamut, probably Italian. Its unisons
occur at most of the D & A pitches of the gamut.
Volume II of the Syntagma Musicum (1618/19) by
Michael Praetorius contains an illustration and
description of a partially chromatic harp with a
gamut of 43 brass wires, the same number of
wires as one of the Talbot gamuts. With a full
range of eee-CC (which contains one upper pitch
more than the Downhill gamut), the extremes of
Praetorius' gamut are diatonic, ie, eee-ddd and a-
CC.
Galilei's Italian harp and Praetorius' Gaelic harp
perhaps exemplify the basic ddd-CC range which
Bunting presents as being universal among the
Irish harps he encountered.
The Cloyne harp of 45 strings, with an added
rank of 7 in the middle, was made in 1621 and
was also thought to have been chromatic.
It may be that the 43 string gamut described by
Talbot was similarly chromatic.
Praetorius
(43)
eee
ddd
ccc#
ccc
bbb
bbb flat
aaa
gg#
gg
ff#
ff
ee
dd#
dd
cc#
cc
bb
bb flat
aa
g#
g
f#
f
e
d#
d
c#
c
b
b flat
a
G
F
E
D
C
B flat
A
Γ
FF
EE
DD
CC
Galilei
(58)
ddd
ccc
bbb
aaa
gg
ff
ee
dd
cc
bb
aa
g
f
e
d
c#
b flat
a
G#
F#
E flat
D
C#
B flat
A
Γ#
FF#
EE flat
DD
ccc#
bbb flat
aaa
gg#
ff#
e flat
dd
cc#
bb flat
aa
g#
f#
e flat
d
c
b
a
G
F
E
D
C
B
A
Γ
FF
EE
DD
CC