King David
One of the best-known biblical stories is about David and Goliath. But David was also an accomplished musician, and many of the Psalms were attributed to him. As a youth, he played his harp to calm his father's flocks of sheep, and to soothe King Saul's madness and troubled mind. He became king after Saul, and reigned from 1010 to 970 B.C.

King David is generally depicted playing a harp in stained glass windows of cathedrals and churches. If you see a harp player (other than an angel) in these glorious windows . . . it is almost certain to be David.


Turlough O'Carolan
Turlough O'Carolan (sometimes called Carolan) was one of the best-known of the Irish harpers. He lived from 1670-1738. After being blinded by smallpox in his teens, he learned to play the harp. For the rest of his years he traveled throughout Ireland as an itinerant musician. His compositions, numbering over 200, are popular with harp players as well as other Irish musicians. You'll find his name throughout our website. For more information on O'Carolan, see Grainne Yeats' book The Harp of Ireland and Donal O'Sullivan Carolan, The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper. If you'd like to play music written by O'Carolan on the harp, or any other instrument, see Sylvia Woods book 40 O'Carolan Tunes. Many of the recordings on our Harp Recordings of Celtic, Folk, and Renaissance Music page also include tunes by O'Carolan. You can find our O'Carolan collection here.

Harpo Marx
Harpo Marx was probably the best-known harpist in modern history. Yes, he actually did play the harp. He's known and loved by people of all generations. Even kids today know of him, particularly through the re-runs of his appearance on I Love Lucy which is shown periodically on Nick at Night on TV.

If you'd like to know more about Harpo and his famous brothers, I recommend his rollicking autobiography, Harpo Speaks!

Here are some vintage clips from Harpo's movies and TV appearances.