Pedal or Lever Harp

The Bard's Harp: Music from Shakespeare's Plays PDF Download by Suzanne Guldimann

Item #p7568
Write a Review
$18.95

For lever or pedal harp.

Subtitle: Music from Shakespeare's Plays Arranged for Lap Harp

Here's how Suzanne describes this collection.
The pieces in this collection have been arranged to accommodate a harp with a range of just two and a half octaves (from C up to G, treating middle C as low C). The pieces can also be played on a larger harp, or on any melody instrument. I have transposed to the keys of C and G and their relative minors and modes to accommodate the range of small harps, however accidentals are an inevitable aspect of Elizabethan music and cannot be entirely avoided. I have also modernized spellings and standardized the notation, but I have also tried, as much as possible, to retain the period flavor of the music.

Shakespeare's plays, like Prospero's enchanted island, are full of music--snatches of popular ballads and dances, allusions to music and musical terms, and entire songs. Of the 37 plays, 32 contain songs--both original and popular--or references to music in the actual text. In addition, there are an estimated 300 musical stage directions.

Shakespeare made good use of the popular music of the time, and period audiences would have recognized and understood the musical references in a way that is often lost on modern audiences. Much of the music occurs in the comedies, but Shakespeare also used music as an important dramatic device in the tragedies: "King Lear," "Hamlet," and "Othello" all have songs that are integral to the story.

This collection includes 24 pieces. Fingerings and chord symbols are included. The music is in the keys of C or G (1 sharp). Fifteen of the pieces include F#, C#, G#, or D# lever changes within the music. This 49-page PDF includes lyrics and historical notes for the songs, as well as illustrations by the author.

This product is a PDF file, to be downloaded to your computer. We do not sell it as regular printed music. It is only available here in this PDF download format.

Click on the blue titles below to see a sample of the first few lines of music.
  • Calino Custurame
  • Come O'er the Bourne, Bessie
  • Do Me No Harm My Good Man
  • Farewell Dear Love
  • Full Fathoms Five
  • The God of Love
  • Hark, Hark the Lark
  • Heart's Ease
  • I Loathe That I Did Love
  • It Was a Lover and His Lass
  • Lawn as White as Driven Snow
  • Mad Tom a Bedlam
  • O Mistress Mine
  • O Sweet Oliver
  • Peg a Ramsey
  • The Rain It Raineth Every Day
  • Sigh No More, Ladies
  • Take, O Take Those Lips Away
  • There Dwelt a Man in Babylon
  • Three Merry Men
  • Walsingham
  • What Shall He Have?
  • Where the Bee
  • Willow Song

Customers Also Bought

« previous
next »