Heaven on earth – or: when angels play the harp

The harp is one of the oldest musical instruments of mankind. It can be traced back as far as 6000 years ago in the so-called Mesopotamia and Egypt. In religious paintings it is often attributed to angels, because the harp produces a “heavenly” sound. The shape of the harp is described as “female” and in the interpretation of dreams it is also attributed a sexual relationship.

In the orchestral literature as a solo instrument, however, it is treated very shabbily. Not many of the great composers have dedicated a work to her. In wind music, too, one does not find too many works with solo harp, especially not if one wants to play light literature.

On request we did some research and found a few works that present this heavenly instrument. By the way, you can find them if you select the database “Concert/wind/brass band” and click on the subcategory “Solo for plucked instruments”. To get only works for harp, enter the following in the line “Full text search”: hrp (abbreviations for harp, see list of abbreviations in “Abbreviations/Lexicon“). But we have this listed here right away.

Works for wind orchestra in level 2 to 3

Works for wind orchestra in level 4 to 6

The degree of difficulty indicated applies to the solo instrument. In most cases the classification for the orchestra is at the same level or below. See the corresponding notes on the data sheet!

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