Well, my impression is that neither Elizabeth nor Cromwell caused the decline of the harp. Elizabeth's decree was enforcable only over a comparatively small area, and even after Cromwell invaded there were harpers for another 150 years or so. Some posts have suggested economic reasons, which in the case of the harp would mean that the traditional sources of support (the wealthy families who would take in a harper for a while and be his patrons) had gone, or at least, didn't have any money. But who knows if that's true? Certainly the MacDermott Roes supported Carolan all his life, in fact the family sponsored him in his study when he became blind as a teenager, and it was in their house that he died. Did they also sponsor other harpers, and if not why not? I think the answer will need a specialist in Irish culture and society of the time. But from what O'Sullivan says, my impression is that fewer and fewer people took up the harp from the early 18th C on.


Let me ask another related question. Why did the Northumbrian smallpipe decline towards the end of the 19th century, when it had reached its peak of technical development? The answer (as I understand it) is that people began to prefer the concertina. Why prefer the concertina? Because it was cheaper, easier to learn, less liable to damage when being transported, could be heard better outdoors, and didn't go out of tune. (I know there will be heaps of objections to that, but I believe those are the usual resasons given). Could not the same reasons be given for the gradual decline of the Irish harp? Rather boring reasons, but no less valid. There is no doubt that for a travelling minstrel, a harp is an awkward thing to lug around. Carolan travelled by horse, so had to employ a servant to ride with him to lead his horse and carry the harp. Every blind harper (and playing the harp seems to have been a traditional occupation for a blind man) must have had the same problems.

And were harps played anywhere other than the halls of the rich? If most people heard their music from a fiddler in their local shebeen and hardly ever heard a harp, there would be little incentive to go to the expense and trouble of taking it up.

Dick, perhaps your question should be - why was the harp able to hang on as long as it did?