A Few Explanations About Our Sheet Music Catalogue

It has been said that “it takes 10 years to make a good harpist”. Therefore, the French system of grading difficulty levels in terms of learning years at the instrument, from 1 to 10, has been adopted. You will find this indication in parentheses after the title and number of pages of each piece. Our catalogue is arranged alphabetically by composer for a clearer overview of what is available. But it also is divided into several collections.

Collections In Our Catalogue

The Educational Series (ES) consists of pedagogical collections, often in progressive order, aiming to teach musicianship through the music of the famous composers of the past.

Classics revisited (CR) features harp transcriptions of favorite works that defined their era in style and sensibility, or pieces already historically appropriated by the harp world.

Romantic Renaissance (RR) brings back to life the original 19th century harp repertoire that was relegated to the museum during the 20th century. This is the music that really fits the harpist’s hands and makes the harp sing…

Harpiana presents (HP) offers eclectic new 21st century works or compositions written from any era in other genres, such as ethnic, that deserve a hearing because of their universal appeal.

Contemplation (CT) stands for the Franz Liszt Anthology for Harp and highlights the common thread between Liszt’s piano music and romantic harp writing with works already transcribed during his lifetime and others newly edited by Dominique Piana.

Gems Unearthed (GU) brings to the fore unique pieces that either survived in manuscript form only or were lost in the shuffle of history, from the 18th century to modern times.

Through Harpiana Reprints (HR), out of print (and out of copyright) music is duplicated from clean, original old prints. There are some finger-licking tidbits, such as Godefroid’s Pensées musicales, Book I and Book II.  It is now complemented by another series, Facsimile (FS), which does not show the harp siren on the front cover, as it features music from the classical to the early romantic eras, and from the early 20th century.

Some of the above-mentioned collections already included some voice and harp music, nevertheless the decision was made to create an offshoot series for Vocal Arts (VA) featuring three types of vocal music: operatic excerpts arranged in their own era for voice(s) and harp (mainly piano or harp) under the heading Opera Highlights, original solo “voice and harp” pieces under The Art of Song, and choral pieces with harp accompaniment (or more rarely, with piano) under Choral Treasures.

Last but not least, upon the passing of California harp historian Alice Lawson Aber-Count, her daughter Nancy Deuell and this editor decided to gradually bring back into circulation some of the unique contributions of her former Harp Publications to the harp literature.  These comprise choice morsels of the classical and early romantic eras, which had been out of print for over two decades. This is a chance to rediscover composers such as Krumpholtz, Cardon and Bochsa in beautifully typeset print, with all ornaments elucidated.

Please note: all the above are available wholesale to harp stores and businesses.