Wool Merchant and the Harp: or learning the harp 15th century style
- Price: £8.00
- Date: Sun, Apr 07, 2013
- Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 am
- Venue: Edinburgh
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
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George Cely, an adolescent apprentice in the wool trade, wrote details of his music and dance lessons in an accounting booklet in the late 15th century. By a lucky twist of fate following a legal process, this document is preserved in the National Archive in London. Three pages detail payments George made to Thomas Rede, ‘harpar’. He noted how much he paid to learn 26 dances on the harp and wrote down the names of some songs Thomas taught him. He also gives us some valuable information about bray harps and their maintenance. This workshop explores the little we know about what harpists played in the age of the Wars of the Roses.