"She Drew Forth Its Strongest Sounds": Tracing the Historical Throughline of Women Harpists

Abstract

The cultural value placed on the harp today, as the instrument hiding graceful young women in the back of orchestras, is uniquely gendered. While there have been studies done on the feminization of harps and harpists, the focus has been on instruments and performers in the late eighteenth century and beyond. This thesis examines the harp as a gendered instrument in the centuries before 1700, through a quantitative iconographical study, a review of harpists in medieval romance and conduct literature, and a case study of Lucrezia Urbana, a harpist active in Mantua 1603﹘1608, through archival documentation.