Welsh Triple Harp (Telyn Deires): The Three-Row Harp of Wales

Overview

The Welsh triple harp (Welsh: telyn deires, literally “three-row harp”) is the national folk harp of Wales, and a regional variety of the broader triple harp family — multi-course harps that employ three parallel rows of strings instead of the more common single row (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_harp). The two outer rows of the telyn deires are tuned identically to the diatonic scale, while the middle row carries the chromatic notes — the sharps and flats — that the player reaches by inserting a finger between the strings of the outer rows.

Although the instrument is no longer played in any large numbers, the telyn deires survives as a living tradition, used today mainly among players of traditional Welsh folk music. It is the only fully chromatic harp design that does not rely on either pedals or hand-operated levers to change pitch.

Origin and history

The triple harp originated in late 16th-century Italy. To enable the chromatic playing required by late-Renaissance music, makers added a second parallel row of strings carrying the accidentals to the existing diatonic harp; this two-row instrument was the arpa doppia or double harp, and it allowed for fully chromatic playing for the first time in the history of the harp. Later still, a second diatonic row was added on the other side of the chromatic row, producing the arpa tripla or triple harp. The most famous surviving Italian example is the Barberini harp, built between 1605 and 1620 for the Barberini family and played by Marco Marazzoli.

The triple harp arrived in the British Isles in the early 17th century. In 1629 the French harpist Jean le Flelle was appointed “musician for the harp” at the court of King Charles I, where he played an Italian triple harp strung with gut. Welsh harpers living in London quickly adopted the instrument, and by the early 18th century the triple harp had become so closely associated with Welsh musicians that it was generally known as the Welsh harp, even in England. Charles Evans, appointed harper to the court in 1660, was the first recorded Welsh triple harpist; his official title was “His Majesty’s harper for the Italian harp”.

A vivid description of the telyn deires was given by the harpist John Parry “Bardd Alaw” (1776-1851) in the preface to the second volume of his collection The Welsh Harper (London, 1839). Parry wrote that the compass of the triple harp is about five octaves: 37 strings in the principal (right-hand, bass-side) row, 34 strings in the middle (chromatic) row, and 27 strings in the treble (left-hand) row. The two outside rows are tuned in unison and always in the diatonic scale, so that a key change requires the player to retune the F or B strings up or down a semitone before performance.

The skill of harp making in Wales had all but been lost for some sixty years by the mid-twentieth century until John Weston Thomas (MBE), a talented wood and metal worker, revived the craft, making Celtic, chromatic and triple harps until his death in 1992. A memorial prize, Tlws Coffa John Weston Thomas, was subsequently instituted at the National Eisteddfod to encourage competition in the traditional folk style. Thomas passed his skills to three apprentices: Allan Shiers, Brian Blackmore and his son Alun Thomas. Alun still makes triple and Celtic harps in his workshop in Fishguard; Allan Shiers founded Teifi Harps in Llandysul, Ceredigion.

Construction

A traditional Welsh triple harp has the outline of a large frame harp — soundbox, neck and forepillar — but the neck is wide enough to carry three sets of tuning pins, one for each row of strings. Total string count is around 95-100 strings. The two outside rows are tuned diatonically (typically in the natural scale of C major); the middle row supplies the chromatic notes that the diatonic rows cannot. The strings are normally gut. There are no pedals, no levers, and no metal action; the player produces every note simply by plucking the appropriate string in the appropriate row.

This is mechanically the simplest fully chromatic harp ever made — but it is also one of the most demanding to play, because the chromatic notes are physically buried between the two outer rows and can only be reached by inserting a finger from above or below.

Playing technique

From medieval times Welsh harpists have played with the harp placed on the left shoulder, contrary to continental practice (and contrary to modern pedal-harp and Celtic-harp practice, which both place the instrument on the right shoulder).

Among the most important and characteristic playing techniques of the telyn deires is unisons or “split doubling”. Because the two outer rows are tuned identically, the player can sound the same note on both sides of the harp, alternating right and left hand in rapid succession. A simple progression such as C-D-F-E thus becomes a doubled CC-DD-FF-EE — and at speed produces the rippling, “rolled” sound that is characteristic of Welsh harp music.

To play an accidental sharp or flat, the harpist inserts a finger between two of the outer strings and reaches in to pluck the corresponding note in the middle row. This requires precise finger geometry and is one of the principal technical challenges of the instrument.

Cultural context

By the early 20th century triple harps had been almost completely abandoned in Wales in favour of the modern pedal harp. The preservation of the telyn deires and its idiomatic playing style has been attributed almost single-handedly to Nansi Richards (1888-1979), who learned to play from Romani harpists in the Bala area at the turn of the twentieth century and went on to teach a new generation of Welsh harpers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nansi_Richards).

Richards was the harp teacher of the brothers Dafydd and Gwyndaf Roberts, who became founder members of Ar Log, Wales’s most prominent traditional folk group. In the Ar Log line-up Dafydd plays triple harp (and flute), while Gwyndaf plays the knee harp, clarsach and bass guitar. Today’s leading exponent of the triple harp is Robin Huw Bowen, who switched to the telyn deires under the influence of Ar Log’s recordings and has since recorded extensively as a soloist. Llio Rhydderch, another of Nansi Richards’s pupils, has concentrated on teaching as many young harpers as possible, and a triple-harp ensemble called Rhes Ganol (“Middle Row”) was formed in 2000 to bring players together. Other contemporary triple harpists include Rhiain Bebb, Huw Roberts, Sioned Webb, Bethan Nia, Elinor Bennett, Meinir Heulyn and Cerys Hafana.

Comparison with related instruments

The triple harp is unique in achieving full chromaticism by string layout alone, with no pedals, no levers and no moving parts. Its decline in favour of the pedal harp is mostly a consequence of the orchestral repertoire’s demand for fast modulation, which the pedal action handles much more easily than the telyn deires‘s middle-row finger-insertion technique.

FAQ

What does telyn deires mean?
Telyn is the Welsh word for harp; deires means “three rows”. So telyn deires literally means “three-row harp”, referring to the three parallel rows of strings.

Why does the Welsh triple harp have three rows of strings?
The two outside rows are tuned identically to the diatonic scale (the white-key notes), while the middle row carries the chromatic accidentals (the black-key notes). This three-row layout makes the instrument fully chromatic without needing pedals or levers.

On which shoulder is the Welsh triple harp played?
Welsh harpists traditionally play with the harp on the left shoulder, the opposite of continental and modern pedal-harp practice (which is right-shouldered).

Who saved the Welsh triple harp tradition?
Nansi Richards (1888-1979) is generally credited with preserving the instrument and its playing style during the early twentieth century, when the triple harp was almost entirely displaced by the modern pedal harp. She taught the Roberts brothers of Ar Log, Llio Rhydderch and others who continue the tradition today.

Is the Welsh triple harp the same as the Italian triple harp?
Mechanically, yes — both use the same three-row layout and the chromatic-middle-row principle. The Welsh and Italian instruments diverged stylistically: the Italian arpa tripla is associated with 17th-century continuo and solo Baroque playing, while the Welsh telyn deires developed its own folk repertoire and its distinctive “split doubling” or unisons technique.