chromatic harp

French harp which has strings for all the notes of the chromatic scale. They are not all strung parallel, but are slightly crossed, so that except where they actually intersect they stand away from each other in two ranges, one representing the diatonic scale of C major, the other the sharps or flats, like the white and black notes on the piano.

The normal harp has strings tuned to the scale of C flat major, but each string can be raised in pitch by a semitone or a whole tone with the aid of pedals. Whilst this limitation to seven notes within each octave is problematic for much 20th century music, most composers prefer in orchestral writing to use two or more ordinary harps rather than the chromatic harp; a fact which has contributed to the rarity of the instrument.