My name is Anne-Marie de Maigret. Since 2004 I have been living in the Burgundy region of France where I took over my father's house. The conservation of our cultural heritage has always been one of my prime concerns. My mother taught me respect for old objects and my father a love and respect for the work of skilled craftsmen. My grand-father, a great music-lover, took me to concerts at a very early age and steered me towards classical music.
Upon my arrival in Paris in 1972, I purchased a harp from an instrument maker, fascinated by the object's sheer beauty and without realizing that it had been made in the workshop of Jean-Henri Naderman in 1785. A few years later, a specialist told me that the instrument "deserved a measure of protection". His exact words were: "the quality and decorative style of the harp give it a clearly asserted modern character: a range of 40 strings, enviable expression, an understated sculpted trim, confined to the grooved column and foot wrapped in acanthus, and a head shaped as laurel leaves atop a crown of acanthus, a forerunner of the standard styles seen during the French Empire period."
In 2008 the harp was recognized on the roster of listed objects.
So why today am I undertaking the restoration of this harp and asking you to lend a hand ?
A few years back, after a serious illness, I realized I would not live forever. So I needed to speed things up to give this instrument new life so that musicians in their eternal quest for authenticity could rediscover the musical style and beauty of that era. My approach could very well coincide with the harp's return to fashion and the rediscovery of music written at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The cost of the restauration is €9,798.
On January 15 of this year I received the official decision from the government to grant a subsidy of €3,919 to restore the instrument. Another €5,879 is required to complete the restoration. The work will be long and complex and will take at least 3 months. A brace needs to be installed around the console in order to retighten the strings, the pedal and pin system needs a complete overhaul, it needs to be strung with gut respecting the historic caliber (1780), and the woodwork and gilded sections need revarnishing, at the very least.
So the goal of the crowdfunding set for the collection is €6,500 to carry out the restoration and expenses associated with the project.
If we reach our initial target, the restoration can be completed. If we reach a second target, we will be able to manufacture a protective cover in order to transport the harp and cover transports costs. Then the instrument's new life can begin. Loaned to musicians for concerts, it can travel to exceptional venues, to the castles and churches of Burgundy and, why not, across the whole of France if harp music appeals to audiences.
Naturally we will keep you updated as the instrument travels around so you can keep track of its whereabouts. Then, maybe a travel-weary harp will find a final resting place in a museum, and maybe even the Musée National de la Philharmonie de Paris, heir to the Conservatoire National de Musique founded in 1795, where the two Naderman sons taught their craft.
Born July 20, 1734, Jean-Henri hailed from Westphalia but settled in Paris in 1762: he was "an ordinary instrument maker in the employ of queen Marie-Antoinette" for whom he perfected harps. In his quest to improve the quality of his instruments, he invented two harps, one in copper and the other in silver.
He was promoted to Master Luthier in Paris on December 6, 1772. His music store on the rue d'Argenteuil opened in 1773. In 1796 he bought the business of music publisher Charles-Georges Boyer under the name "A clef d’or" on the rue de la Loi.
After his first wife died in 1776, he remarried and had two sons, François-Joseph (1781-1835) and Henri (1783-1841), both harp-players and teachers at the Conservatoire de Musique de Paris. On the death of their father on February 4, 1799, both sons continued the store's business and the workshop while their mother took charge of the music publishing business.
You can support this project:
- by an online donation by credit card on this page after registration on the Dartagnans website
- by a bank transfer after registration on the Dartagnans website
- Only for donations in euros: by sending a cheque, on the back of which you will indicate your e-mail address, made out to the following order "Anne-Marie de Maigret", sent to the following address:
Dartagnans
Campaign Harpe
1 rue de Châteaudun
75009 PARIS
Many thanks to Mr. André Strasberg, curator of antiquities and objets d'art of Saône et Loire, in which the classification dossier was initiated.
Thank you to Mr Thierry Maniguet,curator who has brought his expertise to the Constitution of the classification dossier.
Thanks to the DRAC de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté for its financial support, and in particular to Mr. Michaël Vottero, deputy curator of historic monuments and Ms. Hélène Marie-Hélène Taulin-Jovignot, manager of the grant file.
Thanks to Ms. Adelaide de Place, musicologist, who, thanks to her advice and her book "Musical Life in France during the Revolution", gave me the impetus to undertake this campaign.
And above all a huge thank you to all the donors who support me.
Please do not hesitate to continue because another music-related project is in the offing, one that is sure to inspire you and of which you will be the first to be informed.
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