Louis de Froment

Classical harp refers to the Western art‑music repertoire and performance practice for the concert harp, especially the single‑ and double‑action pedal harp used from the late Baroque and Classical eras through Romanticism to the present. It foregrounds idiomatic arpeggiation, glissandi, harmonics, and refined pedaling that enable chromatic harmony and orchestral color. The genre spans solo works, concertos, chamber music, and orchestral writing, and is closely associated with the Parisian harp schools of the 19th–20th centuries, whose pedagogy shaped modern technique and repertoire.

Classical music is the notated art-music tradition of Europe and its global descendants, characterized by durable forms, carefully codified harmony and counterpoint, and a literate score-based practice. The term “classical” can refer broadly to the entire Western art-music lineage from the Medieval era to today, not just the Classical period (c. 1750s–1820s). It privileges long-form structures (such as symphonies, sonatas, concertos, masses, and operas), functional or modal harmony, thematic development, and timbral nuance across ensembles ranging from solo instruments to full orchestras and choirs. Across centuries, the style evolved from chant and modal polyphony to tonal harmony, and later to post-tonal idioms, while maintaining a shared emphasis on written notation, performance practice, and craft.