Jean-Henri Naderman Harp Stamp

This article features the 2014 Jean-Henri Naderman harp stamp from France. It is a rare stamp that honors the cultural contributions of an instrument builder, alongside one of his great masterpieces. Of course, there are many examples such as some organ stamps, including a four stamp set from Germany honoring the maker Gottfried Silberman. Other examples include stamps honoring the violin maker Antonio Stradivari; a Belgian stamp honoring Adolphe Sax; and a Slovakian stamp honoring guitar maker John Dopyera.

Jean-Henri Naderman

Jean-Henri Naderman was one of the leading French harp makers of the eighteenth century and also operated a succesful music publishing company. Naderman was born in Lichtenau, in the Paderborn district of the German state of Westphalia. Then, at the age of twenty-two, Naderman moved to Paris where he began building harps. He became successful for providing decorated instruments to the French aristocracy including for the royal household. Particularly, he is famed for the harp he was commissioned to build Marie-Antoinette.

Specifically, Naderman is known for his seven-pedal single-action harps. In his instruments, wires connected the foot pedals at the back of the instrument’s base, running up through column of the harp, to the tuning pins on the neck (harmonic curve). When the player depresses a pedal, it changes the pitch of some of the strings, allowing players to perform in different keys. The Czech harpist Jean Baptiste Krumpholtz (1742-1790) was the inventor of this system. Indeed, this type of mechanism lies at the heart of the modern, fully-chromatic concert harp.

In addition, Jean-Henri Naderman was a harpist himself and wrote music for the instrument. Later, in 1777, he was given a license to publish music in France. He had two sons, including the famous harpist François Naderman, and Henri Naderman who continued to build harps.

The Stamp

The French 2014 stamp honoring Jean-Henri Naderman was a Europa stamp. Europa stamps honor the coordination of western European postal and communications systems. In 1956, the countries of France, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, and West Germany began to coordinate activities. This was actually the beginning of the economic cooperation that eventually led to the European Union. As a result, the six countries began joint stamp projects. Each year, a theme is chosen and each country designs one or more stamps according to that theme. Indeed, now there is even a competition for the best Europa stamp design and dozens of countries enter each year. In 2014, the theme for Europa stamps was “National Music Instruments.” The stamp has the value of .83 euros and became available on May 5, 2014.

The postage stamp features the ornately carved and gilded crown atop a Naderman harp column. This detail also shows several of the bass strings of the harp. Beautifully, the gold harp is set against a light blue background. Across the right hand side of the stamp is printed: J. H. / NADERMAN / 1787.

In particular, the decoration shows the face of a faun emerging from the floral and vegetal motif that tops the instrument. This face, along with the date of 1787, helps to identify the specific instrument depicted on the stamp. It is an absolutely stunning instrument that is part of the French national collection, housed in Paris in the Cité de la musique at the Philharmonie.

Listen

Performances on historic harps are rare as the strings exert a lot of tension on the very thin soundboards, causing damage over time. However, below you can hear and watch a late eighteenth-century harp that is very similar to the Naderman. Enjoy!