The triple harp first originated in Italy and appeared in the British Isles early in the 17th century. In 1629, the French harpist Jean le Flelle was appointed ‘musician for the harp' at the King's court. Flelle played the Italian triple harp with gut strings.
The triple harp was quickly adopted by the Welsh harpers living in London during the 17th century. It was so popular that by the beginning of the 18th century the triple harp was already generally known as the "Welsh harp". Charles Evans was the first mentioned Welsh triple harpist. He was appointed harper to the court in 1660, where his official title was ‘His Majesty's harper for the Italian harp'.
A description of the Welsh triple harp is given by the harpist Johm Parry (1776â€"1851) in the preface to the second volume of his collection, The Welsh Harper (London 1839):
"The compass of the Triple Harp, in general, is about five octaves, or thirty-seven strings in the principal row, which is on the side played by the right hand, called the bass row. The middle row, which produces the flats and sharps, consists of thirty-four strings; and the treble, or left hand row, numbers twenty-seven strings. The outside rows are tuned in unison, and always in the diatonic scale, that is, in the regular and natural scale of tones and semitones, as a peal of eight bells is tuned. When it is necessary to change the key, for instance, from C to G, all the Fs in the outside rows are made sharp by raising them half a tone. Again, to change from C to F, every B in the outside rows is made flat, by lowering it a semitone. When an accidental sharp or flat is required, the performer inserts a finger between two of the outer strings, and finds it in the middle row. Many experiments have been made, with a view of obviating the necessity of tuning the instrument every time a change in the key occurred. Brass rings were fixed near the comb, but those rattled and jarred; in short, every attempt failed until the invention of the Pedals. …"
Among the most important and characteristic playing techniques is that of "Unisons". The effect of ‘unisons' is obtained by playing the same note on both the outside rows using the right and left hands in rapid succession. Thus a progression of e.g. C-D-F-E, is achieved by playing CC-DD-FF-EE.
After the early 20th century triple harps were almost completely abandoned in Wales in favour of the modern pedal harp. Preservation of the instrument and the playing style have been attributed to one person, Nansi Richards-Jones (1888â€"1979), who learnt to play from Gypsy harpists in the Bala area at the turn of the century. Current performers of the Welsh triple harp include Eleanor Bennett, Dafydd Roberts, Robin Huw Bowen, Cheryl Ann Fulton, Ann Griffiths, Mary Triola and Llio Rhydderch, some of whom were her students.
