The harp lute is a generic term given to certain types of plucked stringed instruments originally invented by an English musician-retailer, Edward Light, in London at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Combining elements of the highly popular contemporary instruments the harp and the guittar (English guitar), the ideal hybrid instrument, the ‘harp lute’ was constructed. Although the name ‘lute’ was given, since the body consisted of three or seven staves and integrated open major tuning with a natural scale for floating strings it is more closely related to the harp and the guittar than the conventional lute. Incessant application of inventors’ changes to the instruments generated appearances in a variety of forms, sizes, designations and number of strings. Being moderately priced but excessively decorated and relatively easy to learn, harp lutes, as liberal arts instruments, quickly became fashionable in the London music scene, especially amongst middle class ladies. Despite being highly decorative instruments, harp lutes were normally very economic to make. Their construction was adapted for the growth of mass-produced musical instruments, and was therefore moderately and affordably priced. Aalthough there is a great number of surviving harp lutes in public museums, academic institutions, private collections, and a large quantity of published music, as well as archival sources related to the instruments kept in public libraries within researchable conditions, there has been hardly any serious academic study of these instruments since a 1908 survey by Robert Bruce Armstrong. Thereafter, problematically, many accounts relating to harp lutes have relied on erroneous aspects of his research (the date of invention 1798, for instance, may be wrong). This lack of substantial information induced further issues so that, due to the complexity of the instrument designs and the existence of the similar kinds, ambiguous designations have been applied to each model of harp lute, bringing with it added confusion in determining terminology. This thesis, therefore, aims to clarify the terminology and to provide a complete account of the harp lutes, particularly those by Edward Light, in the British Isles during the first half of the nineteenth century. To enable classification of these instruments, it became important to research all available information on Edward Light as musical instrument retailer, musician and inventor. Thus, all models of the harp lutes will be revealed chronologically, shedding light on their constructional transformation as opposed to musical aspects – if readers need more information on musical aspects, they should refer to Armstrong (1908); the purpose of this thesis is to clarify the evolutionary process of the harp lute with partial reference to the social and cultural changes in Britain. There will less focus on music. The inventor Edward Light’s outstanding commercial acumen in musical instrument retailing and inventing will be highlighted, while in order to understand his attempts at harp lute manufacturing (in cooperation with the makers, e.g. Barry), which substantially underpinned Light’s significant success, a copy of a harp-lute will be made to shed light on the hidden secrets in harp lute making.

L’autonomisation de l’art instrumental arabe et, plus particulièrement, l’éclosion de l’art improvisatif du taqsīm au ‘ūd, sont concomitants à l’avènement de l’ère discographique et du 78 tours (1903) en Égypte, notamment avec les enregistrements de Sayyid a-s-Suwaysī, tandis que l’apogée de cet art attendra les années 1920, avec les développements apportés à cette pratique par Muḥammad al-Qaṣabgī, surnommé Sultan du ‘ūd. L’émergence du 78 tours est anticipée par une véritable renaissance musicale, menée par des musiciens de génie attachés à la cour d’Ismaël Pacha et ses successeurs. Le développement du pendant instrumental de cette école (nommée la Nahḏa), qui est inhérent au ‘ūd, est lié notamment à l’apparition au cours du dernier tiers du XIXe siècle d’un nouveau modèle de cet instrument. Les caractéristiques géométriques de ce nouveau model (taille, rapport entre longueur de corde vibrante et longueur du manche etc.) le distinguent nettement de son prédécesseur tel qu’il est décrit par les auteurs occidentaux (Villoteau, Lane, Fétis) et orientaux (Maššāqa et al-Jundī). Aussi, sur la période 1902-1904, plusieurs théoriciens égyptiens ont-ils rendu hommage à cet instrument par une actualisation de la théorie modale arabe abbasside, conçue en fonction des doigtés du ‘ūd, et son application au grand ‘ūd égyptien. Ce faisant, ils affirment l’importance de l’instrument dans la théorie, la performance et la transmission. Cette thèse a pour but d’étudier l’évolution de la virtuosité traditionnelle inhérente à la notion médiévale du haḍaq (liée à la perfection artistique) au sein de la tradition musicale arabe, et ce, par le biais de l’analyse de l’évolution des formes jouées, de l’accordage, et des modes de jeu. Cet examen commence par une étude organologique et acoustique des modèles d’instruments employés dans les enregistrements du début de l’ère discographique, en tant que critères externes. Il se poursuit par la segmentation des énoncés enregistrés, à partir de critères internes, liés à la métrique poétique arabe, au mode de jeu et à la configuration du discours musical. Il se termine par une modélisation sémiotique modale de deux extraits et débouche sur une mise en exergue des apports de Qaṣabgī à l’art improvisatif du taqsīm. / The autonomy of Arabic instrumental art and, in particular, the development of improvisational from (taqsīm) on the 'ūd, were concomitant with the advent of 78 rpm recordings in Egypt (1903), as represented by the recordings of Sayyid as-Suwaysī. Yet, the apogee of this art will wait until the 1920s, with the novelties brought to its practice by Muḥammad al-Qaṣabgī, dubbed Sultan of 'Ūd. The emergence of 78 rpm recordings is anticipated by a real musical renaissance, led by genius musicians attached to the court of Ismā‘īl Pasha and his successors. The development of the instrumental counterpart of this school (called the Nahḏa) which is closely related to 'ūd, is linked in particular to the appearance during the last third of the 19th century of a new model of this instrument. The geometric characteristics of this innovative model (size, ratio between length of the vibrating string and the neck length) clearly distinguish it from its predecessor as described by both Western (Villoteau, Lane, Fetis) and Oriental authors (Maššāqa et al-Jundī). Moreover, during the period 1902-1904, several Egyptian theorists expressed explicitly their appreciation of this instrument and presented it as an update of the Abbasid Arab modal theory, conceived according to the ūd's fingering, and its application to the large Egyptian ‘ūd. In so doing, they affirmed the importance of the instrument in theory, performance and education. This thesis aims at studying the evolution of traditional virtuosity related to the medieval notion of haḍaq (linked to artistic perfection) within the Arab musical legacy through the analysis of development of musical forms, tuning, and techniques. This examination begins with an organological and acoustic study of the different models used in the recordings of the early era (1904-1937) as an external criterion. It continues with the segmentation of performed sentences, based on internal criteria, related to Arabic poetic metrics, instrumental technique and the configuration of musical discourse. The study ends with a modal semiotic medialization