Byzantine lyra

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Byzantine lyra
Necked bowl lute sounded by a bow)
Developed9th century AD
Related instruments

The Byzantine lyra or lira (

politiki lyra and the Pontic lyra or kemençe) and Armenia.[citation needed
]

History

The most likely origin of the Byzantine lyra is with the long-necked, pear-shaped

bagpipe).[2] Together with the Arabic rebabwhich sees its ancient roots in Indian instruments like the sarangithe lyra is widely considered be the ancestor of many modern European bowed instruments.[3]

The lyra spread widely via

rabāb was probably inspired by early South Asian lap-fiddles, like the Indo-Nepalese sarangi, before later arriving in Western Europe, likely through continued Arab presence in the Iberian Peninsula. Both instruments spread further throughout the continent, birthing many bowed fiddles across Europe such as the medieval rebec, the Swedish silverbasharpa (and eventual nyckelharpa), and the Scando-Icelandic talharpa, among others. A notable example is the Italian lira da braccio,[3] a 15th-century bowed string instrument that many consider to be the predecessor of the contemporary violin.[4]

Terminology

From the organological point of view, the Byzantine lyra is in fact an instrument belonging to the family of bowed lutes; however, the designation lyra (Greek: λύρα ~ lūrā, English: lyre) constitute of a terminological survival relating to the performing method of an

to the new bowed string instrument. The Byzantine lyra is sometimes informally called a medieval fiddle, or a pear-shaped rebec, or a kemanche, terms that may be used today to refer to a general category of similar stringed instruments played with a horsehair bow.

Characteristics

The Byzantine lyra had rear tuning pegs set in a flat peg similarly to the medieval

. However, the strings were touched by the nails laterally and not pressed from above with the flesh of the finger such as in the violin. The lyra depicted on the Byzantine ivory casket of Museo Nazionale, Florence (900 – 1100 AD) has two strings and
drone while fingering the others by finger or fingernail alone, downwards or sidewards against the string, for there was no fingerboard to press them against: a method which gives the notes as clearly as the violin and remains normal in lyras both in Asia as well as on present bowed instruments in post-Byzantine regions such as the Cretan lyra.[5]

In use today

The lyra of the

Pontic lyra (Greek: ποντιακή λύρα; Turkish: Karadeniz kemençe) in the Pontic Greek communities, that existed (or still exist) around the shores of the Black Sea. The gudok
, a historical Russian instrument that survived until the 19th century, is also a variant of the Byzantine lyra.

Similarly to the lyras found at Novgorod, the

soundholes. The Cretan lyra is probably the most widely used surviving form of the Byzantine lyra, except that in Crete
instrument-making has been influenced by that of the violin. Currently, numerous models tend to integrate the shape of the scroll, the finger board and other morphology of some secondary characteristics of the violin.

The modern variants of the lyra are tuned in various ways: LA–RE–SOL (or a–d–g, i. e. by fifths) on the Cretan lyra; LA–RE–SOL (or a–d–g, where SOL [=g] is a perfect fourth higher than RE [=d] rather than a fifth lower) in Thrace and on Karpathos and the Dodecanese; LA–LA–MI (a–a–e, with the second LA [=a] an octave lower), in Drama; MI–SOL–MI (e–g–e, i. e. a minor third and a major sixth) on the gadulka; LA–RE–LA (a–d–a, a fifth and a fourth) on the Classical Kemenche.[clarification needed]

Gallery

  • Bulgarian gadulka
    Bulgarian gadulka
  • Cretan lyra
    Cretan lyra
  • Calabrian lira
  • A lijerica from Dalmatia
    A lijerica from Dalmatia
  • Different types of Cretan lyra in the Museum of Greek Folk Instruments in Athens
    Different types of Cretan lyra in the Museum of Greek Folk Instruments in Athens

Notes

References

  • Arkenberg, Rebecca (October 2002), Renaissance Violins, Metropolitan Museum of Art, retrieved 22 September 2006
  • Baines, Anthony (November 1992), The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments,
  • Butler, Paul (October 2003), The rebec project, Personal website, retrieved 10 March 2009
  • Encyclopædia Britannica (2009), lira,
    Encyclopædia Britannica Online
    , retrieved 20 February 2009
  • Kartomi, Margaret J. (1990), On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments,
  • Grillet, Laurent (1901), Les ancetres du violon v.1, Paris