Wheeled lyre. Wheeled lyre (organistrum, hardy-hardy)

16.06.2019

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Wheeled lyre
(hurdy-gurdy)

The wheeled lyre, herdi-girdi, also known as the wheeled violin ( "wheel fiddle") Is a stringed musical instrument, the sound in which is produced by friction of a rosary wheel, driven by a lever, against the strings. This wheel essentially acts as a bow, transforming the instrument into something like a mechanical violin. The melody is played with the help of keys, on which cams are fixed - wooden wedges that clamp the strings in the right places. Like most acoustic strings, the wheel lyre has a resonator that amplifies the vibration of the strings.

Most wheeled lyres have multiple bourdon strings that produce a consistent tone as you play, much like the bagpipe principle. For this reason, the wheeled lyre is often used in conjunction with or instead of bagpipes, for example in French and Hungarian folk music.

Many music festivals bring together groups with the participation of performers on a wheeled lyre, the most famous such festival is festival in Saint-Chartier, in central France in the Indre department, held around July 14th.

Origin and history

It is believed that the herdi-girdi appeared in western Europe before the 8th century AD. One of the earliest forms of the instrument was the organistrum, a large instrument with a guitar-shaped resonator and a long neck on which the keys were reinforced (in the range of one diatonic octave). The organistrum had one melodic string and two drone strings, which were pulled through a regular bridge and a small wheel. Due to its size, two people played on the organistrum - one musician turned the wheel, the other pulled the keys. Pulling (rather than pressing) the keys was not an easy technique, so the instrument was mainly played with slow melodies. Organistrum was tuned by Pythagorean temperament, and was used primarily to accompany church and monastery choral singing. Abbot Odo of Cluny (died 942) is considered to be the author of a small description of the organistrum device called Quomodo organistrum construatur (How the organistrum works), known from later copies, but its reliability is rather doubtful. One of the earliest depictions of the organistrum is a sculpture from the 12th century. at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spanish Galicia, depicting two performers on the instrument.

Later, the organistrum became smaller, more convenient for use by one musician. The organistrum solo was famous in Spain and France, but was soon replaced by the symfonia, a small version of the herdy-gurdy with a rectangular resonator, three strings and a diatonic keyboard. Press keys were invented around the same time. Such keys were much more suitable for playing fast melodies, were much more comfortable and soon completely replaced the exhaust keys. Medieval symphony images show both types of keyboards.

During the late Renaissance, two characteristic forms of the instrument's resonator were established - a guitar shape and a set of rivets, a rounded lute shape. The latter form is especially characteristic of French instruments.

By the end of the 17th century, changing tastes demanded more polyphonic possibilities from the wheeled lyre and, lacking them, it became an instrument of the lower classes and as a result received names such as German Bauernleier"Peasant lyre" or Bettlerleier"Poor lyre".
During the Rococo era, however, the revival of interest in peasant subjects again turned the gaze of the upper classes to the instrument, and it gained immense popularity in high society. Famous composers wrote classical works for the wheeled lyre (for example, the famous - Il pastor Fido Vivaldi). At this time, the predominant six-stringed form of the instrument called vielle a roue... Such an instrument had two melodic strings and four bouron strings, which could be switched off and on if there was a need to play in different keys.

At the same time, the wheeled lyre began to penetrate further to the east, where it was developed in different versions in the Slavic countries, the eastern German regions and Hungary. Most of the national instruments became extinct by the beginning of the 20th century, but some have survived to this day, the most famous of which is the French vielle a roue, Venus tekerőlant and spanish zanfona... In Ukraine, a variety called lyre was widely used by blind wandering musicians, most of whom were destroyed by Stalin in the 1930s. In many countries - in Sweden, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Italy and Portugal, the instrument has recently revived, as a result of which it has penetrated a variety of musical directions and styles, including modern music, in the context of which no one has previously did not consider.

In the 18th century, the name hurdy gurdy also applied to a small portable instrument, also called "Barrel organ"- a hurdy-gurdy, which was often played by wandering musicians.

Wheeled lyre in Eastern Europe

In Eastern Europe, in particular in Hungary, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, there is a developed tradition of playing the wheeled lyre. In Ukraine, the instrument is known under the name lyre or relay, and was used mainly by professional itinerant musicians, often blind, who were called lyre players... Their repertoire consisted mainly of religious themes as well as epic songs titled thoughts and folk dances. In the 1930s. the tradition was practically interrupted, because the Soviet government declared lyre players a socially undesirable element and massacred. Now the instrument is being actively revived and used in various folk projects.

Terminology

Due to the development of the French wheel-bearing tradition, many of the parts of the instrument and playing techniques are called French terms. For example:

trompette : the tallest bourdon string that is pulled across the buzzing bridge
mouche : bourdon string tuned to a fourth or fifth below the string trompette
petit bourdon trompette
gros bourdon : bourdon string tuned one octave below the string mouche
chanterelle (s) : melodic string (strings), in English also called chanter or chanters
chien : (literally "dog") buzzing bridge
tirant : small tuning peg on the tailpiece for adjusting the sensitivity of the buzzing bridge

Instrument names

According to the Oxford Etymological Dictionary, the word is homatopoetic in origin, and reproduces the repetitive creaking sound characteristic of instruments with hard wooden wheels that warped with moisture; or the sound of a buzzing bridge.

Some adhere to a different, folk etymology:

hurdy- back, back of a person + gurdy- a wheel with a lever for pulling fishing nets into the boat

This etymology is questionable for several reasons: first, hurdy- not an English word, and secondly - the name of the lever ( hurdy gurdy, but not gurdy) was first recorded in 1883 and transferred to it due to the analogy with a musical instrument, and not vice versa.

Another folk etymology says that the name hurdy gurdy comes from the anglicized form of French harpe de gourde .

Sometimes the instrument is descriptively called "wheel violin", but this term is not used among performers. Hungarian tekerőlant and its variant forgólant- both mean "turning lute". German Bauernleier means "peasant lyre". (The words Leier, lant- denote instruments of the lute or lyre family, but historically they denoted a wider range of meanings and were used for many types of stringed instruments).
Another Hungarian word for wheeled lyre is nyenyere, which is presumably onomatopoietic and denotes the creak of an uneven wheel. It is worth noting that the term had a pejorative meaning in the Hungarian plains, but was generally accepted on the island of Csepel south of Budapest.

Device

There is no generally accepted standard for the device of a wheeled lyre, although in Europe the most typical French vielle a roue... Outside France, it has several regional forms, but outside France, the instrument was considered popular, and a single standard was not developed.

There are two of the most common types of resonator in modern wheeled lire - guitar and lute. Both options exist in French-speaking regions, while outside of them, the guitar is generally accepted. The rectangular resonator symphony is also popular among early music performers and historical reenactors.

Strings

Historically, strings were made from veins that some musicians still prefer, but the most common now are metal strings, which are most comfortable especially for low bourdon strings. Nylon is also used, but many performers do not prefer them.
Bourdon strings produce a continuous sound of one tone. The melodic string (s) are clamped by cams attached to the keys and shorten or lengthen the sounding part of the string, similar to the way a guitarist's fingers work on a fretboard. On the earliest wheeled lyres, the keys were tuned according to the Pythagorean temperament, later instruments were tuned in different ways, but now the equal temperament is most common for the convenience of playing with other instruments. But since each cam on any wheel key can be individually tuned, almost any temperament type is possible. Most modern wheeled lyres have 24 keys, which give a range of 2 chromatic octaves.

To obtain the desired timbre and sound quality, each string of a wheeled lyre is wrapped with a piece of cotton wool or other similar fiber. A small amount of cotton wool is usually wound on a melodic string, more on drone strings. The wrong amount of cotton wool can result in a sound that is too harsh or too dull, especially at the top of the range. In addition, hotel strings (especially melodic strings) require adjusting the lift above the wheel with small pieces of paper placed under the strings on the bridge. This process is called shimming. Shimming and the winding of cotton wool are related processes, since both affect the geometry of the strings of the instrument.

Buzzing bridge

In some types of wheeled lyres, especially in the French vielle a roue(violin with wheel) and in Hungarian tekerőlant (tekerő- short) a device called "buzzing bridge" is used, chien(French dog) or recsegő(Hungarian buzzer). On modern French instruments, there can be up to 4 of them. This mechanism consists of a free bridge on which a bourdon string is stretched. One leg of this bridge fits into a groove on the deck (or, on Hungarian instruments, held in place with a spike) and holds the bridge in place. The free end, called the "hammer", is attached to the soundboard and can vibrate more or less freely. When the wheel is spinning slowly, the pressure of the string (in French instruments called trompette) holds the bridge in place and only the string sounds. As the player speeds up the spin, the hammer rises and vibrates, brushing against the surface of the soundboard and producing a characteristic rhythmic hum that is used to create rhythmic percussion accompaniment, especially in dance tunes.

On French-style instruments, the sensitivity of the buzzing bridge can be adjusted using a tuning peg called tirant, it attaches to the instrument's tailpiece and connects to the string trompette with wire or thread. Tirant changes the lateral pressure on the string and thus adjusts the sensitivity of the buzzing bridge to the speed of the wheel. There are various techniques for rotating the wheel, accelerating its rotation in different phases. Each "jerk" (sharp acceleration) of the wheel produces a distinct buzzing sound. Such jerks are not made automatically, but are under the complete control of the performer.

On Hungarian instruments, this adjustment is carried out using a wedge, which is called recsegőék(an adjusting wedge (literally "buzzer wedge")) that deflects the bourdon string downward. In traditional performance, the humming bridge is completely controlled by the performer's wrist and has a completely different sound and rhythmic capabilities compared to French instruments.

Regional types

Regional types of wheeled lyres since the Renaissance can be classified relatively
a) wheel size and
b) the presence or absence of a buzzing bridge.

1.Small wheel

Small wheel tools (less than 14 cm in diameter) are typical of Central and Eastern Europe. They feature a wide keybox and bourdon strings that pass through inside her. Due to the small diameter of the wheel, these instruments usually have three strings - one melodic string, one tenor string, and one bass string. Sometimes there can be more strings - up to five.

German Drehleier pear-shaped instrument ... Two or three bourdon strings and one or two chromatic melodic strings. The characteristic wedge-shaped "headstock" on which the tuning pegs are attached. Often richly decorated. Instruments of this kind use a buzzing bridge with an adjusting peg, which is fixed next to the string, and not on the tailpiece as on French instruments.

v). Buzzing bridge with wedge adjustment

Hungarian tekerőlant : Usually has 2 bourdons (sometimes 3) and one or two melodic chromatic strings. The wide string box is often carved or richly decorated.

Tyrolean Drehleier (Austria): Very similar to tekerőlant but usually has a diatonic tuning. It is very likely that this instrument was the prototype of the Hungarian one.

with). Without a buzzing bridge

lira korbowa (Poland). A guitar-shaped resonator. Two bourdons and one melodic diatonic string.

wheeled lyre / snout / snout (Russia). A guitar-shaped resonator. Two bourdons and one melodic diatonic string. Flat keyboard.

lyre (Ukraine). Two bourdons and one melodic diatonic string.
Three types of resonator: hollowed out from one piece of wood, guitar with side tuners and stacked with vertical tuners. Flat keyboard.

ninera / kolovratec (Slovakia). A guitar-shaped resonator. Two bourdons and one melodic diatonic string. Wide string box. Outwardly similar to the Hungarian tekerő, but does not have a buzzing bridge.

grodalira / vevlira (Sweden). Revived in the 20th century according to historical models. Two resonator shapes: oblong box-shaped and elongated pear-shaped. Usually has a diatonic tuning, but this can be expanded to chromatic by adding additional keys that are located below the normal diatonic range (and not higher, as on most wheeled lyres).

German tulip-shaped Drehleier ... Three bourdons and one melodic diatonic string.

2.Large wheel

Tools with a large wheel (diameter from 14 to 17 cm) are typical for western Europe. Such instruments usually have a narrow string box, inside which only melodic strings are pulled. They usually have more strings and are often doubled or tripled. Some modern instruments have up to 15 strings, although the usual number is 6.

a) Buzz bridge with string adjustment

Varieties of wheeled lyres

In European countries, there are many types of wheeled lyres, including Russian varieties of the instrument. The wheeled lyre in Russia has never been used in professional music and existed only in the environment of everyday and amateur music-making. Three varieties of this instrument are widespread in Russia. Type No. 1: Great Russian wheeled lyre. It differs in a relatively small body type in the form of a viola, a narrow scale and a peculiar repertoire. Type No. 2: Don snout. This instrument is widespread in the territory of the Don Army. It is an old type of instrument with an organistrum body. Type number 3: wheeled lyre of the Ukrainian type. Differs in the originality of design details, playing techniques and repertoire.

Tuning the wheel lyre

There is no single, well-established wheel lyre setting. The variety of designs of this instrument, as well as different musical traditions, often require different ways of tuning. The tuning of the wheel lyre is carried out using a tuning block and a keyboard mechanism. By rotating the pegs, the required height of the strings is achieved, and by carefully bending the flags on the keys, the scale of the playing string is fine-tuned.

Setting option:

To achieve a beautiful melodic sound, wrap a small amount of ordinary cotton wool or soft wool around the part of the string at the interface with the game wheel. Rub generously with simple violin rosin to increase friction on the strings. After all the preparatory procedures, start spinning the wheel and continue spinning continuously for 3-5 minutes, adjusting the cotton wool on the strings if necessary. Then take a breath. Everything, you can play.

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Features of the care of the wheel lyre

The wheeled lyre is a peculiar instrument that requires active attention. The most subtle point is pairing the strings with the game wheel. Always carry a piece of cotton or wool with you and learn how to wind it correctly. Protect the wheeled lyre from rain and moisture. During operation, dirt appears on the surface of the lyre. If your instrument has begun to lose its presentable appearance, we recommend using special products in the form of polishes and cleaning products for the care of musical instruments. Be sure to use a cover to store the wheel lyre.

Wheel lyre strings

The choice of strings for the wheel lyre is largely individual. Balalaiker recommends using a set of playing nylon strings and metal-braided bourdon strings. This option allows the lyre to sound bright, rich and balanced.

The history of the wheeled lyre

brief historical background

The wheeled lyre is an ancient musical instrument of European origin. The first mentions of it are found in historical sources of the 9th-10th centuries. At first, the wheeled lyre was used mainly to accompany church services, but already in the Middle Ages it spread in many European countries as an instrument for the widest repertoire.
On the territory of the Moscow kingdom, the wheeled lyre appeared at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. The instrument penetrated into the Russian lands through the Ukrainian and Belarusian territories together with settlers, merchants, interventionists and other active population. The wheeled lyre was firmly entrenched and remained until recently in the traditions of some regions of Russia - Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk, Rostov and some others. It is interesting that back in the 1920s, wandering lyre players could be found even in the streets and bazaars of Moscow. The famous connoisseur of folk music Mitrofan Pyatnitsky also had its own wheeled lyre.
The Russian wheeled lyre, in contrast to its European relative, was an instrument for the most part folk, little familiar to noble and professional musical circles. The Russian lyre was distinguished by its simplicity of production, a relatively small scale, a small number of strings (2-4 pieces) and an original repertoire. The lyre found the widest application among vagrants and professional beggars, for whom it was a professional tool for earning money. They could be found in crowded places performing spiritual verses and psalms. However, in some regions, playing the lyre also acted as an accompaniment to lingering songs. For example, in the traditions of the Don Cossacks, the lyre (the local name is snout) was used to accompany songs and was preserved until the first third of the 20th century. They played the wheeled lyre to dance, and to dances, and to ditties, and even to romances. One of the last Russian lyre players, Klimenty Feoktistovich Shmatov, lived until the 50s of the XX century in the Starodubsky district of the Bryansk region and until his last days played in rural bazaars. The wheeled lyre, bought from him in 1953, is now kept in the Moscow Conservatory.
Nowadays, the wheeled lyre again attracts the attention of the public. She is increasingly appearing on the horizon, participating in programs of folk musicians, experimenters and performers of sacred music.

On the knees. Most of its strings (6-8) sound simultaneously, vibrating as a result of friction against a wheel rotated by the right hand. One or two separate strings, the sounding part of which is shortened or lengthened using the rods with the left hand, play the melody, while the remaining strings emit a monotonous hum.

The sound of a wheeled lyre is powerful, sad, monotonous, with a slight nasal tinge. To soften the sound, the strings were wrapped in flax or wool fibers at the point of contact with the wheel rim. The sound quality of the instrument also depended on the exact centering of the wheel; besides, it had to be smooth and well-knit.

In England this instrument is called hurdy-gurdy (hardy-gurdy, also found in Russian), in Germany - drehleier, in France - vielle a roue, in Italy - ghironda or lira tedesca, in Hungary - tekero. In Russian it is called a wheeled lyre, in Belarusian - lyre, in Ukrainian - kolisna lyra or relya, and in Polish - lira korbowa.

Device

Wheeled lyre- a three-stringed instrument with a deep wooden body of an eight-shape. Both decks are flat, the sides are bent and wide. In the upper part there is a head with wooden pegs for tuning the strings. A short peg box, chiselled or assembled from separate boards, is attached to the body, often ending in a curl.

Inside the body, in its lower part, there is a wooden wheel (it is mounted on an axle passed through the shell and rotated by the handle), which acts as an “endless bow”. The wheel rim protrudes outward through a slot in the deck. To protect it from damage, an arched bast fuse is installed above it.

In the upper deck, resonator holes are cut in the form of brackets or "f-holes"; on it, a key-nut mechanism is located longitudinally, consisting of a box with 12-13 keys, which are narrow wooden strips with protrusions. When you press the keys, the protrusions, like clavichord tangents, touch the string, dividing it into two parts: sounding (wheel - protrusion) and non-sounding (protrusion - nut). The tabs are reinforced so that they can be turned to the left and right by turning and thus equalize the scale when tuning it within a semitone.

The lyre has 3 strand strings: melodic, called spivanitsa (or melody), and 2 drone - bass and pidbassok (or tenor and bayorok). The melodic string goes through the box, the drone string goes outside it. All strings are in close contact with the rim of the wheel, which is rubbed with resin (rosin) and, when rotated, brings them to sound. In order for the sound to be smooth, the wheel must have a smooth surface and an accurate centering. The melody is performed using the keys inserted into the side cutouts of the box. The keys have projections (tangents), which, pressing against the string, change its length, and hence the pitch. The number of keys for different lyres ranges from 9 to 12.

Scale diatonic. The bourdon strings are tuned like this: the kick-bass is an octave below the melodic one, the bass is a fifth below the pid-bass. At the request of the performer, one or both drone strings can be turned off from the game. To do this, they are pulled away from the wheel and fixed on pins.

Lyre playing

Before the game the performer throws a belt attached to the body over his shoulders, puts the instrument on his knees, with the peg box to the left and tilted away from himself, so that the free keys fall off the string under their own weight. With his right hand, he evenly, but not quickly, rotates the wheel by the handle, and with the fingers of his left hand he presses the keys. The character of the performance on the lyre is similar to playing on the bagpipes and horns, all three have continuous sounding bourdons. The sound quality depends to a large extent on the friction wheel: it must have an accurate centering, an even smooth surface and good resin lubrication, otherwise the sounds will "float" and "howl".

During the game the instrument is placed on the knees with the head to the left and with an inclination, due to which the keys fall off the strings under the action of their own gravity. To make the instrument easier to hold, the musician puts a strap around his neck, which is attached to the body of the lyre. Rotating the wheel with his right hand, he presses the keys with the fingers of his left hand. Lyra sounds strong, but somewhat nasal and buzzing.

When playing while sitting the instrument is held on the lap, when playing standing- are hung on a belt over the shoulder, neck to the left and with an inclination, so that the keys, under the influence of their own gravity, protrude from the melodic string. Rotating the wheel with the right hand and pressing the keys with the left fingers, they play a melody; Bourdon strings sound continuously (unless muted). The sound of the lyre is buzzing, nasal. Its quality depends to a large extent on the wheel: it must have an accurate centering, a completely smooth and well rubbed with resin (rosin) rim. The lyre is diatonic, its volume is about two octaves.

History

In the X-XIII centuries. the wheeled lyre was a bulky instrument ( organistrum), which was played by two people. The instrument was used in monasteries, church music was performed on it. By the 15th century, the wheeled lyre had lost its popularity and became an instrument of beggars and vagabonds, often blind and crippled, who sang songs, poems, and fairy tales to an unpretentious accompaniment. During the Baroque era, the instrument began to flourish again. In the 18th century, the wheeled lyre became a fashionable toy for French aristocrats who were fond of rural life.

Written information about the existence of a wheeled lyre in Russia dates back to the 17th century. (Legends of contemporaries about Dm. Pretender). Perhaps she was brought here from Ukraine. Soon the lyre became widespread in the folk environment, as well as in the court and boyar musical life. The lyra was mainly used by wandering musicians-singers (most often kaliks, pedestrian), who sang folk songs, spiritual verses and danced to its accompaniment. Nowadays, the lyre is rare.

The lyre was predominantly distributed among wandering professional musicians, who sang spiritual poems, everyday and especially humorous songs, and sometimes thoughts to its accompaniment. Among the lyre players there were many blind people who went with their guides from village to village, from city to city, to market squares and wedding feasts. For playing at weddings, the lyre was considered a more suitable instrument than because of its loud sound and cheerful repertoire.

In Ukraine, there were special lyre schools with a fairly large number of students. So, for example, in the 60s. XIX century. in with. Kossy (in Podil) taught by lyre player M. Kolesnichenko up to thirty people at the same time. The eldest of them practiced playing in neighboring villages at bazaars and weddings, and they gave the money and food they earned to the mentor as tuition and maintenance fees, since they were fully dependent on him. After completing his studies, the young musician took an examination in knowledge of the repertoire and mastery of playing the lyre. The exam took place with the participation of "grandfathers" - old experienced lyre players. The teacher who passed the test gave an instrument and the so-called “vizvilka” (obviously, from the word “vizvil” - “liberation”) - the right to play independently. Initiation into the lyre was accompanied by a special rite: the teacher hung on himself the lyre intended as a reward for the student, the student covered it with his scroll, after which the instrument belt was thrown from the teacher's neck to the student's neck, and the teacher lowered a coin into the resonator slot of the case - for good luck.

Lirniks united into groups (corporations), and each of them, headed by a tsekhmister (tsekhmeister), or nomad, had its own strictly defined territory of activity; playing elsewhere was prohibited. Violators of the order were subjected to severe punishment (up to the deprivation of the right to play), and their instrument was taken away from them.

Until the end of the last - the beginning of this century, the lyre was so popular in Ukraine that N.V. Lysenko even suggested that it would eventually replace it. However, this did not materialize: it withstood the "competition" and was further developed, and the lyre came to almost complete oblivion. The reason for this was the limitedness of her musical-expressive and technical means and timbre specificity - nasalness. But the most important reason, undoubtedly, is that during the Soviet era, the social environment in which the instrument was used disappeared.

During the Soviet years, the lyre was subjected to various improvements. A very original instrument was designed by I. M. Sklyar. It has 9 strings, tuned in minor thirds, and an accordion-type keyboard mechanism, thanks to which it can easily and quickly learn how to play the accordion player. The wooden wheel has been replaced with a plastic transmission band for a smoother sound. With the help of a special device, the degree of pressure of the tape on the string can be changed, thereby changing the strength of the sound of the instrument. Lyres of improved samples are occasionally used in ensembles and orchestras of folk instruments.

Time for an extraordinary take-off the instrument survived about two hundred years ago in France, when professional musicians became interested in it. Many works have been written specifically for the organistrum.

Wheeled lyre in our time

Now the instrument has practically disappeared from folk music, but not all musicians have consigned it to oblivion.

In Belarus, the wheeled lyre is part of the State Orchestra and the orchestral group of the State Folk Choir of Belarus, used by the musicians of the Pesnyary ensemble. In Russia, it is played by: musician and composer Andrei Vinogradov, multi-instrumentalist Mitya Kuznetsov (Ethno-Kuznya), a group from Rybinsk “Raznotravie”, etc.

Abroad hardy-gardy can be heard, for example, at R. Blackmore's concerts in the Blackmore's Night project.

The wheeled lyre (hardy-hardy) was used by former Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in the joint project “No Quarter. Unledded ". The instrument was played by the performer Nigel Eaton (Nigel Eaton). At the moment, the wheeled lyre can be found among the arsenal of musical instruments of the group In Extremo (in particular, in their song "Captus Est" from the single "Nur Ihr Allein").

Video: Wheel lyre on video + sound

Thanks to these videos, you can get acquainted with the instrument, watch a real game on it, listen to its sound, feel the specifics of the technique:

Sale: where to buy / order?

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Wheel lyre- stringed musical instrument, shaped like a violin case.

The performer holds the lyre in his lap. Most of its strings (6-8) sound simultaneously, vibrating as a result of friction against a wheel rotated by the right hand. One or two separate strings, the sounding part of which is shortened or lengthened using the rods with the left hand, play the melody, while the remaining strings emit a monotonous hum.

In England this instrument is called hurdy-gurdy (hardy-gurdy, also found in Russian), in Germany - drehleier, in France - vielle à roue, in Italy - ghironda or lira tedesca, in Hungary - tekerő. In Russian it is called a wheeled lyre, in Belarusian - lyre, in Ukrainian - kolisna lyra or relya, and in Polish - lira korbowa.

In the X-XIII centuries. the wheeled lyre was a bulky instrument (organistrum) played by two people. The instrument was used in monasteries, church music was performed on it. By the 15th century, the wheeled lyre had lost its popularity and became an instrument of beggars and vagabonds, often blind and crippled, who sang songs, poems, fairy tales to an unpretentious accompaniment. During the Baroque era, the instrument began to flourish again. In the 18th century, the wheeled lyre became a fashionable toy for French aristocrats who were fond of rural life.

In Russia, the wheeled lyre became widespread in the 17th century. The instrument was mastered by beggars and blind tramps, "kaliki pedestrian". In order not to incur the wrath of the king and God, they sang spiritual verses to the sound of their lyres.

The wheeled lyre (hardy-hardy) was used by former Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in the joint project “No Quarter. Unledded ". The instrument was played by the performer Nigel Eaton (Nigel Eaton). At the moment, the wheel lyre can be found among the arsenal of musical instruments of the In Extremo groups (in particular, in their song "Captus Est" from the single "Nur Ihr Allein"), Blackmore "s_Night (in particular, in the song" The Clock Ticks On "with album "Paris_Moon") and Eluveitie, Metallica (in the songs of Low Man's Lyric, The Memory Remains)

Painting:

Georges de La Tour "Organ-grinder with a dog"

Willem van Mieris "The Hurdy Gurdy Player Asleep in a Tavern"

David Vinckboons "The Blind Hurdy-Gurdy Player"

Teodor Aksentovich "Lirnik and girl", 1900

Kazimir Pokhvalsky "Lirnik", 1885

Vasily Navozov "Song of the Lyre"

old engraving "Girl playing the lyre"

Georges de la Tour "Playing the wheel lyre with a ribbon", 1640

Georges de la Tour "Playing the wheeled lyre", 1631-36.

Kazimir Pokhvalsky "Lirnik in front of the hut", 1887

Unknown French artist "DANCE"

Pieter Bruegel Jr., Organ Grinder, 1608

Jan van de Venne "The hurdy-gurdy man"

Jules Richomme "The Hurdy-Gurdy Girl"

Osmerkin Alexander Alexandrovich. "Still life with lyre and guitar", 1920

Photo:

Hungarians, photo 1980

lyre player on Moscow street -1900

A blind kobzar with a guide boy. Belarusians. SEM photo archive

France-20-30ties of 20th cent.

Wheeled lyre

Today we will talk about an ancient, ancient musical instrument called the wheeled lyre; with an explanation at the end of the article, which, in fact, is generally talking about.

Some of my acquaintances surmise that for 30 years now I have been studying folk culture - even if not professionally; and during all this time I hardly used musical instruments. I have a certain prejudice towards them - as one famous folklorist says; "To save our folklore, all accordions must be burned." I extend this relationship to other instruments as well. :))) But there is one to whom the attitude is special. Back in the early 1980s, the Pokrovsky ensemble came to us in Nsk, where someone played the wheeled lyre and sang spiritual poems to it; in my opinion, it was Andrey Kotov, but I could be wrong. The lyre is a special instrument, and quite rare, so for all the years "in folklore" I didn’t really know what it was and where it came from, until I got into it to sort it out.

The history of this instrument goes back centuries. Its prototype appeared in ... X-XII century in Western Europe, and it was called then, or "organist". Two musicians played on it - one turned a knob with a drive on a wheel, which rubbed against the strings and produced sounds; and the other, in fact, output the melody by raising the necessary keys:

Unlike most instruments, the organistrum originally appeared as an instrument for ... worship, and was played in churches and monasteries; this in some way determined his entire future destiny.

In the 13-15th centuries, the instrument was improved, reduced in size, and since then one musician has played on it, and instead of the complex lifting of the keys, the keyboard is almost familiar to us, where the keys are pressed with fingers and return back under their own weight. The instrument was still used in monasteries, but the organ replaced it from the divine services (after all, we are talking about Western Europe); and he went to the people. Even then, it ceased to be called "organistrum", and in every country where it was distributed, it has its own name; in world culture, the English name hurdy-gurdy is most widespread.

Features of the instrument - the strings are stretched almost like in a regular stringed instrument, but the sound is produced not by a regular bow, but by a wooden wheel playing the role of an endless bow, so that the sound is similar to a bagpipe, just as boring and disgusting. Two (or more) strings do not change their pitch and hum constantly - this is called "bourdon"; and one (and more) strings, under the influence of the keys, change the length, and, therefore, the pitch is the voice string. In the most ancient version there were 2 bourdons + 1 voice, but then the musicians began to look for ways to increase the volume and the striking power of the instrument, and in modern herdy-gurdy there are more than a dozen strings, as well as all sorts of gimmicks such as a "buzzing bridge" by changing the speed of rotation of the wheel.

In the 15-17 centuries (data vary), the instrument came to Russia, through the territory of Ukraine and Belarus, where it became most widespread. In those years in Europe, the instrument had already gone out of fashion, and it was played mainly by beggars and troubadours, performing spiritual verses under it. So in our country, it was mainly used by kaliki pedestrians, performing spiritual poems and (possibly) telling epics to it.

In the 18th century, the instrument experienced a new heyday, when the European elite suddenly became interested in rural life, and several classics were composed for the lyre. Perhaps at this time the lyre (more precisely, its European counterpart, herdi-girdi) became an exclusively secular instrument, and is still used by European musicians in ethno-music - both solo and in ensembles.

According to the author's assurances, apart from the hardy-girdy, nothing was used from the instruments.

In Ukraine, the lyre (where it is called "snout") also flourished in the 18-19 centuries, and it was even believed that it would pick up the bandura, it was so popular. Whole artels of lyre players played at weddings, fairs and other festivities - the instrument is loud, it allows you to play for a long time without getting tired. The tradition of lyricism existed in our country until the 1930s, when, according to some versions, all lyre players were liquidated, and according to others, poverty as a class was abolished, and therefore the wandering musicians were all extinct.

Although lyres were mainly used in Ukraine and among the Don Cossacks (there they were called "Don rylya"), they are also in the Russian version. True, they did not get to our places - already in the Urals no one had heard of them (according to my data), what can we say for our Siberia. So for our places this is not really a traditional instrument (or not at all).

With the revival of folk culture "from above", from the cities, the lyre tradition began to revive - many ensembles introduce lyres into their repertoire throughout the country. This instrument is special, "spiritual", and it can and should be used in the performance of spiritual poetry - for example, the well-known ensemble "Oktay" in Siberia does use the lyre. :)

Lire masters also appeared. One of the most famous - from under Myshkin; he has a whole video instruction on working with lyres on his website. :) Also makes lyres, Ulyanovsk-Moscow.

One of the most popular Russian wheel lyre videos in tytruba - over a million views.

And, actually, why am I writing all this:

It turns out that in Nske we have a master for the manufacture of wheeled lyres (as well as harps and other medieval instruments) - a 4-string (2 voices and 2 bourdons) chromatic lyre was found and mercilessly acquired from him - not the most ancient version, but also not some hardy-girdle about 10 strings with a bunch of whistles. :))) Moreover, I already managed to break one string, now it's ethnography, there are still half of the buttons left to break off. :)))

Due to the peculiarities of the instrument, he does not know how to play quietly - if you turn the wheel too slowly, then the sound simply does not come out, or he wheezes and stutters, so poor neighbors. :) One thing is good - for study, you can turn off all the strings, except for one voice, and select and train at 1/4 volume. :))) For a musician, it's probably pretty easy to play the lyre; but for me, as one who does not know musical notation in principle, so far everything is given with difficulty; it's only on the video, everything is simple, but try to pick up something worthwhile ... The most difficult thing, oddly enough, is to set up the instrument; in tuning the lyre is more difficult than a piano, and this is practically no joke - the difficulties here are not in stretching the notes, but in a heap of small subtleties, such as rosinizing the wheel, adjusting the height of the string tension, winding wool, and so on and so forth. Nothing, let's break through. :) Soon, I hope I will find something to show.