Crwth

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Crwth, Wales, first quarter of the 19th century ( Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim)

Crwth , Welsh , [ kruːθ ], Irish crot, cruit , Middle English crouthe, crowd (e) , is a Celtic , especially Welsh medieval lyre with a finger board. In the early Middle Ages, the crwth was plucked and probably bowed with the bow from the 11th century. Related lyres on mainland Europe were called Gaulish crotta and Old High German rotta .

Origin and design

The crwth enjoyed great popularity in the Middle Ages and penetrated beyond the Celtic settlement area to northern Europe. The crwth was first plucked like an ancient lyre. By the 11th century at the latest, the crwth had a fingerboard and a round bridge. Since then she has been painted with a horse hair bow. Other European string instruments such as the Rotte , the Swedish Stråkharpa ( talharpa ) and the Finnish jouhikko probably descended from her. A crwth from the 19th century has six strings , two of which are on the left outside the fingerboard and are just drone strings . These two strings can also be plucked by their positioning.

The crwth fell out of use in the 17th century, but in Wales it lasted some time. The oldest surviving instruments are three 18th century Welsh crwths on display in museums in Cardiff , Aberystwyth and Warrington . It was only in the last few years that the Crwth was reconstructed and played again in the course of the revival of Celtic folklore . Various further developments of the historical crwth are used in anthroposophic music therapy.

The mood of the crwth is not clearly passed down. Today it is mostly tuned in 'G': g, g 1 , c 1 , c 2 , d 1 , d 2 . The length is between 39 and 42 cm. Their sound is described as warm, earthy and pleasant.

The family name Crowther is derived from the crwth . The music theater collective "CRwTH" of the French composer François Sarhan is named after the instrument .

literature

  • Bethan Miles, Robert Evans: Crwth. In: Grove Music Online, 2001

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