Hurdy gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy (also Radleier , English hurdy-gurdy ) is a stringed instrument in which the strings are struck by a built-in wheel that is turned by means of a crank . The swinging length of one or more melody strings is shortened mechanically using keys to change the pitch.
Usually one or more drone strings sound at a constant pitch. The hurdy-gurdy is therefore counted as a drone instrument like the bagpipe . A snare bridge is often used to generate rhythmic snarling sounds . The Bohemian instruments preserved in museums have no drone strings, the traditional instruments from Galicia do not have a snare bridge.
The hurdy-gurdy is used in traditional music, early music , jazz , industrial , rock music and new music .
Mechanism of shortening the melody strings
Each key sits on a push rod with a rectangular cross-section. The push rods are led through corresponding holes across two parallel boards (called tangent boxes). These boards are attached to the instrument in such a way that the melody strings run parallel between them and thus the push rods run across the melody strings.
A component is attached to the push rods for each melody string, which functionally corresponds to a fret . When a key is pressed, the corresponding “frets” are pressed against the melody strings, thereby shortening the swinging length of all strings at the same time. In order to be able to tune the instrument exactly, these "frets" are usually movable.
The "frets" of a hurdy-gurdy are also known as tangents because they "touch" the strings, or as "flags" because of their traditional shape. The keys fall back into their original position due to gravity.
Occasionally there are mechanisms that deviate from this basic model, in which, for example, the keys fall back through spring force, and there is also a mechanism in which the "frets" are attached to rotating discs.
Designs
Through the ages and regions there is a great variety of designs. A general standardization cannot be established, but some types can be narrowed down.
Organistrum
The oldest documented form is the organistrum , which is documented in texts from the 10th century. The earliest known representations date from the 12th century. In the organistrum for two players, one of the two operates the crank and the other shortens the strings. It is only known from pictures and sculptures, our knowledge of the mechanism of the shortening of the strings, the tuning and other structural details is based on circumstantial evidence. The organistrum was used in church music .
Designs from France
The hurdy-gurdy underwent a significant change in France in the 18th century. In a not too long period of time, many chamber music works for instruments of folk music were created, including the hurdy-gurdy. The instrument is adapted for use in court (chamber) music and designs are developed with a lute- like chip body and organ registers. Many of the technical foundations of the instruments used today go back to this time.
The hurdy-gurdy is documented in many European countries until the 19th century. Today it is widespread as a traditional musical instrument in central France , north-west Spain and Hungary , and is experiencing a renaissance in many regions of Europe. The instrument is probably more widely used today than at any other time.
For the hurdy-gurdy, French vielle à Roue (literally wheel- fidel ), there is a strong tradition in France today, especially in the south of the Center-Val de Loire region , in Auvergne and Bourgogne . This instrument was given its shape with a body made of chips, similar to the lute, from court instrument makers at the beginning of the 18th century. Well-known instrument makers of this period who built these finer-sounding instruments are Henri Bâton from Versailles , the Normandy brothers Pierre Louvet (1709–1784) and Jean Louvet (1718–1793) and Jean-Nicolas Lambert (1708–1759 ) and Nicolas Colson (* 1785 in Mirecourt ). In addition to the instruments with a chip body, instruments with a guitar-shaped body were also built.
In the 19th century the instrument adapted more and more to use in village music and became more robust. The instruments from this period, for example by Pimpard or Pajot from Jenzat in Auvergne , are similar to those built today. For Brittany, the instrument makers from the Center built hurdy-gurdy hangers with a larger, tapered frame body.
Types from Hungary
The hurdy-gurdy, in Hungarian in the peasant language nyenyere called, since the 20th century mostly as tekerőlant or short tekerő ( tekerő = Rotate / cranks lant = lute), has a large waisted sides corpus and the peculiarity that melody, Schnarr and drone strings run within the tangent box that houses the keyboard. This instrument has a snarling system that, unlike the French instruments, is adjusted with a wedge.
A characteristic of the Hungarian hurdy-gurdy is the smaller wheel and the smaller crank compared to the French instruments. When using the snare (Hungarian recsegő), this favors the generation of short accentuated snaring tones, the sound of which is reminiscent of a marching drum or a tambourine.
The Hungarian hurdy-gurdy is regionally at home in Hungarian folk music in the areas around Szentes and Csongrád as well as in the Danube area south of Budapest . The first written references to hurdy-gurdy in Hungary can be found in the XVI. Century, the oldest Hungarian images of the instrument come from the time of the Kuruzenkriege at the end of the 17th century. In the course of the "renaissance of the hurdy-gurdy", which began in Hungary in the last third of the 20th century, Hungarian instrument makers learned and adopted the construction method from still living folk musicians, so that Hungary, like France, has a continuous tradition of making and playing hurdy-gurdy having. In folk music, hurdy-gurdy players are often handed down in duets with clarinetists, with the clarinet taking over the melody part and the lyre the function of an accompanying instrument. Preserved hurdy gales from southern and eastern Austria and Hungary and historical images from these regions show structural similarities.
"Bohemian" type
Several instruments have been preserved in Czech museums that do not have drone strings and therefore no snare strings. Further features are: sympathetic strings , which are led through the tangent box, cylindrical bridges for the individual melody strings, thus a separate tailpiece for each melody string plus sympathetic strings, a special arrangement of the tangents / frets, which allows, unlike other hurdy-gurdy, to pick off two melody strings in alternating two chords with a keyboard, as well as usually a lever to unhook a melody string.
Types from Poland and Ukraine
The instruments called lira in Poland , Ukraine , Belarus and Russia sometimes have a violin-shaped body, mostly a very small wheel and occasionally a special keyboard with buttons. The legendary Ukrainian folk singer and prophet, Wernyhora is often portrayed with a hurdy-gurdy.
Alto hurdy-gurdy
This modern instrument has been developed since the 1980s according to the sound ideas of the instrument makers and the needs of hurdy-gurdy players who use the hurdy-gurdy in a modern musical context. The special focus is on expanding the tonal variety and dynamics of the volume. Well-known musicians who have particularly contributed to the development of these instruments are Valentin Clastrier , Gilles Chabenat , Germán Díaz , Matthias Loibner and Simon Wascher .
The name derives from the extended range of these instruments, from alto (French for viola). These instruments usually have a deeper sound, a total of more keyboard range, up to three octaves, more strings - up to 27 -, using the different strings then up to four and a half octaves pitch range and built-in preamplifier systems.
Important instrument makers for the development of this type are Denis Siorat, Robert Mandel, Philippe Mousnier and Wolfgang Weichselbaumer .
Gothic hurdy-gurdy
A variety of instrument forms are offered by today's instrument makers under this term. It is usually understood to mean instruments whose body shape is based on historical images from the beginning of the modern era to around 1650. There are very accurate replicas of individual historical figures, such as after the instrument in the picture The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch is represented, but also purely speculative creations for use on medieval markets .
Lira Organizzata, vielleorganée or organ eggs
The organ egg is actually an independent instrument that consists of a hurdy-gurdy combined with a small organ. The hurdy-gurdy keyboard also controls the mechanics of the organ valves and the wind system is operated with the crank. In the eighteenth century, compositions were written for this by Joseph Haydn and Ignaz Pleyel, among others .
Box lyre (lat.Sinfonia)
This form is also documented from medieval depictions. The instrument has the shape of an elongated box, only the keyboard and the crank protrude. The earliest illustrations are from the 13th century. As with the Organistrum, all today's replicas are based on texts and images and the conclusions drawn from them. No historical instrument has survived.
Electrically amplified and electronic hurdy-gurdy
In pop music , especially in the music of the Middle Ages , hurdy-gurdy hurdy-gurdy music is also used, in which the string vibrations can also be picked up via electromagnetic pickups . In principle, similar to electric guitars , the analog signals are transmitted to amplifiers and electronically amplified or reproduced using a synthesizer .
Electronic hurdy-gurdy such as the MidiGurdy , on the other hand, manage without any strings . Here the signals for the melody sides are generated purely electronically from the keyboard and also in combination with the movements of the rotary knob. The signals for snarling and drone strings are controlled by the crank movements of the rotary wheel. Depending on the technical equipment of the instrument, the digital audio signal can be output directly via an integrated processor and sound card . A data exchange of the musical control information between the hurdy-gurdy and connected computers, samplers or synthesizers is possible via MIDI interfaces .
repertoire
At all times of its existence the hurdy-gurdy was and is also an instrument of popular music , traditional dance music and song accompaniment in Europe. It is also used in a wide variety of musical genres such as early music , jazz , industrial , rock music , new music or on so-called medieval markets .
Numerous works have been written for the instrument which, due to their size and composition, can be classified as so-called " serious music ":
A large number of these works were created in the 18th century. In addition to works from the environment of the French court with composers such as Charles Bâton , Joseph Bodin de Boismortier , Charles Buterne , Nicolas and Esprit-Philippe Chédeville , Michel Corrette , Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco , Jean-François Boüin , Jean-Baptiste Dupuits , Jean and Jacques-Martin Hotteterre , Jean-Baptiste Lully , Jacques-Christophe Naudot , Jean-Philippe Rameau also composed other individual works for the instrument: Leopold Mozart (Sinfonia Die Bauernhochzeit ), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Deutscher Tanz KV 602/3), Wenzel Müller (opera The Sisters of Prague ), Joseph von Eybler (German dance), Ferdinand Kauer (Variazioni a Piu Istromenti [sic], German dance), Georg Druschetzky (Parthia), Paul Wranitzky (German dance), Franz Xaver Süßmayr (country dealer ), Gaetano Donizetti (opera Linda di Chamonix ) and Carl Christian Agthe (symphony The Cuckoo ).
A number of works have also been written for the organ lyres.
Contemporary composers also write “ serious music ” compositions for the instrument, including Edward Sielicki (1987: Pulchrum est quod commensuratum est ), Zygmunt Krauze (1974: Idyll , 1975: Fête galante et pastorale ), R. Murray Schafer (2009 : Oper The Children's Crusade ), Valentin Clastrier , Matthias Loibner , Germán Díaz , Stevie Wishart .
The names of the hurdy-gurdy
The modern terms hurdy-gurdy and (more rarely, mostly in scientific texts) radleier are derived from ancient Greek λύρα , lyra , Old High German and Italian lira . The word part Dreh- (from turning ) or wheel- refers to the streak wheel turned by the player.
There are various other names in the historical sources:
- Hurdy-gurdy is often shortened to lyre or leyer . The form Lira also occurs, for example in the names of parts for hurdy-gurdy in musical works (KV 602/3, Trio).
- Names like Bawren Lyren ( peasant lyre ) were also used ( Praetorius , 1620, panel XXII), not least to distinguish between the ancient lyre ( lyre ) and the hurdy-gurdy “lyre”.
- The terms beggar's eggs and beggar's lyre indicate that begging musicians played hurdy-gurdy. Athanasius Kircher records the instrument in his Musurgia universalis as Lyra mendicorum (“beggar's lyre”) (Iconism VIII fol. 487). Savoyard organ refers to the hurdy-gurdy as an instrument of the Savoyards, traveling and begging musicians from Savoy .
- Only in medieval texts is found symphony .
With the term lyre , which is used today for the instrument group lyre and in historical texts for the ancient plucked instrument lyra as well as for traditional string instruments and precisely the hurdy-gurdy, a distinction is only possible from the context (Grimm: lyre, 1a and 1b ). The same applies to the term organ grinder . The reason is that after the turning device of the hurdy-gurdy various devices with a similar crank were called a lyre (Grimm: Lyre, 4), including small portable mechanical musical works that are operated with a lyre : a box with a lyre , that is, a barrel organ .
literature
- Marianne Bröcker: The hurdy-gurdy . 2nd Edition. Publishing house for systematic musicology, Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1977 (dissertation from 1973).
- Riccardo Delfino, Matthias Loibner: Playing the hurdy-gurdy . 2nd Edition. Publishers of the Minstrels, Reichelsheim, 2006.
- Philippe Destrem, Volker Heidemann: The hurdy-gurdy, fine-tuning and maintenance . 2nd Edition. Publishers of the Minstrels, Reichelsheim, 1993.
- John Ralyea: Shepherd's Delight. Guide to the repertoire for hurdy-gurdy, musette, organized hurdy-gurdy, wheel-fiddle, nyckelharpa and tromba marina . Hurdy-Gurdy Press, Chicago 1980.
Web links
- Hurdy-Gurdy Wiki
- Drone e. V.
- History of the hurdy-gurdy in Austria
- The hurdy-gurdy in Switzerland
- Images and sound files of a Lira Organizzata
- How a hurdy-gurdy works (YouTube video)
- Free sheet music with midis
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marianne Bröcker, 1977, p. 43
- ↑ Nagy Balázs: Tekerőlantosok KÖNYVE . A Hagyományok Háza kiadványsorozata, 2006
- ↑ Marianne Bröcker, 1977, Figure 35
- ↑ Aylin Izci: Anything but old-fashioned: the electric hurdy-gurdy. In: enemy.at. June 23, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2018 .
- ^ Banshee in Avalon: A Hurdy Gurdy and MIDI controller. In: audiofanzine. November 27, 2014, accessed December 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Marianne Bröcker, 1977, pp. 229-233
- ↑ KV 602/3, Trio. New Mozart edition online
- ^ Michael Praetorius: Syntagma musicum. Volume 2: Theatrum Instrumentorum seu Sciagraphia . Wolfenbüttel 1620, panel XXII in Wikimedia Commons
- ↑ Athanasius Kircher: Musurgia universalis , 1650, Iconismus VIII fol. 487 in Wikimedia Commons
- ↑ Marianne Bröcker, 1977, pp. 415-420
- ↑ Marianne Bröcker, 1977, p. 229
- ↑ a b lyre. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . 16 volumes in 32 sub-volumes, 1854–1960. S. Hirzel, Leipzig ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).