Leonardo da Vinci's forgotten musical invention

https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/leonardo-da-vinci-viola-organista/

by Schiphol • 7 years ago

126 19 7 years ago

classicfm.com

taneq2• 7 years ago

The unusual instrument is a hybrid of elements from a harpsichord, an organ and a viola da gamba.

It looks to me more akin to a hurdy-gurdy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurdy-gurdy

Schiphol• 7 years ago

I mean, a hurdy-gurdy is a bit of a hybrid of harpsichord and viola :) Add in the organ and you get this.

jet_32951• 7 years ago

Exactly, and here's where you can see and hear one played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmSTgU36xn4

YeGoblynQueenne3• 7 years ago

I was wondering about that too. Wikipedia has a nice explanation of how the two are different:

In the first model the friction of the strings was achieved by a mechanical bow traveling sideways. The second model featured a single rotating wheel, similar to that of the earlier hurdy-gurdy, to play strings. It differs in that a hurdy-gurdy has a small number of strings that are constantly in contact with the wheel, rather than a larger number of strings that can be lowered onto the wheel. A hurdy-gurdy has a keybox with tangents that change the pitches of the strings, rather like placing fingers on violin strings. Leonardo's innovation of a keyboard with a lowering mechanism allowed individual notes to be played, alone or in specific desired chords over a large range of pitches.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_organista#Description

In terms of sound, the instrument in the video in the posted article is not at all like a hurdy-gurdy. I find it sounds like a string quarted. Perhaps it's more the kind of pieces that are normally played on a hurdy-gurdy that tend to have a very folk-y sound, whereas the gentleman in the video above is playing a classical piece. But I don't think I'd really mistake this for a hurdy-gurdy.

All of which reminds me- man, I'd love to learn to play the hurdy gurdy. Damn expensive instrument though.

taneq2• 7 years ago

Huh, thanks for that. :)

Damn expensive instrument though.

I seem to remember having (way back when I was a kid) one of those "101 do-it-yourself projects" type books that had instructions for actually building one. I'm pretty sure it's where I learned about them. Seems like a lot of work though.

These guys (https://www.cbgitty.com/kits-instruments-amps-more/diy-hurdy...) have a laser-cut kit for a toy quality one which might be good enough to learn on.

nickserv• 7 years ago

The title says that none had been built, while in the video the man who made it says none have survived.

Otherwise, quite an interesting sound, perfect for baroque music.

droithomme• 7 years ago

none have survived

Several have survived, but only one in complete working order, this 1625 specimen:

https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/exhibitions/explore-the-w...

cousin_it2• 7 years ago

Nice! So it has (in MIDI parlance) polyphonic aftertouch, but no pitch bend. I wonder if you could make a string instrument with both.

kragen• 7 years ago

Sure, just adjust the tension on the strings, the way electric guitar players do with a whammy bar.

leoc3• 7 years ago

Sure. Here's a fretless bass with a Gizmotron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBCvI-do0KA Even better, here's a pedal steel guitar with a Gizmotron ... and Robert Randolph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-CODgpHuPY .

cousin_it2• 7 years ago

Thanks, I didn't know about this device, really cool! Do you know if it's possible to have a sharper attack? Like, pluck the note normally and then sustain it with the device.

leoc3• 7 years ago

Apparently the instrument is more like one of Hans Haiden's Geigenwerke than Leonardo's viola organista concept, though the two are similar. https://slippedisc.com/2013/11/leonardos-instrument-no-its-a... WP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_organista . See also the hurdy-gurdy (of course), the Wheelharp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP2iMdvMN5U and the Gizmotron https://www.gizmotron.com/ .

no_identd• 7 years ago

You forgot the nyckelharpa:

https://youtu.be/e7sK5OiJHHQ

Which kinda inverts all this in an entirely different way. Well, except for the wheelharp, the two sound very similar yet distinct.

telesilla• 7 years ago

The music he is playing, of Marin Marais and St. Colombe, would have been written a century after da Vinci's death in 1519 as St. Colombe and Marais were born in the 1600s. However, the instrument suits the music naturally well as some kind of viola da gamba would have been around during da Vinci's time. What has morphed into the modern day violin, viola and cello but has lost the breathy sorrowful voice of the gamba in exchange for virtuosity and loudness.

Music more representative of da Vinci's time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD_wZLpaVPg

For more of the beautiful music of Marais and St. Colombe see Jordi Savall, the living maestro on the viola da gamba:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylpOO-7cyt0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fXQ7Su4KZ8

and the beautiful film made about the two composers, about grief and love, about the viola da gamba:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF41CDD78BE4BF6C8

Savall's own wife died in 2011 and when I watch this movie since then, I feel his (pre-widower) outpouring of the deepest expression of grief. It's stunning.

bobske4• 7 years ago

Sounds horrible

dang• 7 years ago

Maybe so, but could you please not post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News?

Leonardo da Vinci's forgotten musical invention

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