Stringed bowed musical instruments. Historical development of stringed bowed instruments

Basic information, device Viola or violin viola - a stringed bowed musical instrument of the same device as the violin, but somewhat larger, which makes it sound in a lower register. Names of the viola in other languages: viola (Italian); viola (English); alto (French); bratsche (German); alttoviulu (Finnish). The viola strings are tuned a fifth below the violin and an octave above the cello.

Basic information, origin Apkhyarts or apkhiarts is a bowed stringed musical instrument, one of the main folk musical instruments of the Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples. The name "apkhyartsa" in its origin is connected with the military life of the people and goes back to the word "apkhartsaga", which in translation into Russian means "what encourages you to go forward." Abkhazians also use singing to the accompaniment of apkhartsu as a healing tool. Under

Basic information Arpeggione (Italian arpeggione) or cello guitar, love guitar is a stringed bowed musical instrument. It is close to the cello in terms of size and sound production, but, like the guitar, it has six strings and frets on the fingerboard. The German name for the arpegione is Liebes-Guitarre, the French name is Guitarre d'amour. Origin, history Arpegione was designed in 1823 by the Viennese master Johann Georg Staufer; a little

Basic information, origin Banhu is a Chinese stringed bowed musical instrument, a kind of huqin. The traditional banhu has been used primarily as an accompaniment instrument in northern Chinese musical drama, northern and southern Chinese operas, or as a solo instrument and in ensembles. In the 20th century, the banhu began to be used as an orchestral instrument. There are three types of banhu - high, medium and

Basic information, history, types of viols Viola (Italian viola) is an ancient stringed bowed musical instrument of various types. Violas form a family of ancient stringed bowed musical instruments with frets on the fingerboard. The viol developed from the Spanish vihuela. Violas were widely used in church, court and folk music. In the 16-18 centuries, as a solo, ensemble and orchestral instrument, the tenor instrument became especially widespread.

Basic information Viola d'amore (Italian viola d'amore - viola of love) is an old stringed bowed musical instrument of the viol family. Viola d'amore was widely used from the end of the 17th century to early XIX century, then gave way to viola and cello. Interest in viola d'amore revived at the beginning of the 20th century. The instrument has six or seven strings, on the earliest models -

Viola da gamba (Italian: viola da gamba - foot viola) is an ancient stringed bowed musical instrument of the viol family, similar in size and range to the modern cello. The viola da gamba was played while sitting, holding the instrument between the legs or laying it sideways on the thigh - hence the name. Of the entire viol family, the viola da gamba is the longest of all instruments.

Basic information, device, game The cello is a stringed bowed musical instrument of the bass and tenor register, known from the first half of the XVI century. The cello is widely used as a solo instrument, the group of cellos is used in string and symphony orchestras, the cello is an obligatory participant string quartet, which is the lowest sounding of the instruments, is also often used in other compositions

Basic information Gadulka is a Bulgarian folk stringed bowed musical instrument used to accompany dances or songs and has a special soft harmonic sound. Origin, history The origin of the gadulka is associated with the Persian kemancha, the Arab rebab and the medieval European rebek. The shape of the body and sound holes of the gadulka is very similar to the so-called armudi kemenche (also known as the Constantinople lyre,

Basic information Gidzhak (gydzhak) - string bowed musical instrument of the peoples Central Asia(Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens). Gidjak has a spherical body and is made of pumpkin, large walnut, wood or other materials. Lined with leather. The number of gidzhak strings is variable, most often - three. The structure of the three-stringed gijak is a quarter, usually - es1, as1, des2 (E-flat, A-flat of the first octave, D-flat of the second octave).

Basic information Gudok is a stringed bowed musical instrument. The most common horn was in the 17-19 centuries among buffoons. The horn has a hollowed-out wooden body, usually oval or pear-shaped, as well as a flat soundboard with resonator holes. The neck of the horn has a short fretless neck holding 3 or 4 strings. You can play the horn by setting it

Basic information Jouhikko (jouhikannel, jouhikantele) is an ancient Finnish bowed stringed musical instrument. Similar to the 4-string Estonian hiukannel. Youhikko has a dugout boat-shaped or other figured birch body, covered with a spruce or pine soundboard with resonator holes, and a side cutout that forms a handle. Strings are usually 2-4. As a rule, the strings are hair or gut. The jouhikko scale is fourth or fourth-fifth. During

Basic information Kemenche is a folk stringed bowed musical instrument, akin to the Arab rebab, the medieval European rebec, the French bag, the Bulgarian gadulka. Pronunciation options and synonyms: kemendzhe, kemendzhesi, kemencha, kemancha, kyamancha, kemendzes, kementsia, keman, lira, pontiac lira. Video: Kemenche on video + sound Thanks to these videos you can get acquainted with the instrument, watch real game on it, listen to it

Basic information Kobyz is a Kazakh national stringed bowed musical instrument. Kobyz does not have an upper board and consists of a hollowed-out hemisphere covered with a bubble, with a handle attached to it at the top and with a release at the bottom for supporting the stand. Two strings, tied to kobyz, are twisted from horsehair. They play the kobyz, squeezing it in their knees (like a cello),

Basic information The double bass is the largest stringed bowed musical instrument that combines the features of the violin family and the viol family. The modern double bass has four strings, although double basses of the 17th and 18th centuries may have had three strings. The double bass has a thick, hoarse, but somewhat muffled timbre, which is why it is rarely used as a solo instrument. The main scope of its application is the symphony orchestra,

Basic information Morin khuur - bowed stringed musical instrument Mongolian origin. Morin khuur is distributed in Mongolia, regionally in the north of China (primarily the Inner Mongolia region) and Russia (in Buryatia, Tuva, the Irkutsk region and the Trans-Baikal Territory). In China, the morin khuur is called matouqin, which means "horse head instrument". Origin, history One of the Mongolian legends attributes

Background The Nikelharpa is a traditional Swedish bowed stringed musical instrument that has had several modifications as it has evolved over 600 years. In Swedish, "nyckel" means key. The word "harpa" is usually used to refer to stringed instruments like the guitar or violin. The nyckelharpa is sometimes referred to as the "Swedish keyboard fiddle". The very first evidence of the use of nikelharpa is the image of two musicians playing this instrument,

Basic information, device Rabanastre is an Indian stringed bowed musical instrument, related to the Chinese erhu and remotely Mongolian morin khuur. Rabanastre has a wooden cylindrical body of small size, covered with a leather soundboard (most often made of snakeskin). A long neck in the form of a wooden rod passes through the body, near the upper end of which pegs are fixed. The rabanaster has two strings. Usually silk strings

Basic information Rebab is a bowed stringed musical instrument of Arabic origin. The word "rebab" in Arabic means the combination of short sounds into one long one. The body of the rebab is wooden, flat or convex, trapezoid or heart-shaped, with small notches on the sides. The shells are made of wood or coconut, the soundboards are made of leather (from the intestines of a buffalo or bladder of other animals). The neck is long

Basic information, device, origin Rebec is an ancient stringed bowed musical instrument. The Rebecque consists of a pear-shaped wooden body (without shells). The upper tapering part of the body of which goes directly into the neck. The deck has 2 resonator holes. Rebec has 3 strings that are tuned in fifths. Appeared rebec in the west European countries ah around 12th century. Applied until the 3rd quarter

Basic information The violin is a stringed bowed musical instrument of a high register. Violins occupy a leading place among stringed bowed instruments - the most important part of the modern symphony orchestra. Perhaps no other instrument has such a combination of beauty, expressiveness of sound and technical mobility. In the orchestra, the violin performs various and multifaceted functions. Very often violins, due to their exceptional melodiousness, are used for

- one of those instruments that belong to an extensive family of violins. The violin is a high-pitched stringed musical instrument. Has a folk origin modern look acquired in the sixteenth century, became widespread in the seventeenth century. It has four strings tuned in fifths. The timbre of the violin is thick in the low register, soft in the middle and brilliant in the high. Rebecque came to Europe from the Middle East. The rebec is much older than the violin, as it was already known in the twelfth century. Rebec (French rebec, Latin rebeca, rubeba; goes back to Arabic rabāb) is an ancient bowed string instrument that influenced the formation of instruments of the entire violin family. The exact origin is unknown, possibly late middle ages the Arabs brought the rebec to Spain, or the Arabs met him after the conquest of Spain. The peak of popularity for this instrument came in the Middle Ages, as well as in the Renaissance.

At first, the rebec was a folk instrument, not a court instrument, used by jugglers, minstrels and other itinerant musicians. Later it was also used in church and secular court music. Moreover, the rebec sounded not only at secular receptions, but also at village holidays. It is also a church instrument, an invariable companion of many religious rituals. Since the fifteenth century, the rebec has been used only in folk music making.

Outwardly, the rebec looks like an elongated violin. It does not have those sharp curves that are inherent in the body of a violin. IN this case the smoothness of the lines is important. The rebec has a pear-shaped wooden body, the upper tapering part of which passes directly into the neck. On the body there are strings with a stand, as well as resonating holes. The fretboard has frets and tuning pegs. The neck is crowned with an original curl, which is calling card rebecca. Two or three strings of the instrument are tuned in fifths. They play the instrument with a bow, which they drive along the strings. It is important to note that the use of the bow when playing stringed instruments supposedly originated in Asia in the ninth century and spread through Byzantium and Muslim countries throughout Western Europe in the tenth to twelfth centuries. The Rebec is one of the first instruments to be played with a bow...

Cymbals is a stringed musical instrument. It is a trapezoidal deck with stretched strings. The adjective "hammer" means that you need to play the instrument with the help of two wooden mallets of a special curved shape. Hammer cymbals are common in Eastern European countries such as Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia. A similar instrument is also found in China, India and other Asian countries.

The ancestors of the cymbals were already known about six thousand years ago. And the first images of simple percussion chordophones (rather, theoretically resembling the current cymbals) were preserved on an ancient Sumerian monument - a fragment of a vase from the end of the 4th beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e., which depicts the procession of musicians with five-, seven-stringed instruments.

Another cymbal-like instrument can be seen on a bas-relief from the First Babylonian Dynasty (9th century BC). It depicts a musician striking a seven-stringed instrument with sticks, wooden structure with an attached arc, on which strings of different lengths are stretched. The bas-relief of the royal palace of the Assyrian state (7th century BC) depicts musicians who accompany the procession to the temple of the goddess Imitar. A nine-stringed instrument was attached to the body of one of them, which archaeologists later called the “triganon” due to its triangular shape. Sound extraction on it was carried out by hitting the sticks. In fact, this instrument was a primitive cymbals that spread in the East and eventually acquired the shape of a regular trapezoid...

A stringed musical instrument, a kind of lute.
The lute is an ancient plucked stringed musical instrument with frets on the neck and an oval body. The lute family is quite numerous, including not only well-known instruments, but also quite rare ones, such as bouzouki. The origin of the bouzouki has not been established for certain. According to one version, the bouzouki comes from the ancient Greek kifara (lyre), according to another, from the Turkish saz (bozuk-saz). The instrument is also known under the name "baglama", distributed in Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Ireland and in a slightly modified form in Turkey.

The classic bouzouki has four double metal strings (archaic - baglama - 3 double). Baglamazaki, a tiny bouzouki with three double strings, can also be attributed to the bouzouki family. His high, gentle sound in the composition of a classical Greek orchestra or solo accompanies the dances of sirtaki and hasapiko.

The history of the origin of the bouzouki is very interesting. In Greece, the instrument for a long time considered illegal, bouzouki music was forbidden and did not go beyond taverns where criminal elements usually gathered. The revival of this instrument began in the sixties of the twentieth century, thanks to the outstanding Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis...

Story performing arts

TUTORIAL

for 4th year students

specialization "Instrumental performance" specialization "orchestral stringed bowed instruments"

Compiled by Kalinina V.N.

From the compiler: the tutorial covers historical period from the birth of bowed string instruments to mid-nineteenth century.

1. Historical development strings bowed instruments.

2. Outstanding violin makers and schools of violin makers.

3. The history of the formation of the bow.

4. Renaissance. The heyday of violin art in Western Europe.

5. Italian violin art of the 17th-18th centuries, first half. XIX century.

6. French violin art of the 17th-18th centuries, first half. XIX century.

7. Violin art of Germany XVII-XVIII centuries, first half. XIX century.

8. Chamber-instrumental creativity of I.S. Bach. Sonatas and partitas for solo violin.

9. Mannheim School.

10. Chamber-instrumental creativity of the composers of the Vienna classical school.

11. Formation and development of genres of chamber instrumental music.

12. Violin art in Russia from folk origins until the middle of the 19th century.

Addendum: ancient stringed bowed instruments sound (video).

Historical development of stringed bowed instruments

Information on the history of bowed instruments is not very rich and detailed. From the history of India, Iran and other states, one can draw some information about the existence of these instruments over two millennia ago. It can be assumed that the first stringed instruments appeared precisely at Eastern peoples. Apparently the oldest of them was ravanastron .

The idea of ​​pleasing the ear by rubbing the hair from a horse's tail against the dried, twisted and stretched intestines of animals originated in time immemorial. The invention of the first bowed string instrument is attributed to the Indian (according to another version, Ceylon) king Ravana, who lived about five thousand years ago, which is probably why distant ancestor the violin was called the ravanastron. It consisted of an empty cylinder made of mulberry wood, one side of which was covered with the skin of a broad-scaled water boa. A stick attached to this body served as a neck and neck, and at its upper end there were holes for two pegs. The strings were made from the intestines of a gazelle, and the bow, curved in an arc, was made from a bamboo tree. (Ravanastron has been preserved to this day by wandering Buddhist monks).

Erhu

At present, the Chinese folk instrument erhu is very popular - the Chinese violin, which in its design is very close to the ancient ravanastron.

Erhu- an ancient Chinese stringed bowed musical instrument, an unusual two-stringed violin with metal strings. While playing the erhu, the musician pulls the bowstring with the fingers of his right hand. The bow itself is fixed between two strings, making up a single whole with the erhu.

Kamancha

Very similar to ravanastron, but already a more perfect instrument kamancha. Kamancha (Kamanche), Kemancha, is an ethnic (Persia, Iran) bowed string instrument of the 15th century. "Kemancha" in Persian means "small bowed instrument". Distributed in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Dagestan, as well as in the countries of the Middle and Near East. The length of the classic kemancha is 40-41 cm, the width is 14-15 cm. The body is made in the form of a pear cut along the length. The oval head of the instrument, as well as the neck and body, are made from a single piece of wood, sometimes coconut. Deca made of thin snakeskin, fish skin or bull bladder. The bow is bow-shaped with horsehair. The performer holds the instrument vertically and plays while sitting, resting the long metal leg of the instrument on the floor or knee.

Classic kemancha. Keman (was distributed in Armenia).

Girl playing the kemancha. Miniature 1662.

There are various theories of the origin of the violin: from string instruments brought by the Arabs in the 8th century. to Western European countries; from the Central Asian caucasian instruments, from the bowed instruments of the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, from the medieval moles, jig, bowed lyre .

Bow lyre

References to the bow lyre are found in works on music dating back to the 9th century.

The most common version of the origin of the violin from medieval instruments such as fidel And rebecca. Fidelis begin to appear in Europe in the 10th century: one type of instrument, apparently coming from Byzantium, ends up in Spain at that time. It was this type, usually pear-shaped and without a neck, with one to five strings, that became the main bowed instrument that appeared under various names - fidel, viela (in Romanesque countries) - in medieval Europe. The second type, long and narrow, called the rebec, probably of Arab origin, appeared in Europe in the 11th century and survived into various types about six centuries . In Western Europe, both forms of holding the instrument a gamba and a braccio were common.

fidel fidel

Fidel and the rebec still did not look like an elegant violin at all, these short fat men with a thick neck and pot-bellied body. The fidel was pear-shaped, spade-shaped or oval, about 50 cm long, had an exceptional variety of body shapes and the number of strings. The classic version of the fidel had a guitar-like body, two bracket-shaped resonant holes, a fretless fingerboard, a plank head with straight pegs perpendicular to it, five strings tuned in fourths and fifths.

Rebecque was similar to him with his pear-shaped body, so he was sometimes also called fidel. They had from 2 to 5 strings. The name rebec, from the Arabic rebab or rabab, betrayed him with his head. It is clear that the instrument appeared in Europe as a result of contacts with the Arabs that began in the 8th century, well, at least during crusades. The name fidel, which comes from the Latin fides - string, did not say anything about its origin, but the fact that it was especially loved by minstrels and jugglers, itinerant professional musicians medieval Europe, whose type of creativity and lifestyle were formed under the influence of the East, also spoke of eastern origin and fidel. These oriental instruments so loved in Europe that in X-XV centuries neither folk, nor church, nor court musicians could do without them.

The characteristic features of the rebec were a mandolin-shaped body, directly passing into the neck, and a peg box with transverse pegs. There were no frets on the fretboard.

Classic Rebeck

The rebec usually had three strings, the fifth order of the rebec - G, D, A was established even before the advent of the violin. They played the rebec, usually holding it in a horizontal position.

At the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, one can state the stratification of fidel-shaped instruments that began earlier and the identification of two pronounced lines in its development. One of them, connected with the practice of folk musicians, whose social position was low and disenfranchised, led to the violin; the other, which existed in court and castle practice and was in contact with the lute, led to the formation of the viol family.

David Teniers the Younger. Duet. Giovanni Bellini. Altar detail

(rebec) of the Church of St. Zacharias, Venice 1505

In the XIV century. two directions in the development of the fidel are clearly outlined, which led in the 15th century to the formation of the family of viols and the family of bowed lyres.

Viola (Italian viola) - an ancient stringed bowed musical instrument of various types. Violas form a family of ancient stringed bowed musical instruments with frets on the fingerboard. The viol developed from the Spanish vihuela. Among bowed string instruments, members of the viol family ruled throughout Europe from the 15th to XVII century although they appeared much earlier. At the beginning of the 11th century, viols are depicted in the visual arts and are mentioned in literature. The time of origin of the viola is unclear, it is probably the end of the 10th century, when the bow was recognized in Europe. Violas were widely used in church, court and folk music.

Viola family (illustration from the treatise by Michael Praetorius Syntagma musicum)

Compared to violins, the viola was longer and lighter, and as a result produced a less intense sound. Unlike the violin, the viola did not have a characteristic shape. Some instruments had flat backs and sloping shoulders, some curved backs and more. full form. All these instruments in the overwhelming majority of cases had six strings. The strings on the viols were placed very close to each other, the neck was divided by frets, - transverse metal nut, and the stand had a very insignificant bulge. The old viols were basically reduced to the four most important types in imitation of the vocal quartet, they were presented in four voices, that is, in the viol orchestra they were assigned four completely independent voices or parts. All other varieties of viols (and there were quite a lot of them) differed from each other in size, sonority, number of strings or appearance, but they were never permanent members of the bow orchestra.

violas

At the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, the viols were divided into two groups: a gamba and a braccio. (Later violas were called instruments of the "foot" type of holding). TO XVII century there were dozens of types of viols: treble (soprano), high treble (soprano), small alto, alto, large bass, double bass viola (violone), tenor - viola, cant - viola, viol d'amour, viola da bardone (baritone), viola - bastrada, etc.

Since the 17th century, the violas began to lose their significance, they began to be replaced by the violin family. The viola da gamba and viol d'amour (viola of love) held out a little longer.

Carl Friedrich Abel.

Viola da gamba (italian. viola da gamba - foot viola) is an ancient stringed bowed musical instrument of the viol family, similar in size and range to the modern cello. The viola da gamba was played while sitting, holding the instrument between the legs or laying it sideways on the thigh, hence the name. Of the entire viol family, the viola da gamba retained its significance the longest of all instruments; many works by the most important authors of the middle of the 18th century were written for it. However, already at the end of the century, these parts were performed on the cello. (Goethe called Karl Friedrich Abel the last gamba virtuoso).

The displacement of the viol family by the violin took place gradually and the viol da gamba, which corresponded to it in size, competed with the cello longer than others, but by the end of the 18th century it had lost its significance (in order to return to the concert halls thanks to authentic performers, starting with Christian Döbereiner).

Viol d'amour

Viol d "amour- the last representative of the bow family of viols - first appeared in the second half of the 17th century in England. By appearance it does not differ from other viols: a flat lower soundboard, sloping shoulders, quarter-tert system, but the viol d "amour is held not in the "a gamba" way, like all other viols, but on the shoulder, like a violin.

characteristic feature instrument are bell strings - they are called resonating or sympathetic. They are not played, but they oscillate and resonate in

the time of performance on the main strings and thus give the sound of the viol d "amour a kind of mystery.

Viol d'amour

In appearance, viol d "cupid is perhaps the most beautiful instrument of all strings. The shape of the body is exceptionally elegant, especially its “waist”, which follows the contours of the resonant holes in the form of fiery reeds made on the top soundboard. The decorative decoration was the "Gothic rose", which was cut out under the fingerboard on the top deck. A long box with many pegs, ending with a carved head, either a maiden's or a blindfolded Cupid, complemented the sophistication of the form. All this taken together makes it possible to speak of an ancient instrument as a true work of art.

In size, the viol d "amour can be equated to a small viola, so it is most often played by violists, for whom to master vintage tool presents no great difficulty. It is very easy to play chords, arpeggios, various polyphonic combinations, and harmonics on the instrument.

Bow lyre, which arose in Italy in the XVI-XVII centuries. in appearance (the corners of the body, a convex bottom sounding board, a curl-shaped head) somewhat resembles a violin. There were several subspecies of the Italian lyre: lira da braccio (soprano), lirone da braccio (alto), lira da gamba (baritone), lirone perfetto (bass ), differing in the number of strings - from 5 to 10. In contrast to the families of viols and violins, lyres differed among themselves not only in size, timbre and range, but also in a number of other features that make the association of these instruments into one family somewhat arbitrary.

In the development of the fidel into the violin, the lyre held a braccio (in the hands), that is, the lyre a braccio and the lyrone a braccio adjacent to it, had a decisive influence. The low lyres reflected the influences of the lute and viola. The early lyre a braccio differed from the fidel only in the number of strings. In addition to the five strings on the fingerboard, she had two more strings located outside the neck, the so-called bourdons, which were used

for a kind of accompaniment in the form of sustained sounds. Already at the late fiddle one can find the use of the lower string as a bourdon. The lyre a braccio had a fretless neck. The fourth-fifth system of the fidel, when it evolves into a lyre, passes into the fifth system.

Lyre a braccio

The system of the lyre a braccio completely coincided with the system modern violin and differed only in doubling the "salt" and the presence of bourdons. In the process of development of the lyre into a violin, one should note the appearance on the body of first two, and then four corners, as well as the approximation of the shape of soundboards and resonant holes to violin ones. Lira was widely used in their homeland, in Italy. They could also be found among folk singer-storytellers and in academic musical circles. In the 16th century, lyres, especially the cello-sized lira a gamba, were often used to accompany madrigals.

Jacob Dak.

(Musical life of the 16th century).

Only one viola escaped the common fate of the viols, replaced by violins - this is the violone, or contrabass viola. It gradually took on some of the features of the violin, such as the number of strings and the absence of frets on the fretboard, while retaining certain features of the old viol family, including a flat back, sloping shoulders and tuning. In addition, it is believed that the modern double bass combines a number of properties of the violin and viol families.

Modern double bass

Many facts point to early development folk bow instruments among the Slavs, which indicates the unconditional connection of the violin with the folk instruments of the Slavs.

Polish mud hut Zlobtsoki

In Poland, during archaeological excavations, two instruments were discovered: the first of them (2nd half of the 11th century) is a two-string, similar in size and to the hollowed body of the later pochette (pocket violin); the second is almost twice as large in size. According to the assumption of the Polish scientist Z. Schulz, the second of the discovered tools is the ancestor of one of ancient instruments- three-string huts , the body of which was hollowed out from a single piece of wood. The name "hut" comes from the ancient Polish word "hut" - which means to pull the bow along the strings. Ancient huts had a peg box, were tuned in fifths and had no frets. Three- and four-stringed stringed instruments belonged to another type of ancient Polish bowed instruments. vicious , gensle (or genslicks) . In size, they were larger than huts, they were also tuned in fifths, they had a bright, open sound. Like the hut, the body of the zlobtsok, together with the neck and head, is made from one piece of wood. Four strings (in the old three) are tuned like a violin. When playing, these instruments were held on the shoulder or upper chest.

Somewhat later, in the 2nd half of the 15th century, the appearance of a folk instrument with the name violinist . His character traits- fifth system and, presumably, four strings. Apparently, the violinist was the first Polish instrument that absorbed the characteristic features of various, but similar bowed instruments. A similar name appeared in Russia in the 16th century (before that, the ancestor of the violin was called here skripel ).

Bulgarian gadulka

In Western Europe, both forms of holding the instrument were common: a gamba and a braccio . The same was true in Slavic countries: Bulgarian gadulka and Serbian gusla held a gamba; Polish gensle – a braccio. These instruments penetrated into Slavic lands from the Asian side. According to the theory of Kurt Sachs, the famous German instrumentalist, it was from the Balkan Slavs that she borrowed Western Europe instrument fidel (in Germanic countries) or vielu (in Romanesque countries).

Bowed instruments in Rus' have been known since ancient times (X-XI centuries) and were mainly held in the a gamba position. One of the oldest stringed bowed instruments of Rus' - close or bow . It is impossible to say exactly what kind of instrument this is, since it is mentioned only in folk songs. Do not confuse the name of the instrument with modern meaning of this word, one of the first names of the bow - "beam" , since the 16th century, the name "smyk" has been transferred to the bow.

Most likely, smyk is a variety beep. There are numerous references to the whistle in songs, chronicles, and ancient images. But the instrument itself was lost in folk musical practice. Only in the second half of the 20th century, during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, authentic specimens of this instrument were discovered. The horn had a pear-shaped body with a flat bottom and a straight soundboard with resonator holes.

Ancient Russian folk instruments (beep)

There were three strings (usually strands). The two lower ones were tuned in unison or in interval and provided bourdon. The melody was played on the top string. When playing, the instrument was held vertically, resting on the knee. The sound was extracted using a bow with horsehair, which was led along three strings at once. Apparently there were horns different sizes which is reflected in the titles: beep, beep, beep, beep.

The pre-classical type of violin in the Slavic countries developed in the period from the second half of the 14th century to the end of the 15th century. The painting of the beginning of the 16th century depicts images of the first samples of a fully developed instrument. During this period, the most developed instrument was the Polish violin, the fame of which spread throughout Europe. folk instruments slowly left folk and professional practice. The viol coexists with the violin for the longest time. The family of viols from the 15th to the middle of the 18th century was widespread in a number of European countries, especially in Germany, England and France.

These were the main types of bowed instruments that coexisted in folk and professional practice in the era preceding the Renaissance. The rapid development of the pre-classical violin was due to several reasons: high level folk instrumental art, trends in sound and technical expressiveness, skills in building instruments of various types. This predetermined the qualitative originality of the bow instrumentation - the concentration of the most valuable features born in earlier eras.

The development and improvement of the violin went along the path of establishing classical proportions in its structure, selecting wood, searching for a primer and varnish, the shape of the stand, lengthening the neck and neck, etc. A long way from a primitive violin to its perfect designs completed the masters of the Italian classical school. Italy, with its well-established handicraft production of instruments, the presence of outstanding craftsmen, proved to be the most capable of giving the violin a perfect classical form and expanding the mass production of professional instruments for the developing professional art.