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ORGANISTRUM
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ORGANISTRUM , the See also:medieval Latin name for the earliest known See also:form of the hurdy-gurdy (q.v.). The organistrum was large enough to See also:rest on the knees of two performers sitting See also:side by side, one of whom turned the See also:crank setting the See also:wheel in See also:motion, while the other, the artist, manipulated the keys. The word organistrum is derived from organum and See also:instrument um; the former See also:term was applied to the See also:primitive harmonies, consisting of octaves accompanied by fourths or fifths, first practised by See also:Hucbald in the loth See also:century. This explanation enables us to See also:fix with tolerable certainty the date of the invention of the organistrum, at the end of the loth or beginning of the 11th century, and also to understand the construction of the instrument. A stringed instrument of the See also:period—such as a See also:guitar-See also:fiddle, a See also:rotta or See also:oval See also:vielle—being used as See also:model, the proportions were increased for the convenience of holding the instrument and of dividing' the performance between two persons. Inside the See also:body was the wheel, having a See also:tire of See also:leather well rosined, and working easily through an See also:aperture in the See also:sound-See also:board. The three strings resting on the wheel and supported besides on a See also:bridge of the same height all sounded at once as the wheel revolved, and in the earliest examples the wooden tangents taking the See also:place of fingers on the frets of the See also:neck acted upon all three strings at once, thus producing the See also:harmony known as organum. The organistrum appears on a bas-See also:relief from the See also:abbey of St Georges de Boscherville (11th cent.), now preserved in the museum of See also:Rouen, where it is played by a royal See also:lady, her maid turning the crank. It has the place of See also:honour in the centre of the See also:band of musicians representing the twenty-four elders of the See also:Apocalypse in the tympanum of the See also:Gate of See also:Glory of the See also:cathedral of See also:Santiago da Compostella (12th cent.). There is also a See also:fine example in a See also:miniature of a psalter of See also:English workmanship (12th cent.), forming See also:part of the Hunterian collection in See also:Glasgow University; this was shown at the See also:Exhibition of Illuminated See also:MSS. at the See also:Burlington Fine Arts See also:Club in 1908. (K. S.) 6 See also for other See also:organs with sliders being See also:drawn out, A. Haseloff, Eine Sachsischthidringische Malerschule See also:urn See also:die Wende See also:des XIII. Jahrh., pl. See also:xxvi. No. 57, part of Studien zu der Kunsigeschichte; the same is reproduced in Gbri's See also:Thesaurus diptychorum, Bd. iii. Tab. 16, where it is falsely ascribed to the 9th century. 6 See also:Praetorius mentions the See also:Halberstadt and See also:Erfurt organs as having been built 600 years before his See also:time (1618), and still bearing on them the date inscribed. See op. cit. •p. 93. 7 See A. J. Hipkins, See also:History of the See also:Pianoforte (See also:London, 1896). Brit. See also:Mus. Colton MSS. Tiberius A vii. foL 1o4b. 14th century. Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 26602, fol. 6. 14th century. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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