Lira Da Braccio - History

History

The use of the term Lira (or lyra) to describe bowed string instruments was first recorded in the 9th century, as an application of the term lyre (Greek: λύρα - lūrā) of the classic stringed musical instrument for the bowed musical instrument lyra (lūrā) of the Byzantine Empire, equivalent to the rabāb used in the Islamic Empires of that time. The Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911) of the 9th century, in his lexicographical discussion of instruments, cited the lyra as a typical instrument of the Byzantines along with the urghun (organ), shilyani (probably a type of harp or lyre) and the salandj. The Byzantine lyra spread through Europe westward; in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments. Over the centuries that followed, Europe continued to have two distinct types of bowed instruments: one, relatively square-shaped, more often held in the arms, became known as the lira or lira da braccio (arm viol) family; the other, with sloping shoulders and more often held between the knees, was the viol or viola da gamba (leg viol) group. During the Renaissance, the gambas were important and elegant instruments; they eventually lost ground to the louder (and originally less aristocratic) lira family.

The lira da braccio was first cited in 1533 by Giovanni Maria Lanfranco (using the term seven-stringed lyra), also describing its tuning: . Lira was devised to accompany humanist sung verse by poets, such as the 14th century Petrarch and his later imitators, and was popular in the North Italian city-states such as Florence, Ferrara, Mantua, Venice and so on. In this role, the Lira enjoyed a prestige among instruments that it was never quite to achieve again. Amongst its exponents at the time were several great painters, notably Leonardo da Vinci, who according to Emmanuel Winternitz, was widely held to be the doyen among performers upon the Lira.

The rise of the Madrigal, and its counterpart, the instrumental consort, as well as the meteoric rise of the more vocal Violin, soon toppled the Lira from its pre-eminent position at court, and by the 1530s it had been relegated to stage use, in the great Renaissance festivals held by the city states and their powerful ruling dynasties. Here it was typically found onstage associated with the presence of the god Apollo, or blended in proto-continuo offstage ensembles.

The Pesaro Manuscript, from the mid-16th century, an important document in the history of the Lira, records a Passemezzo Moderno, (contemporary dance measure) written in lira tablature. Discovered in the town of Pesaro, on the Adriatic coast, this strange, mutilated script is the sole surviving example of written music for the Lira. It suggests at least the possibility that the instrument was being used as a dance instrument by this time. Its harmonic character, and useful range of home keys would have been ideally suited to render the fashionable dance music of the day.

The great Italian musicologist Disertori showed that it was possible to reconstruct highly convincing examples of the Lira da Braccio in its early forms, from the meticulous paintings and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Giovanni Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio and many other artists from the late 15th/early 16th century, thus opening many exciting possibilities relating to the re-creation of late 15th century performance practice.

There are up to ten surviving examples of the later, violin-like Lira, though their authenticity is still in, somewhat acrimonious, contention.

The Lira da Braccio fell out of use sometime in the mid-17th century. It last appears in a Dutch allegorical still-life, "Hearing", by Jan Breughel II.