The gudok (, ), gudochek (, ) is an ancient Eastern Slavic

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

, played with a bow. Novgorod lyra

A ''gudok'' usually had three strings, two of them tuned in

unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher. All three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings (up to eight) under the

sounding board A sounding board, also known as a tester and abat-voix is a structure placed above and sometimes also behind a pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platf ...

. These made the gudok's sound warm and rich. The player held the gudok on his lap, like a

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

. It was also possible to play the gudok while standing and even while dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. Initially in the 12th century (and probably before), the gudok did not have a

neck The neck is the part of the body in many vertebrates that connects the head to the torso. It supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that transmit sensory and motor information between the brain and the rest of the body. Addition ...

for pressing strings. This suggests that it was played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails (similarly to the

Byzantine lyra The Byzantine lyra or lira () was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping ...

), rather than pressing strings onto the instrument's neck. Later in the 14th century some modifications of the gudok had a real

for pressing strings. The Russian gudok ceased to exist as a folk instrument for several centuries. All present instruments are replicas, based on several parts of gudoks found in the

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

excavations. There have been several attempts to revive the gudok in music. Borodin's opera '' Prince Igor'' contains a "Gudok Player's Song", which is an artistic reconstruction of how the gudok may have sounded.

References

*Humeniuk, A. - ''Ukrainski narodni muzychni instrumenty'' - Kyiv:

Naukova dumka Naukova Dumka ( — literally "scientific thought") is a publishing house in Kyiv, Ukraine. It was established by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 1922, largely owing to the efforts of Ahatanhel Krymsky, a prominent Ukrainian ling ...

, 1967 *Mizynec, V. - ''Ukrainian Folk Instruments'' - Melbourne: Bayda books, 1984 *Cherkaskyi, L. - ''Ukrainski narodni muzychni instrumenty'' // Tekhnika, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2003 - 262 pages. *Povetkin, V. I. - "Musical instruments" // Wood Use in Medieval Novgorod. Edited by Mark Brisbane and Jon Hather. Oxbow Books and the authors, 2007. р. 360-381: illustrated. *N.G. Gerasimova, M.I. Kolosova, K.M. Plotkin, V.I. Povetkin. - "Thirteenth century fiddles from excavations in Pskov. Their investigation, stabilization and reconstruction" // Proceedings of the 4-th IGOM Group on Wet Organic Archaeological Materials Conference. Bremerhaven, 1990. Edited by Per Hoffmann Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum. P. 267-279: il.

External links

Site with large photo of 12th century gudok or rebec.
{{Authority control Necked bowl lutes Bowed instruments Ukrainian musical instruments Russian musical instruments Russian inventions String instruments with sympathetic strings

See also

References

External links