The ''gusli'' (, , , ''husla'') is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in

Veliky 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 ...

in the Novgorodian Republic. It has its relatives in Europe and throughout the world:

kantele A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the southeast Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with the Estonian kannel, the Latvian kokles, t ...

in Finland, kannel in Estonia,

kanklės The ''kanklės'' () is a Lithuanian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery, along with the Latvian '' kokles'', Estonian '' kannel'', Finnish '' kantele'', and Russian '' ...

in Lithuania,

kokles Kokle (; ) or historically kokles (''kūkles'') is a Latvian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Lithuanian kanklės, Estonian kannel, Finnish kantele, and ...

in Latvia,

Zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

in Germany, citera in the Czech Republic, and psalterium in France. Furthermore, the kanun has been found in

Arabic countries The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

, and the

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

, in the United States. It is also related to such ancient instruments as Chinese

gu zheng The zheng (), or guzheng (), is a Chinese List of Chinese musical instruments#Plucked, plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a Major scale, major pentatonic scale. It has a large, reson ...

, which has a thousand-year history, and its Japanese relative koto. A stringed musical instrument called is listed as one of the Me in ancient

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

Etymology

The term ''gusli'' derives from the verb *gǫsti (make sound, howl, play music) with the suffix *slь (from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

*-trom). In the times of the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

, the term ''gusli'' is believed to have simply referred to any generic stringed instrument. The root of the term comes from a word meaning "make sound in the wind." The term was eventually associated with the trapezoidal ''gusli- psaltyry'' (which may have originated in

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

History

The ''gusli'' is one of the oldest musical instruments that have played an important role in Russian music culture. Vertkov states that the first mentions of the ''gusli'' date back to 591 AD to a treatise by the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

historian

Theophylact Simocatta Theophylact Simocatta (Byzantine Greek: Θεοφύλακτος Σιμοκάτ(τ)ης ''Theophýlaktos Simokát(t)ēs''; ) was an early seventh-century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian of Late Antiquity, writing in ...

which describes the instrument being used by

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

from the area of the later

kingdom. However, it is not exactly clear what instrument was meant by that word, because in

Old Slavic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic subgroup of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-Europea ...

Old Russian Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian and Ruthenian languages. Ruthenian even ...

"gusli" was used to refer to any stringed instrument. The first documented gusli were recorded in 1170 in

Novgorodian Rus' The Novgorod Republic () was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries in northern Russia, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east. Its capital was the city of Novgorod. The r ...

. The Greek historian Theophan also mentioned the ''gusli''. During the war at the end of the 6th century, the Greeks took Slavonic prisoners and found a musical instrument named the ''Gusli''. This corresponds to what the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

authors

Al-Masudi al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geo ...

and Ibn-Dasta mentioned in the 10th century. The ''gusli'' are thought to have been the instrument used by the legendary Boyan (a singer of tales) described in the Lay of Igor's campaign. A notable player of that instrument named Mitusa is also mentioned in the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle. Commonly used by the wandering

skomorokh A skomorokh (, Ukrainian and Russian: , , . Compare with the Old Polish , ) was a medieval East Slavic harlequin or actor, who could also sing, dance, play musical instruments and compose for oral/musical and dramatic performances. Etymolog ...

musicians and entertainers, ''gusli'' are also present in

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...

bylina A (, ; ), also popularly known as a ''starina'' (), is a type of Russian oral epic poem. deal with all periods of Russian history. narratives are loosely based on historical fact, but greatly embellished with fantasy or hyperbole. or ...

s as the favourite musical instrument of some epic heroes (

bogatyr A bogatyr (, ; , ) or vityaz (, ; , ) is a stock character in medieval Bylina, East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear mainly in Kievan Rus', Rus' epic poems—Bylina, ''bylinas''. Historically, they came i ...

s). In Ukraine (

Little Russia Little Russia, also known as Lesser Russia, Malorussia, or Little Rus', is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine. At the beginning of the 14th century, the patriarch of Constantinople accepted the distinction between wha ...

) ''gusli'' (locally known as ''husla'') remained in popular use for a longer period than in Russia. In the 18th century a school of ''husla'' players existed in

Hlukhiv Hlukhiv (, ; ) is a small historic List of cities in Ukraine, city on the Esman River. It belongs to Shostka Raion of Sumy Oblast of Ukraine. Population: It is known for being a capital of the Cossack Hetmanate after the deposition of Ivan M ...

, providing musicians for the Russian imperial court. According to 19th-century Ukrainian author Panteleimon Kulish, ''husla'' had once been a usual accompaniment for older nobles, but by his time had become an instrument used mostly by priests.

Archaeology

Three preserved fragments of ''gusli'' have been discovered by archaeologists in the territory of modern-day Poland, eight in

, and one in Zvenyhorod, Ukraine.

Types

Folk ''Gusli'' have from eleven to thirty-six gut or metal strings, tuned diatonically. There were two main forms: * helmet-shaped ''(Shlemovidnye gusli – )'' * wing-shaped ''(Krylovidnye gusli)''.

''Shlemovidnye gusli''

''Shlemovidnye gusli'' (Helmet-shaped gusli; ) is a variety of Gusli held by the musician on his knees, so that the strings are horizontal, the

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a reso ...

body under them. He uses his left hand to mute unnecessary strings and thus form chords, while strumming all the strings with his right hand. The instrument was spread in southern and western regions of

''Krylovidnye gusli''

''Krylovidnye gusli'' ("wing-shaped gusli"; ) is much smaller, and has more resemblance to

Baltic psaltery Baltic psaltery is a family of related plucked box zithers, psalteries, historically found in the southeast vicinity of the Baltic Sea and played by the Baltic people, Baltic Finns, Volga Finns and northwestern Russians. Types Baltic psalte ...

such as the kankles,

, kannel and

. They are held much more like modern

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s (although the strings are still muted by the left hand through a special opening in the instrument's body). This modification was more prevalent in northern parts of Russia, especially

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 ...

and

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

''Keyboard Gusli''

The ''Keyboard Gusli'' ''('')is a heavily strung 19th-century variant with an iron frame, supported on a stand or with table legs. It has a one-octave piano-type

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...

keyboard. Pressing a key raises the dampers on all strings of that note. Pressing the keys for a chord enables its arpeggiated execution.

Related instruments

A number of Slavic folk music instruments have names which are related to Gusli such as the Czech violin ''housle'' and the Balkan one-stringed fiddle ''

gusle The gusle () or lahuta (; related to English ''lute'') is a bowed single- stringed musical instrument (and musical style) traditionally used in the Dinarides region of Southeastern Europe (in the Balkans). The instrument is always accompanie ...

''. In western Ukraine and Belarus, ''husli'' can also refer to a fiddle or even a ducted flute. The violin-like variant of the instrument is also related to the South Slavic gusle. The psaltery variant is related to the

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

. It is also related to the

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, the

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, the

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n kannel and the Finnish

. Together these instruments make up the family known as Baltic psalteries. A related instrument is the ''

tsymbaly The tsymbaly () is the Ukrainian version of the hammer dulcimer. It is a chordophone made up of a trapezoidal box with metal (steel or bronze) strings strung across it. The tsymbaly is played by striking two beaters against the strings. The ...

'', a

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

. In

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, it is thought that the gusli may have influenced the development of the multi-stringed

bandura A bandura ( ) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian plucked string instrument, plucked-string folk-instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often called a kobza. Early instruments () had 5 to 12 strings and ...

, which largely replaced it in the nineteenth century.

Modern Russian performers

* Olga Glazova * Elena Frolova * Olga Shishkina * Alexander Matochkin * Alexandra Sakovich *Alexey Belkin

References

External links

* — also has a paragraph on the Gusli {{Authority control Baltic psaltery Ukrainian musical instruments Russian musical instruments