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The lirone (or lira da gamba) is the bass member of the ''
The ''lirone'' was primarily used in Italy during the late 16th and early 17th centuries (and particularly in the time of
"Homer the lironist: P. F. Mola, Art and Music in the Baroque"
ArticlePhoto of Annalisa Pappano with a 14-string lirone
Photograph of a lirone
Henner Harders – Lirone makerLirone audio
(track 3 features the instrument accompanied by a plucked string instrument; tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 10 feature the lirone in an accompanying role)
Lirone audio
{{Authority control Bowed string instruments Early musical instruments
lira
Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current Turkish lira, currency of Turkey and also the local name of the Lebanese pound, currencies of Lebanon and of Syrian pound, Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, ...
'' family of instruments that was popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It is a bowed string instrument
In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners.
Musicians play some ...
with between 9 and 16 gut strings and a fretted neck. When played, it is held between the legs in the manner of 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 ...
or viol
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 ...
(viola da gamba).
It was used in italian operas and oratoriums to accompany the human voice, especially the gods. Because the lira da gambe can not play the bass, there must be a bass instrument, theorbo, harpsichord or viola da gamba.
Description
The ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and th ...
'' describes the lirone as essentially a larger version of the ''lira da braccio
The lira da braccio (or ''lira de braccio'' or ''lyra de bracio''Michael Praetorius. Syntagma Musicum Theatrum Instrumentorum seu Sciagraphia Wolfenbüttel 1620) was a European Bow (music), bowed string instrument of the Renaissance music, Renaiss ...
'', which has a similar wide fingerboard
The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The stri ...
, flat bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
, and leaf-shaped pegbox
A variety of methods are used to tune different stringed instruments. Most change the pitch produced when the string is played by adjusting the tension of the strings.
A tuning peg in a pegbox is perhaps the most common system. A peg has ...
with frontal pegs. Its flat bridge allows for the playing of chords of between three and five notes.
History
The ''lirone'' was primarily used in Italy during the late 16th and early 17th centuries (and particularly in the time of Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer ...
) to provide continuo, or harmony for the accompaniment of vocal music. It was frequently used in Catholic churches, particularly by Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s.
Performers
Despite the resurgence in Baroque instrument performance during the 20th century, only a handful of musicians play the ''lirone''. Notable performers on the instrument include Erin Headley of England; Imke David, Claas Harders andHille Perl
Hille Perl (born ''Hildegard Perl'' born 1965 in Bremen) is a German virtuoso performer of the viola da gamba and lirone.
Biography
Her father Helmut Perl was an organist, musicologist and author who specialized in Mozart. She decided to play ...
of Germany; Annalisa Pappano of the United States; Laura Vaughan of Australia, and Paulina van Laarhoven of the Netherlands.
See also
*Violone
The term violone (; literally 'large viol', being the augmentative suffix) can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted instrument, and may ...
, a contrabass instrument of the viol family
References
Further reading
* Imke David, "Die sechzehn Saiten der italienischen Lira da gamba", orfeo Verlag, 1999, *John Weretka"Homer the lironist: P. F. Mola, Art and Music in the Baroque"
External links
Article
Photograph of a lirone
Henner Harders – Lirone maker
(track 3 features the instrument accompanied by a plucked string instrument; tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 10 feature the lirone in an accompanying role)
Lirone audio
{{Authority control Bowed string instruments Early musical instruments