The Streichmelodion or Breitoline is a bowed

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 ...

, similar in shape to a viola. The Streichmelodion was created in 1856 by Leopold Breit in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

, evolving from the alpine zither and inspired by the . The Breitoline is described as having a richer, more robust

tone Tone may refer to: Visual arts and color-related * Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory * Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color * Toning (coin), color change in coins * ...

than the Streichzither, and has a

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

slightly lower than that of a viola. Breitolines are played with the body of the instrument resting on the player's lap (hence the name "lap harp"), with the part of the zither between the

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 ...

and

headstock A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the tuning pegs or other mechanism that holds the s ...

resting on a table. Many Streichmelodions were produced in

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at the Ernst Rudolph Glier factory during the 19th century. The instrument has a

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 ...

, with its ribs having a steep curve, similar to those of the viol de gamba. The instrument has a curved

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 ...

with around 29

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical inst ...

s, with fretboard markers inlaid at the fifth, ninth, 12th, and 25th frets. Like most classical string instruments, it has two F Holes. The pegboxes were

asymmetrical Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...

, leaning to the left. Most models of the instrument have four strings, although Breit's original version had five. Streichzithers came in various different sizes, including viola, cello and bass, although tunings for each are disputed. The strings are usually tuned according to traditional alpine zither tuning, reverse to that of a violin. This is most commonly e" a’ d’ g. The instrument achieved popularity not only in

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, its birthplace, but also in Germany and

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, where the instrument can be seen in the 1910 catalogue of Josef Lidl, in two different sizes. However, the instrument did receive some negative reception from German zitherist

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...

Hans Gruber, who stated that the instrument was "in shape and tone more like a frying pan than a musical instrument."

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References

{{Zithers Box zithers Bowed string instruments 1856 musical instruments 19th-century inventions

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See also

References