Scan 240
Catalogue of the Stearns collection of musical instruments, 1921
15 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 204. See the scan on archive.org.
11329. Vielle …………………………………………….. France
2Wooden body. Six strings. Resined wheels, and keys. The body of this instrument is beautifully inlaid. Six strings are "stopped" by slides, and there are two pairs of drone strings.
3Length, 74 cm.; width, 30 cm.; depth, 15 cm.
4Signed—"Pouget Père et Fils, à Ardentes près Chateau roux."
6The "Vielle" is one of the earliest types of European instruments. Its construction was the subject of a tract by Odo of Cluny—died 942—(Oddonis quomodo organistrum construatur—Gerbert, Script. I. 303). From the tenth to the twelfth century it was known as the "Organistrum." From the twelfth to the sixteenth century it functioned under the designation "Symphonie," as is shown by its appearance in the "Pastyme of Pleasure" (1506), and in John Wyclif's translation of the Bible (fourteenth century). The passage referred to runs as follows: "But his eldre son was in the field and when he came and neighed to the house he herde a symfone and a croud" (Luke XV, verse 25, in the King James version). In all probability, "croud" referred to a mob rather than to the Welsh crwth, as certain authorities have asserted.
8The present name came in the fifteenth century. Although many great composers, including Haydn, have written music for it, few take it seriously now-a-days. Many will be surprised to learn that under its early name it was held in great esteem in the Church, from which it was banished by the introduction of small organs and condemned thereafter to lead a vagrant life.8
10Early pictures show the organistrum played by two persons, one manipulating the slides, or keys, while the other turns the wheel. When, in the fifteenth century, the stringed instrument then known as the vielle was given the name viole, or viola, the qualifying à roue was no longer necessary as the two types were sufficiently differentiated. There is little direct evidence to support the assumption that either the galoubet or the schwegel was used in connection with the vielle (viole), but it would be difficult to account for the term flute des vielleurs otherwise were it not for the evidence afforded by the fresco by Lippi referred to in the paragraph following No. 1168, Case XI.
12To recapitulate: The real Harp has free strings, one to each tone. In the couched form the strings run over the resonance-box. The Lyre in its essentials resembles the harp, but varies in form. The Tamboura type has wire strings and frets. The Lute has a pear-shaped body with a vaulted back and gut strings. The Tanbourica has the lute body with wire strings. The Cittern has a flat body and wire strings. The Guitar has a flat back with in-curving sides, a fretted neck, with gut and over-spun silk strings. The Mandoline has a deep vaulted body and wire strings. In the early type the vault-
148 Galpin, pp. 104, 105.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.