Cythara (original) (raw)
The cythara is a wide group of stringed instruments of medieval and Renaissance Europe, including not only the lyre and harp but also necked, string instruments. In fact, unless a medieval document gives an indication that it meant a necked instrument, then it likely was referring to a lyre. It was also spelled cithara or kithara and was Latin for the Greek lyre. However, lacking names for some stringed instruments from the medieval period, these have been referred to as fiddles and citharas/cytharas, both by medieval people and by modern researchers. The instruments are important as being ancestors to or influential in the development of a wide variety of European instruments, including fiddles, vielles, violas, citoles and guitars. Although not proven to be completely separate from the l
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| dbo:abstract | The cythara is a wide group of stringed instruments of medieval and Renaissance Europe, including not only the lyre and harp but also necked, string instruments. In fact, unless a medieval document gives an indication that it meant a necked instrument, then it likely was referring to a lyre. It was also spelled cithara or kithara and was Latin for the Greek lyre. However, lacking names for some stringed instruments from the medieval period, these have been referred to as fiddles and citharas/cytharas, both by medieval people and by modern researchers. The instruments are important as being ancestors to or influential in the development of a wide variety of European instruments, including fiddles, vielles, violas, citoles and guitars. Although not proven to be completely separate from the line of lute-family instruments that dominated Europe (lute, oud, gittern, mandore), arguments have been made that they represent a European-based tradition of instrument building, which was for a time separate from the lute-family instruments. In the 9th century, one of the instruments that cythara was actively used to name was a large plucked or strummed instrument; pictures show it being played with a plectrum. Pictures of the instrument illustrated in the Stuttgart Psalter all have the word "cythara" near the instrument in the text. The players hold the instrument in a distinct manner similar to the way that citole players were shown to hold their instruments, resting the instrument on the playing arm, and bringing their forearm and wrist to the strings from underneath the body of the instrument. In contrast, players of lute family instruments, such as the gittern, mandore, or lute did not hold the instrument this way. Instead of keeping their arms below the instrument, they allowed their arm and wrist to move parallel to the soundboard, as a guitar player does today. One picture in the Stuttgart Psalter of the cythara shows it held a different way from all the other pictures on that document. The player is holding it vertically, resting on his lap or knee, supporting the neck with his left hand and having a free right hand to play. Citole players have also been shown holding their instruments vertically. The name may have been popular for its "magical" connotations, a belief that the music from a stringed instrument could sway listeners emotions. Lyres were displaced in medieval times by "plucked fiddles" (such as the guitar fiddle), which were solely plucked and strummed until the bow arrived in the 10th century. The remaining lyres as well as the fiddles were adapted to fit the bow, after its arrival. One example of an early bowed fiddle was the Byzantine lyra; an example of a bowed lyre that survived until modern times is the crwth. (en) |
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| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbc:Necked_lutes dbr:Archlute dbr:Reims dbr:Viola dbr:Lute dbr:String_instrument dbr:Crwth dbr:Oud dbr:Cithara dbr:Bouzouki dbr:Anglo-Saxon dbr:Chitarra_Italiana dbr:String_instruments dbr:Commentary_on_the_Apocalypse dbr:Francis_William_Galpin dbr:Harp dbr:Plectrum dbr:Balalaika dbr:Byzantine_lyra dbr:Gittern dbc:German_musical_instruments dbc:Early_musical_instruments dbr:Angélique_(instrument) dbr:Balkan_tambura dbr:Bandurria dbc:French_musical_instruments dbr:Kathleen_Schlesinger dbr:Guitar dbr:Guitar_fiddle dbc:String_instruments dbr:Charles_the_Bald dbr:Chordophone dbc:Chordophones dbr:Citole dbr:Cittern dbr:Fresco dbr:Guitarra_latina dbr:Guitarra_morisca dbr:Lyre dbr:Vielle dbr:Plucked_string_instrument dbr:Mandore_(instrument) dbr:Pandura dbr:Utrecht_Psalter dbr:Stuttgart_Psalter dbr:Viola_de_arco dbr:S:1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Guitar dbr:C:Category:Medieval_Cythara dbr:File:Woman_with_cittern_1677_by_Pieter_van_Slingeland.jpg dbr:File:Guitar_latina_morisca.jpg dbr:File:Stuttgarter_Psalter_Folio_23_-_Miniatur_108r_Detail.jpg dbr:S:1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Cithara dbr:S:1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Rotta |
| dbp:align | right (en) |
| dbp:alt | Cithara player from Charles the Bald Bible (en) Cithara player from Utrecht Psalter (en) Stuttgart Cythara (en) Rotta played differently (en) Commentary on the Apocalypse image of cytharas (en) Utrecht Psalter image of cythara transformation (en) Viols or vielles from Commentary on the Apocalypse (en) |
| dbp:background | string (en) |
| dbp:caption | Tours, France. A musician playing a cithara that has a neck between the instrument's arms, from the 9th century Charles the Bald Bible. The arched section at the top is Winternitz's yoke. (en) Rotta from a 1700 b.c. fresco. Strings narrowed, and adding fingerboard would create the crwth and plucked guitar fiddles. (en) Image of transformation of cithara lyre to cythara lute. base rotta the first transformation the cithara as lute the cithara as lute. Illustrated by an Anglo-Saxon artist in Reims. (en) Spain, "second third of 10th century". Violas de arco played with a bow. Calling them "de arco" indicates that other types exist. From Commentary on the Apocalypse, Codice VITR 14.1. (en) Paris, France. A cythara being held as a citole would. The round knob at the instrument's bottom is also common to the citole, where it can also have the shape of a trefoil. The yoke is the oversized peghead. (en) Reims, France. Player with lute-like cithara from the 9th century Utrecht Psalter. The cithara's arms have become wings on the top corners, the yoke become the fleur-de-lys. (en) Spain, c. 960 a.d. Cytharas with players strumming with fingers and plucking with plectrum. From Commentary on the Apocalypse, Morgan Library, Ms 644. (en) |
| dbp:captionAlign | center (en) |
| dbp:classification | dbr:String_instrument dbr:Plucked_string_instrument |
| dbp:developed | c. 7th to 9th century (en) |
| dbp:header | 1911 (xsd:integer) Plucked and bowed (en) |
| dbp:headerAlign | center (en) |
| dbp:hornbostelSachs | 321.320000 (xsd:double) |
| dbp:hornbostelSachsDesc | Chordophone instrument in which the handle is attached to, or carved from, the resonator, like a neck (en) |
| dbp:image | Cithara from Utrecht Psalter Psalm 42.jpg (en) Lute Charles the Bald Bible.jpg (en) Cythara first illustration from Stuttgart Psalter.jpg (en) Violas de arco en un manuscrito del año 900 - 950.jpg (en) Britannica Cithara Asiatic Cithara.jpg (en) Britannica Cithara to Guitar.jpg (en) Cytharas with the Lamb of God.jpg (en) |
| dbp:imageCapt | Two instruments that can be identified as a cythara. At left a cithara as lyre, on the right another type cythara, with a neck and frets. From the Utrecht Psalter, Psalm 145–146: "psallite Deo nostro in cithara" The manuscript is from the 9th century, but the images are thought to be copied from an earlier manuscript. (en) |
| dbp:name | Cythara (en) |
| dbp:related | dbr:Archlute dbr:Bouzouki dbr:Chitarra_Italiana dbr:Balalaika dbr:Angélique_(instrument) dbr:Balkan_tambura dbr:Bandurria dbr:Guitar dbr:Citole dbr:Cittern dbr:Pandura |
| dbp:width | 102 (xsd:integer) 118 (xsd:integer) 122 (xsd:integer) 130 (xsd:integer) 150 (xsd:integer) 180 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate | dbt:For_multi dbt:Multiple_image dbt:Reflist dbt:Infobox_Instrument |
| dcterms:subject | dbc:Necked_lutes dbc:German_musical_instruments dbc:Early_musical_instruments dbc:French_musical_instruments dbc:String_instruments dbc:Chordophones |
| rdfs:comment | The cythara is a wide group of stringed instruments of medieval and Renaissance Europe, including not only the lyre and harp but also necked, string instruments. In fact, unless a medieval document gives an indication that it meant a necked instrument, then it likely was referring to a lyre. It was also spelled cithara or kithara and was Latin for the Greek lyre. However, lacking names for some stringed instruments from the medieval period, these have been referred to as fiddles and citharas/cytharas, both by medieval people and by modern researchers. The instruments are important as being ancestors to or influential in the development of a wide variety of European instruments, including fiddles, vielles, violas, citoles and guitars. Although not proven to be completely separate from the l (en) |
| rdfs:label | Cythara (en) |
| owl:sameAs | wikidata:Cythara https://global.dbpedia.org/id/2cap3 |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Cythara?oldid=1110267542&ns=0 |
| foaf:depiction | wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Britannica_Cithara_Asiatic_Cithara.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Utrechts-Psalter_PSALM-145-PSALM-146_lyre_and_cythara.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Guitar_latina_morisca.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Beato_De_Manchester.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Britannica_Cithara_to_Guitar.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Musician_playing_a_medieval_cythara_1.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Musician_playing_a_medieval_cythara_2.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Musician_playing_a_medieval_cythara_4.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Stuttgarter_Psalter_Folio_23_-_Miniatur_108r_Detail.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Utrechts-Psalter_PSALM-107_psaltery_and_cithara.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Utrechts-Psalter_PSAL...50_psalterio_cythara_drum_timbrel.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Violas_de_arco_en_un_manuscrito_del_año_900_-_950.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Cithara_from_Utrecht_Psalter_Psalm_42.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Cythara_first_illustration_from_Stuttgart_Psalter.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Lute_Charles_the_Bald_Bible.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Cytharas_with_the_Lamb_of_God.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Rylands_Beatus_Cythara_3.png wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Rylands_Beatus_Cythara_1.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Rylands_Beatus_Cythara_2.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Woman_with_cittern_1677_by_Pieter_van_Slingeland.jpg |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Cythara |
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