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Tygodnik Powszechny presents
Let me introduce you to an extraordinary musical instrument. A mysterious one...
Possibly one of the most mysterious instruments in history.
SÅAWOMIR ZUBRZYCKI: PIANIST, COMPOSER, THE INSTRUMENT DESIGNER AND MAKER
I tracked down this instrument...
through a 19-century Polish instrument designer.
He worked in the region of Galicja
and his name was Jan Jarmusiewicz.
When I pursued my research further...
the story turned out to be extremely fascinating!
It turned out that the instrument was invented - although never built...
by Leonardo Da Vinci himself
I traced the first existing instrument...
to Nuremberg a hundred years later.
Leonardo Da Vinci had sketched the basic concept of this instrument around 1470 in the Atlantic Codex,
but the first man to actually build it
was Hans Heiden from Nuremberg.
The description which Heiden had published in the contemporary press
was later cited in 1618 by Michael Praetorius,
a prominent researcher of his era.
In that description the instrument was presented as a revolutionary development:
It was able to replace both keyboard and string instruments.
That baroque description included even more:
that the instrument was able to imitate both urban and folk musicians,
that it was able to play vibrato,
and oddest of all
that it was able to impersonate a person intoxicated with liquor...
...more or less.
I found this situation to be extremely peculiar.
If the instrument really was such a revolutionary development
then why was it lost?
What happened?
Did it not find its own Stradivarius, Ruckers or Steinway who would have perfected it?
Is that why it has been lost in the mists of time?
And what would have happened in the history of music
if that instrument had become popular?
We'll never know.
My work took me around three years
It was certainly a very difficult project
because not a single historical playable specimen of this instrument survived.
They were all destroyed, blasted during wars -
Gone.
I do have some experience in designing instruments: I used to deal with grand pianos and in the 90's I built a clavichord according to the project of Johann Sielberman,
so I do have some practical experience of this craft,
I am, however, primarily a pianist not a designer.
It could have all gone wrong.
But with a bit of, let's say...
intuition,
I got through a lot of difficult moments,
when I thought I wouldn't succeed.
I think I made it, though.
First I built a model
to examine whether it would be at all possible to articulate any sound,
how it would work,
and what materials I should use.
It took me a lot of time to develop solutions
in woodcraft and metallurgy,
I needed to refer to both piano and string designs
But most important was
a kind of intuition,
and above all - a concept of this instrument's purpose.
I mean: what the sound should be like,
and what the repertoire should be.
This is what the viola organista sounds like.
Also known as 'a string piano', 'Bogenklavier' or 'Geigenwerk'.
Hans Heiden called it 'Geigenwerk'
and the name 'Bogenklavier' was in use in times of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Jarmusiewicz called this instrument 'a claviolin'.
so perhaps we'll call a player 'a claviolinist'?
From the very beginning I found this instrument mythical.
for it's so misplaced in history.
Music, according to Hildegard of Bingen,
reminds us of Paradise. And I thought...
since my project is so peculiar anyway,
why don't I put some words of Hildegard of Bingen on my instrument
as has been done by 16-17th century designers?
"Following the holy prophets..."
"people diligent and clever..." - as if she meant Leonardo Da Vinci...
"...exercised their human craft to invent musical instruments..."
"...so they can play and please the human soul".
PERFORMED BY
INTERVIEWER
CAMERA
SOUND
EDITOR
SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
SEE ALSO:
with special thanks to Robin Connelly