A Polish pianist
Slawomir Zubrzycki has reconstructed an instrument from over 500 years ago.
Viola organista, invented by Leonardo da Vinci in the Renaissance Era, has apparently
never been built before. The model sketches are found in the Codex Atlanticus, a collection of
drawings and texts by da Vinci. It took Zubrzycki three years and 5000 hours to
build the viola organista.
The instrument looks
somewhat like a baby grand piano and combines characteristics of the
harpsichord, organ, and viola da gamba. It consists of sixty one steel strings,
four spinning wheels wrapped in horse-tail hair, and foot pedals. Unlike piano,
it does not have hammers, but the spinning wheels create sound in a similar
fashion to violin.
Zubrzycki premiered
the viola organista in October at the Academy of
Music in Krakow in Poland, playing pieces originally written for the
viola da gamba as well as harpsichord. Here is a Youtube link of him playing it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3py3Ap8_Y. I respect
Zubrzycki for his patience in building the viola organista. If one has the time
and energy to do it, I support the projects of recreation of old instruments,
or any inventions for that matter. Even if no one was enthusiastic about hearing
the viola organista any more as of now, as I personally am not particularly, it
adds to the richness of available sound. For composers, it could be interesting
to explore its potentialities, and those explorations may inspire others
further, or spark new innovations in terms of sound or instruments.
No comments:
Post a Comment