List of European medieval musical instruments
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of medieval musical instruments used in European music during the Medieval period. It covers the period from before 1150 to 1400 A.D. There may be some overlap with Renaissance musical instruments; Renaissance music begins in the 15th century. The list mainly covers Western Europe. It may branch into Eastern Europe but won't focus on that region.
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Percussion
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| Names and variations | Description | Ethnic connections, regions | Pictures | |
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| Adufe[1] | A frame drum brought to Iberia by Muslims and played mainly by women.[3] Used in the charamba in Portugal, a circle dance for couples.[3]
The adufe is a square or rectangular frame drum usually made of pine, over which is mounted a goat's skin. The size of the frame usually ranges from 12 to 22 inches on each side, and 1 to 2 inches thick. The skin is stitched on the sides, with the stitches covered by a coloured ribbon. In the interior small seeds, stones or bells are placed to make pleasing sounds. Illustrated examples are decorated, possibly with henna.[4] |
Iberia Portugal Spain |
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Bell
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From the 1st-4th centuries A.D., Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire and their religious ceremonies were kept secret. After persecution ended with the 313 A.D. Edict of Milan bells became part of open expression of Christianity.[7] As Christianity became widespread, trumpets, semantrons and bells were used in religious services, including calling worshippers to service.[8] Paulinus of Nola (about 400 A.D.) and Pope Sabinianus (about 604 A.D.) are credited for early use of bells in church.[9][10]
Monks in Byzantine cloisters in Damascus cast some of Christianity's earliest bells (about handbell sized).[7] These were used to broadcast time inside the cloisters.[7] Small cast bells in "Mediterranean tradition" were used by Christians during the first four centuries A.D.[11] In the 5th century Irish Christians made forged bells of sheet metal, and one was carried by Saint Patrick for use as a church bell.[11] By St. Columba's day (521-597 A.D.), both riveted sheet-metal bells of iron and quadrangular cast-bronze bells were in use.[12] The bells were wrung in the Celtic Christian Church, whose missionary work brought Christianity to parts of Europe conquered by Germanic tribes in the fall of the Roman Empire.[12][13] The bells in Ireland are culturally linked to those in Scotland, Wales, England, Brittany, France, and Switzerland.[12] Based on number of known bells, Ireland may be source of the region's sheet-metal bell type.[12] In 530 A.D., the Benedictine Order began to engineer cast churchbells and set up foundries to make them, supplying them throughout western Europe.[11] Eastern Europe got bells from Constantinople.[11] Cherson in Crimea also made bells.[11] Beehive bells were produced on about the 8th-12th centuries A.D.[14] Sugarloaf bells were made starting in the 12th century.[15] Transitional rib and Gothic rib bells were made from the 12th century and into the 17th century.[5] |
Latin, western tradition from church
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| Handbells
Chimes Chime bells Bell chime |
Racks of hammer struck bells are called chimes.[20] Chimes from cymbalum (Latin).[20] In Middle Ages (10th-16th centuries) was for indoor instrument made up of 4-12 small bells, hung from a bar and struck with hammers.[20] Beginning 12th century, may have had "large wooden key installed" to make playing easier and to help play bigger bells.[20]
Depicted in small sets (4 to 5, 8 to 9).[21]
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Latin, western tradition from church
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Bell
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Used on animals to find them when straying. Used on animal harness. | _Sheep-Bells_-_Soinuenea.jpg)  |
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| Bumbulum (legendary)
Bunibulum (legendary) |
Some medieval scribes theorized about music from the past, or used musical instruments to illustrate doctrinal points. They copied in manuscript a letter from St. Jerome (342-420 A.D.) to Claudius Postumus Dardanus. In it, Jerome tried to explain pagan and Christian musical instruments that are mentioned in the Bible and their allegorical meanings.[23] The letter was reproduced in Christian manuscripts. Starting about 850, scribes began to illustrate the letter in manuscripts, from descriptions of the musical instruments in the letter.[24] Some are allegorical and wouldn't work, such as a horn with three mouthpieces for each of the Holy Trinity to blow through; however in an allegory the Trinity would be expressed by speaking through the four outlets, symbolizing the Four Evangelists.
The bumbulum was played by shaking it. It had hanging bells or jingles, suspended from a centerpiece, itself suspended from overhead. It was described as a carpenter's square (signifiying the Holy Cross) with a "four cornered object" hanging from it (signifying Christ on the Cross), with 12 pipes hanging from the object's sides (to jingle and to signify the 12 Apostles).[25] |
![](#/media/File:Saint_Jerome's_"Instruments_of_Hieronymus"_and_other_Music_Manuscripts,_Image_110.jpg) |
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| Clappers
crotalus cliquettes |
Clappers from the Carolingian Empire appear to have been disks or possibly chimes attached to sticks. Other versions were blocks of wood held in the palms. The palm-held blocks could make clicking and rattle noises like castanets. Other similar instruments worldwide include the Thai/Cambodian krap sepha, Indian/Nepali khartal, Uzbek/Tajik qairaq, or North African krakebs. |   |
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| Cymbals |   |
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| Drum | The only drums in Europe reaching into ancient times were "Semitic frame drums", such as the Greek and Roman tympanum.[26] Larger drums were introduced from "West Asia" in the medieval period.[26] They were played as timekeepers, marking the beat, their "metrical development" not developed yet.[26] | drum, English, starting in the 16th century.
tambour, French[26] tamburo, Italian[26] trommel, German[26] |
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| *Frame drum | See pandeiro, tabor, tof
"A tympanum is a piece of skin or leather stretched over a piece of wood on one side." —Isidore of Seville, about 600 A.D. The frame drum in use in Europe before the bigger drums arrived from West Asia can be called tambourines today. Tympanum was used as a name, as well as tabor. These were wooden rings with leather covering one side. At first there were no jingles, as became common. A variant was the pandeiro, introduced with Muslim invasions and pictured in manuscripts in Spain and Sicily. Some tabors could be frame drums, but other grew wider than the hand-held ring which we call tambourine today. Tof was the Hebrew instrument which Miriam played, "most commonly translated" into English as timbrel[28] Near eastern origin, used by Gauls, Greeks, Romans (tympanum), Egyptians, Assyrians.[29] Jingles were probably originally separate from this instrument.[29] Also related to Daff.[29] When jingles are attached, the instrument is classified as a type of rattle, a "frame wrattle," in which the rattles (or jingles) strike the object to which they are attached. |
Tympanum, Latin
Tympanon, Greek Tof |
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 ![](#/media/File:Woman_playing_a_tambourine,_from_"The_Assumption_of_the_Virgin"_by_Matteo_di_Giovanni.jpg) |
| Hourglass drum | Images in miniatures in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the Valcavado Beatus show an hourglass drum was in use in Spain. Such drums are used in northern Africa and may have entered Europe with the Moorish soldiers who conquered the Iberian Peninsula. The drum also had been painted in Sicily, another place in Europe where Islamic and Christian cultures met. |   |
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| Jew's harp[32] | .jpg) |
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| Nakers | Appears in English writings from 1352-1440[33] European adaptation of kettledrum from Near East, the naqqâra.[33] Singular naker but played in pairs. | nakers, Middle English[33]
nacaire, French[33] nacchera, Italian[33] nacara, Spanish[33] |
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Rattle
Vessel rattle
Frame rattle (see tambourine) Row or rod rattles |
Rattles in the medieval period included vessel wrattles (crotals) and rod rattles and frame rattles. See also adulfe, clappers or cliquettes, tambourine, triangle
Crotals, also known as jingle bells, were two hemispherical, slotted sheets of metal soldered together, bulging where they connected the sheets into a ball. There was a pellet inside the ball. Historical uses included use by nobility on clothing, armor, tents and knights' horses and dogs, use by ladies for dancing (such as girls wearing bells ""à la morisque" around their hips, arms and ankles" for the reception of Charles V in Spain), and use by the fool as part of his garb (the fool's cap).[34][35] Row or rod rattles; rattles strung on a straight or ring-shaped rod. Medieval triangles are illustrated with rattles in this manner. |
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| Cog rattle
Clatter
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Has been used among Catholic Christians in religious ceremonies to replace bells. Among Catholics has been used to replace bells between the Gloria of the Mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and the Easter Vigil.[36]
Among Jewish people a ratchet is used to make noise by the congregation during the celebration of Purim. Sephardi Jews immigrating to Spanish imperial holdings in the Americas following their 1492 expulsion from Spain brought gragers for celebrating Purim, which could pass as the matracha of Catholic usage.[37] |
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| Semantron
(Greek: σήμαντρον) Lignum sacrum Naqus (Arabic: ناقوس) Toacă (Romanian) |
Wooden percussion board, struck with a hammer like a bell. These may be hung horizontally or vertically. Smaller versions may be handheld. In monasteries, they are used to call the monks. Used in Greek Orthodox during Easter week. These are still in use in Eastern Orthodox monasteries and may be made of wood or metal. | Greece
Macedonia Bulgaria Romania Russia Serbia Armenia Israel Syria |
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| Tabor | Early snare drum, narrow body compared to width of drumhead, 12th century and later.[38]
The ensemble that played a three-hole pipe and "small drum" was used throughout western Europe to provide music for dances and was first seen in southern France and northern Spain in the 12th century.[39] A player played both instruments at the same time.[39] Early drums in Europe were "side drums", slung at the players side or worn over their shoulder, or hung on left arm.[38][40] These were tabors, double sided with snares of rope (possibly only on one side.[40] The drums were either beaten with two sticks, or played as a pipe and tabor combination.[40] Larger drums come on the scene by the 1500s.[40] A variation in France uses the tambourine à cordes or tambourine de Bearn, in which a dulcimer or string drum replaces the snare drum.[39] |
tabur, Old French[38]
tabour[38] |
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| Tambourine de Bearn
tambourin à cordes[39] string drum ttun-ttun[42] buttafuoco |
Instrument played mainly in the Iberian Peninsula and Spanish influenced areas of Italy.[43] Appears earlier in sculpture and miniatures as a simple squared box with strings. Later the box becomes more elaborate. Played with 3-hole pipe. Some images shows play using 2 sticks, as well as one stick and fingers. |   |
 
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| Triangle |  |
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String instruments
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| Names and variations | Description | Ethnic connections, regions | Pictures | |
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| Citole[44][45] |  | |||
| Clavichord | Clavichords were in existence in the "early years of the 15th century."[46] Word clavichord found in text from 1404.[46] Earliest known image dates to 1425, in an altarpiece carving in Minden, Germany.[46] | ,_Coburg_State_Library,_Ms_Cas_43.jpg) |
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Crwth
Stråkharpa |
Welsh and Middle English words for the 3-5 string bowed instrument included crwth, chorus, crot, and crowd.[47] Irish used cruit (indicating a lyre and later a frame harp).[47] Seen in Wales into the 18th century.[47] Modern surviving instruments come from Karelia (jouhikko), the Estonian hiiukannel, Swedish stråkharpa, and Norwegian Talharpa.[47]
It was seen throughout the British Isles, from where it traveled through the Shetland Islands and Norway to Sweden, ending up in Estonia and Finland. Probably related to the rotte lyre of Germany and Anglo-Saxon England; the direction the plucked instrument moved between cultures and who had it first is unknown.[47][48] |
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| Dulcimer | A box zither; see psaltery.
"Little is known of the dulcimer before the mid-15th century."[49] Earliest known depiction is on ivory carving for book cover, 12th century A.D.[49][50] |
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| Fiddle see also |  |
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| Gittern[45] |  | |||
| Guitarra latina | One writer has summed up the guitarra latina, which is not well defined, saying "For musicians in Alfonso's time it may have meant only 'a plucked stringed instrument: not the Muslim one.'"[51] |  |
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| Guitarra morisca[52] |
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Medieval harp (Medieval form of the modern harp)
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Not counting the ancient Greek harps, earliest depictions of harps in Europe include examples in Scotland (the Nigg Stone, late 8th century) and Ireland (early images in stone carvings appear to show oblong, c-shaped and triangular harps or lyres.[53]). Other early works can be seen from France, such as the ivory cover to the Dagulf Psalter in France and the 9th century illustrations in the Utrecht Psalter. Harps were strung throughout Europe with gut strings. Exceptions include Ireland (where strings were of metal) and Wales (where portable harps used horsehair strings through the 17th century A.D.).[54] For comparison of harps from across the ancient and medieval world, look at angular harps, arched harps, and konghou. |
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| Lute[56] |   |
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| Lyra | Fiddle, related to rebec |  |
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| Lyre |   |
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| Monochord | The monochord was a theoretical instrument illustrated in religious miniatures. A single string zither, which could produce different notes by pressure and plucking. |  |
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| Nyckelharpa | Played by bow across strings; keys on the neck raised strings up to be sounded. | viola a chiavi, Italian |  |
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| Organistrum (large form of medieval hurdy-gurdy) | Organistrum, an early form of hurdy-gurdy, probable ancestor of later hurdy-gurdies.[57] Played in churches and monastic schools until the 13th century A.D.[58] After 13th century the instrument declined, and fell into disuse in the 14th.[58] Outside of the church it was used for popular music and folk music, and later by beggars.[58]
Initially a fiddle shaped instrument with a hand crank, which turned a wheel.[58] The wheel rubbed against all the strings at once making them sound.[58] Strings were sounded simultaneously, with outer strings acting as drones and center strings (which the keys activated) used for melody.[58] At first it was played by two individuals: one turned the crank while the other worked "key rods" to change the musical pitch of the strings.[58] As the instrument became a smaller, one-person instrument, key rods became "push levers".[58] The new mechanism required that the instrument be tilted as it was played.[58][59] In the 10th century A.D., Odo of Cluny wrote a work (Quomodo organistrum construatur) that helped readers make an instrument.[58] |
organae instrumentum, Latin[60]
organistrum, circa 942 A.D-14th century.[58] symphonia, 12th-16th centuries[58] hurdy-gurdy, starting 18th century[58] symphonie, chifonie, armonie, Vielle à roue, French[58] Leier, German[58] gaita del pobre, vihuela de rueda, sinfonía, chifonía, zanfoña, Spanish[61] |
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| Psaltery |    |
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| Rabel | Fiddle, probably variation of rebec. Survives today in Basque speaking areas; historically had leather soundboard; modern instruments may have wooden soundboard. The instrument traveled to the Spanish colonies in America, where it can be found today in Panama. | ,_folio_21V.jpg)    |
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| Rebab
Rabé morisco |
Rebab is a word for various kinds of fiddle in the Muslim world. Spelling is loose, because Arabic does not write down vowels sounds. Rabab, rebab, rubab, ribab have all been used, and some of them are used for plucked instruments in Asia as well. |   |
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| Rebec[63] |   |
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| Rotte |   |
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| Tromba marina
Trumpet marine |
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| Vielle
Vièle |
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| Vihuela
Viola |
In the Iberian Peninsula, small lutes are pictured, which have been considered as possible cytharas and citoles. In Portugal, the tradition remained into the modern era, the instruments called violas. They were vihuelas in Spain. Vihuela eventually became a large guitar-like instrument of the Renaissance. Violas remained small. The name viola has been reused for a variety of instruments including viola da gamba, viola (a modern fiddle). |   |
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| Vihuela de arco
Viola de arco Vihuela de arco pequeña (small bowed vihuela) |
The vihuela de arco may be a variant of the vielle. Spain had a variety of fiddles (which predate the violin) in the cathedral artwork and manuscript miniatures. |  |
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| Zither | ||||
Wind instruments
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| Names and variations | Description | Ethnic connections, regions | Pictures | Pictures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albogón[66] | See reedpipes below
Double-reed instrument or type of shawm, possibly adapted from Muslim al-buq horn.[67] |
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| Alboka
Pinole
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See reedpipes below
Traditional instruments of shepherds. Reedpipes in which the reed body has been replaced by another material such as wood or bone. The single reed (once part of the body of the reedpipe) is now separated; it is now inserted into the instrument's body. The other end of the reed is inserted into the musicians mouth and blown through to produce sound. Hornpipes have a protective cup over the reed, to blow into. Crumhorns also use this protected reed system, though with double reeds.
See also shephard's horn (below) |
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| Bagpipes[68] | See article: List of bagpipes
See reedpipes below Reedpipes attached to a leather bag to give a continuous air supply. |
baghèt, N. Italy
duda, Hungary gaita (Iberian Peninsula)
gajda, Balkans
great Highland bagpipe, Scotland
huemmelchen, Germany säckpipa, Sweden torupill, Estonia xeremia, Mallorca żaqq, Malta |
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| Bladder pipe | See reedpipes below
Reedpipes in which the player blows into a bag made from a bladder; by puffing their cheeks (to continue air pressure while taking a breath) players could keep a continual air flow going to the reeds. |
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| Buisine
Anafil Trompe |
See horn and wooden trumpet below.
The nafir was a Muslim instrument, adapted by Europeans and renamed the anafil in Spain[73] and the buisine in France.ú[74]ú The buisine (first mention about 1100 A.D.) was a long, slightly curved horn, used in battle for signaling.[74] It was replaced by the nafir, the name transferred to the new instrument.[74] The new buisine was of brass, copper or silver, 4-7 feet long, made in sections that could be assembled with "bosses" covering the joints.[74] In 12th century trompe in French (also Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese variants) is recorded for an instrument that is "long and straight." Used in battles as a signal horn, in tournaments and weddings for atmosphere. By the 17th century the trompe had a single coil.[75] Europeans developed the instrument further into the herald trumpet or clarion near the end of the medieval period. |
Initially in Spain (during the Reconquista), and France and other parts of Europe during the Crusades. |    |
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Clarion
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Clarion today implies high, angelic, pealing notes. That sound was developed, however, as Europeans began to learn to shape and bend sheet-metal tubes for trumpets. Muslims also had trumpets with clarion notes, as part of a mix of trumpet sounds with tenor and bass.[73] Horns would change too, becoming metal instruments such as the bugle (Old English word for ox). Clarion eventually became a range of notes, within the reach of natural trumpets and bugles. The cornett fingerhole wooden horns would also come to hit clarion notes. |    |
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| Cornett
"Proto-cornetts"[77] Fingerhole trumpets Fingerhole horns |
See shepherd's horn and wooden trumpet below
Best known as a Renaissance instrument (1500s-1600s), cornetts were wooden fingerhole trumpets whose blowhole was so small it required the instrument be played at the side of the mouth. The cornett was likely derived from an animal horn pierced with fingerholes such as the corodoiz.[78] Later cornetts took on a stylized appearance, the curved instruments somewhat resembling an animal horn. Carved wooden instruments had octagon exterior by the 12th century.[78] In artwork, it may be difficult to know whether an instrument is lip-blown (a trumpet) or a reedpipe (sounded by a reed inserted into the tip, held in the player's mouth).[77] |
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| Crumhorn | See reedpipes below
A Renaissance/Baroque instrument, the sound mechanism was a bundle of reeds beneath a wooden cap.[79] The musician blew through the cap.[79] The instrument likely descended from the medieval bladder pipe.[79] |
krumnhorn, Germany[79]
cromorne, tournebout, France[79] |
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| Flageolet | Originally a "whistle flute" or duct flute from Asia.[80] Used in medieval Europe by the 11th century A.D.[80]
In Europe it was a flute of the countryside, made of willow (see willow flute below) as late as the mid-13th century.[81] It was also made of cane or wood (and in one example, copper) with a fipple at the top, which musicians blew through to produce sound.[80] Later version in 1581 would have 4 fingerholes and 2 thumbholes.[80][81] It was characterized in 1640 as being shorter than the recorder.[80] One possible version of the instrument was a short four-holed duct flute (Russpfeif), illustrated in 1511 by Virdung.[82] The flaviol was a flageolet of the Pyrenees, about 6 inches long with one fingerhole and played with one hand with the drum or tabor.[83] Some flaviols may have 3 fingerholes and two vents, one thumbhole and two vents.[83] Another, played one-handed with tabor, had a single fingerhole.[83] |
flageol, French until 13th century[80]
flageolet, French from 13th century forward[80] flaviol, Catalonian, Provincial |
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| Fife and drum | The fife is a small transverse flute with 6 fingerholes.[84] Introduced widely to Europe as soldier's instruments during 15th century by Swiss mercenaries.[84] Seen in France in 1507 and England in 1510.[84] | French
German Italian
Spanish
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| Flute |  | |||
| Duct flute | Duct flute with tapering bore, seen in French art in 11th century A.D., traceable back from modern times into the 12th century.[85] Called the recorde in England by about 1400.[85] In 1400s multiple sizes existed. By 1511, sizes included bass, tenor, alto and soprano instruments.[85]
Recorders are fairly rare in medieval art, the pipe (for pipe and tabor) being more common. Possibly began main start in European music in Northern Italy in the 14th century, and was established at the beginning of the 16th century.[86] It is difficult to tell from art if a recorder is presented (with a thumb hole) or a "some kind of folk pipe (without the thumb hole)."[86] In comparison, reed pipes had a very limited range of notes (having only 3-4 holes and being played with one hand). Recorders and pipes with the holes requiring two hands to play had a broader range of notes. Another detail difficult to see is the mechanism of sound; recorders are flutes in which the sound is produced by a fipple.[86] Reed pipes such as aulos used reed bundles like a shawm to produce notes, or single reeds like the zummara.[86] Three and four hole pipes have been excavated in Novgorod, dating to the 11th and 15th centuries A.D. The timeline is not clear for the development into flutes with more holes. It isn't certain whether pipes with 3-4 holes were played alone, with a timbrel or tabor, or in pairs. Double flutes in Eastern Europe date back to the 12th-13th centuries.[87] Used in Russia, Belarus, western Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia.[87] |
recorder, English, late 14th century[85]
flûte à bec, French[85] Blockflöte, German[85] flauto dritto, Italian[85] flauta de pico, Spanish[85] |
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| Double flutes | See: tabor pipe, below
Uses a fipple (hole to blow through, combined with sound producing hole) as on a recorder. Similar to double reedpipes, in that each flute was played with one hand. Some were three hole flutes. Other flutes existed with more holes, still played with one hand, including the Flabiol. |
![Thumb](#/media/File:Double_flute_player,_detail_from_Francesco_del_Cossa's_fresco_"Allegory_of_April,_Triumph_of_Venus",_at_the_Palazzo_Schifanoia,_painted_1469-70.jpg)  |
  ![Thumb](#/media/File:Double_flutes_from_"The_Assumption_of_the_Virgin"_by_Matteo_di_Giovanni.jpg) | |
| Gemshorn | A recorder made from horn.[88]It was originally made from chamois horn, but in later music, the an ox-horn version filled the gap between the flageolet and the recorder.[88] It became common to use ox horn after 1375 A.D.[88] The instrument's popularity in the 15th century led to an organ stop being created by 1511 with the name gemshorn or cor de chamois.[89] It was illustrated by Virdung in 1511, and Agricola in 1528, but may have been in decline in the 16th century.[89][90]
The mouthpiece of the instrument is at the top of the wide end of the horn; the large hole has been filled in with a blowing hole left at the top, creating a fipple.[89] A sound hole to create the sound is cut into the sidewall of the horn, along with fingerholes.[89] Artwork showing the instrument shows three or four fingerholes on the top.[90] Three fingerholes and a thumb hole will play an octave.[90] Modern builders have added soundholes.[90] |
Scottish-English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
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| Horn
Bockhorn or Bukkehorn Battle horn War horn |
Trumpets made from cattle horns[91] (the name bugle from Latin, for buculus or bullock[92]), from other materials and shaped like cattle horns, and other animal horns such as goats (bukkehorn) or sheep (shofar). Carved ivory horns of this style were called oliphants. Words in English: cowhorn, bullhorn, oxhorn, steerhorn.
Horn in English was used in Old English as well; in Beowulf a leader calls his men to battle with a horn.[93] Among peaceful uses of these horns was for farmers to call to their cattle herds to bring them in.[94] Could be drilled with as many as three or four fingerholes.[94] Bockhorns have been found with fingerholes as far back as the Iron Age.[94] |
Old English: horn used in Beowulf[93]
Norway/Sweden |
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| Olifant | Hunting or war horns carved from ivory |  |
_Ivory_with_silver_mounts_Carved_about_1000-1100_CE_in_southern_Italy_Possbily_Amalfi_(1350430173).jpg) | |
| Medieval trumpet
Iberian trumpet |
See shepherd's horn and wooden trumpet below |  _-_Soinuenea.jpg) |
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| Organ | Organs invented in antiquity, but not common in Europe.[95] Under reigns of Pepin the short and Charlemagne, the organ was re-introduced to Europe, starting in about 757 A.D.[95]
Theophilus's organ in the 11th century A.D., used bellows activated by body weight.[96] That was refined to make all air from three bellows enter into a common channel.[96] Smaller organs are illustrated that are now called portative organs and positive organs. |
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 ,_c._1260,_el_rey_David_tocando_el_órgano,_F._97v,_Add_MS_62925,_British_Library,_detalle.jpg) | |
| Portative Organ |  |
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| Positive organ | A tabletop pipe organ | _L'Ouïe_(La_Dame_à_la_licorne)_-_Musée_de_Cluny_Paris_cropped_for_musicians.jpg) |
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| Panpipes
Panflute |
An instrument of shepherds in the late Roman Empire, seen in 3rd century A.D. Christian art. The instrument was widespread, appearing in Chinese art from the Tang dynasty featuring men on the Silk Road. |   ,_MS_B.18_f.1r.jpg) |
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| Pipes | English word for a variety of instruments.[97] Tube of wood, reed or other material through which air is blown.[97] Sound occurs from interaction of air with a sharp edge, notch, a duct, reed or some other form of mouthpiece.[97]
In European instruments the name "pipes" includes:
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Word used in English and Old French[97]
German
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| Reedpipe[98] | See also alboka, in above in this table.
An aerophone in the form of a tube with "vibrating reed" inserted, either at the tip (as in launeddas) or inside the interior (as in a crumhorn or alboka).[98] Reeds such as on the launeddas are single reeds; reeds on the shawm are double reeds. Includes bagpipes and bladder pipes (both with internal reeds). Europeans made pipes out of reeds, splitting a reed to make a single reed. A single 3-hole reed pipe could be used for the pipe and tabor. The Launeddas was a more elaborate reed pipe, with multiple pipes; each might have its own reed or one reed might sound multiple pipes. These are more common in medieval art than the recorder (which has more holes and requires both hands to play). Reed pipe traditions around the world include Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. |
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| Double reedpipes
double clarinet diplica |
Reedpipes played in sets, one in each hand. In ancient Greece, the aulos were double reedpipes. |   |
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| Triple pipes
Cumbrian pipes cuisle triple reedpipes |
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| Sackbut[99] | Renaissance instrument, ancestor of the trombone. Medieval variant was clarion or slide trumpet. |  |
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| Shawm[100]
oboe |
See reedpipes above
Double-reed instruments. The reed bundle is inserted through a disk (used for breath control, for uninterrupted sound, playing while the musician breathes.) In France, musettes were small oboes until the 16th century, when they became bagpipes.[101] The musette was a small keyless double-reed chalumeau, with a visibly conical bore and a pear-shaped bell. |
England (Middle English, from French)
France (Old French)
German
Iberian Peninsula
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| Shepherd's horn[103] | Wooden trumpets, conical tube about 4 ft long with mouthpiece; made of separate sections of hollowed out wood, glued together; bound with bark.[104][105] In Norway [and Sweden] used by shepherds in mountain pasturage to call to livestock, frighten predators and call signals to surrounding communities.[104] Shorter lurs could also be used as megaphones.[104]
Horns constructed of strips of birchbark or alder bark rolled into tubes, or into cups to fit onto the end of flutes or reedpipes. Also fingerhole horn carved of wood. A mouthpiece is inserted; they may have reed tongues (making them reed horns, shawms or obes) a trumpet mouthpiece, or a tip to make them into flutes. Holes may be cut into the bark tube as well.[106][107][103] Instruments may also be built with a mouthpiece resembling a cup or funnel, in which the player uses his lips to create the sound.[108] |
Sweden, Russia, Karelia, Belarus, Ukraine, former Yugoslavia
Pastusheskiy rog (Пастушеский рог) Old Norse lúðr[104] |
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| Clay trumpet | Horns of clay |  | ||
| Tabor Pipe | A duct flute with three-holes (or two holes and a thumbhole), with a body of wood or reed. Played with other instruments such as the tabor, tambourin à cordes, handbell, or with a second pipe (see double pipes above). Other recorder variants have been used in this manner including the full-sized recorder and the flageolet or flaviol (see above in table). | French
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| Willow flute | These instruments are commonly called willow whistles because they use the bark of a willow tree (the tube created when the center is pulled from inside the bark) to make a whistle. The Russian kalyuka also makes a tube for a whistle, often out of thistle. The two instruments are played the same way, by varying the force of the air blown into the mouthpiece, with the end of the tube being covered by the finger or left open. | Norway
Sweden Finland Latvia Lithuania Romania
Russia Ukraine |
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| Wooden trumpet | After the fall of the Roman Empire, trumpets of metal were relatively rare in Europe. Europeans used horns (from goats, sheep and cattle) or carved them from wood.
The wooden trumpet was illustrated by Anglo Saxon artists in France in the Utrecht Psalter, circa 850 A.D. They drew long wooden horns with thick metal bands to hold the separate halves of the instrument together. Examples of surviving wooden instruments made in this fashion include the lur found in the Oseberg ship (two hollowed out halves held together with 5 rings or bands[104]) and also the Irish wooden trumpet. In Ireland, a wooden trumpet was found in the Erne River and attributed to the "early Christian Period...8th-10th century."[110] The yew-wood trumpet was carved in two halves lengthwise and bound together with strips of bronze, with a bronze mouthpiece.[110][111] This Irish trumpet has resembles trumpets illustrated in the Vespasian Psalter.[111] In literature, the instrument was the beme (byme, bemastocc) in Old English.[112][113][114] Hygelac (in the late 10th century epic poem Beowulf calls soldiers to battle with "horn and bȳman".[93] It was the buisine to the French in the epic Chanson de Roland (circa 1100-1120), and the word was used for this instrument until transferred to the later metal instrument in the late 12th century.[76] |
Bemastocc (Old-English bem trumpet + stocc wood)[114]
Buisine[76] Lúðr (Old Norse[104])
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Groups of musicians
Circa 795 A.D., Carolingian Empire. Probably from Aachen. Crotala (clappers), harp and fiddle.
Circa 1050 A.D., Germany. Detail from Heidelberg Psalter. Double pipes, cymbala (bells), psaltery, rotte, viola.
Circa 1125, Italy. Bottom, King David plays rotte; around him are a tabor (frame drum), horn or trumpet, and crwth or fiddle
1172–1174 A.D., Germany. Musicians from The Book of Divine Works by Hildegard of Bingen. From left: harp, flute or recorder, unknown, vielle (with 2 drone strings), panpipes, portative organ.
1255–1260 A.D., England. Celebrations with musicians in work titled "The Unburied Bodies of the Two Witnesses and the Rejoicing People", Ms. Ludwig III 1 (83.MC.72), fol. 17v. From left: vielle, triple pipes, tabor or drum, cymbals.
Circa 1434, Spain. Jesus Christ surrounded by twelve men with instruments and wearing crowns, above the main entrance of the Church of San Martiño de Noia.
1310, England. Gorleston psalter, folio 107v.
14th century A.D., Italy. King David, his wife Musica and their children. From manuscript of Manlius Severinus Boethius's De Musica, Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, Ms. VA 14, fol. 47
Circa 1100 A.D., Polirone Abbey, San Benedetto Po, Italy. King David playing a rotte (psaltery), with other musicians on fiddle, bell, bagpipe and horn, from the Musicians from the Psalter of Polirone.
1022-1032, Monte Casino. Musicians from the "De rerum naturis" manuscript, Monte Cassino MS Casin 132; from left cymbals, psaltery, harp or rotte, lute.
8th century A.D., England. Vespasian Psalter (Canterbury Psalter, MS Cotton Vespasian A.I, fol. 30v). King David playing the lyre with wooden trumpets (bottom right, clockwise), clapping or dancing, horns, top corners unknown.
1340 A.D., Germany. King David with scribes and musicians, detail from World Chronicle of Rudolf von Ems.
1305–1340 A.D., Zurich, Switzerland. Heinrich Frauenlob, a Minnesinger (seated, top) in the Codex Manesse. From bottom left: Tabor, recorder, shawm, vielle, vielle, psaltery, bagpipe.
1480s, Germany. Christ with Singing and Music-Making Angels by Hans Memling.
970 A.D. Spain. Medieval band plays for evil being, from the Valcavado Beatus, folio 199v. From left: trumpet or reedpipe (cowhorn attached to reed body), cymbals, hourglass drum, double reedpipes, cythara, wooden trumpet.
1305 and 1340 A.D., Zurich, Switzerland. Codex Manesse showing King Otto IV of Brandenburg playing chess with a woman. Below are busines, tabor drum with two drumsticks, and bagpipes.
1474 A.D., Italy. The Assumption of the Virgin by Matteo di Giovanni.
1480 A.D., Italy. Remnants of a fresco from Santi Apostoli, Rome, damaged during renovation in 1711. Triangle,pipe and tabor, vielle, lute, tambourine.
1201–1208 A.D. Germany, St. Elizabeth’s Psalter. King David holding the rotte (lyre) and musicians playing chime bells, vielle, pipe organ and long wooden horn
Early 12th century A.D. Top, spiritual music, King David surrounded by musicians. Bottom, carnal or secular music, the devil surrounded by dancers and musicians. From PSALTERIUM TRIPLEX, B.18, f.1r, St John's College Cambridge
1200-1250, France. King David playing harp with Asaph, Aeman, Ethan and Jeduthun, Bout Psalter Book of Hours
12th century A.D., Spain. Some of the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse on the Church of Saint Dominic, Soria. Instruments include rebecs and rabels (both plucked and bowed), rottes, psalteries and a organistrum.
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References
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