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"Lyres" redirects here. For the band, see Lyres (band). Lyres (sometimes credited as The Lyres) are a Boston -area Alternative rock musical group led by Jeff "Monoman" Conolly
Lyre
Lyre
Classification
Related instruments

The lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity and later. A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a Musical instrument that produces Sound by means of Vibrating strings In the Hornbostel-Sachs A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. Not to be confused with CEng (the post-nominal for Chartered Engineer) The konghou ( is an ancient Chinese Harp. The konghou, also known as kanhou The harp is a Stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. The chang (Persian چنگ is an Iranian harp It was very popular and used widely during the times of ancient Persia, especially during the Sassanid Dynasty where A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a Musical instrument that produces Sound by means of Vibrating strings In the Hornbostel-Sachs Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean The recitations of the Ancient Greeks were accompanied by lyre playing. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca The lyre of Classical Antiquity was ordinarily played by being strummed with a plectrum, like a guitar or a zither, rather than being plucked, like a harp. Often called a pick or plec, a plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles The zither is a musical String instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine The harp is a Stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. The fingers of the free hand silenced the unwanted strings in the chord.

Contents

Classification

Lyres from various times and places are regarded by some organologists (specialists in the history of musical instruments) as a branch of the zither family, a general category which includes many different stringed instruments, such as lutes, guitars, kantele, and psalteries, not just zithers. The zither is a musical String instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either Fretted or unfretted and a deep round back or more specifically to an instrument from The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles Kantele (other names kannel, sormikantele) is a Finnish traditional Plucked string instrument. A psaltery is a stringed Musical instrument of the Harp or the Zither family The zither is a musical String instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine

dbox or resonator, as opposed to the lyre, whose strings emanate from a more or less common point off the soundboard, such as a tailpiece. uprights surmounting their resonators as "true" lyres have. This group they usually refer to as the lute class, after the instrument of that name, and include within it the guitar, the violin, the banjo, and similar stringed instruments with fingerboards. Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either Fretted or unfretted and a deep round back or more specifically to an instrument from The banjo is a Stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments Those who differ with that opinion counter by calling the lute, violin, guitar, banjo, and other such instruments "independent fingerboard lyres," as opposed to simply "fingerboard lyres" such as the Welsh crwth, which have both fingerboards and frameworks above their resonators. Wales has a strong and distinctive tradition of Folk music related to the Celtic music of countries such as Ireland and Scotland. The crwth is an archaic stringed Musical instrument, associated particularly with Welsh music, although once played widely in Europe

One point on which organologists universally agree is that the distinction between harps on the one hand and zithers and lyres (and, in some views, lutes) on the other is that harps have strings emanating directly from the soundboard and residing in a plane that is basically perpendicular to the soundboard, as opposed to the other instruments, whose strings are attached to one or more points somewhere off the soundboard (e. The harp is a Stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. g. , wrest pins on a zither, tailpiece on a lyre or lute) and lie in a plane essentially parallel to it. They also agree that neither the overall size of the instrument nor the number of strings on it have anything to do with its classification. For example, small Scottish and Irish harps can be held on the lap, while some ancient Sumerian lyres appear to have been as tall as a seated man (see Kinsky; also Sachs, History . Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world . . , under "References"). Regarding the number of strings, the standard 88-key piano has many more strings than even the largest harp.

Construction

Women posing as a Siren with a lyre in 1913.
Women posing as a Siren with a lyre in 1913. In Greek mythology, the Sirens ( Greek singular Seirēn; Greek plural Seirēnes) were three dangerous bird-women

A classical lyre has a hollow body or sound-chest (also known as soundbox or resonator). Extending from this sound-chest are two raised arms, which are sometimes hollow, and are curved both outward and forward. They are connected near the top by a crossbar or yoke. An additional crossbar, fixed to the sound-chest, forms the bridge which transmits the vibrations of the strings. The deepest note was that farthest from the player's body; as the strings did not differ much in length, more weight may have been gained for the deeper notes by thicker strings, as in the violin and similar modern instruments, or they were tuned by having a slacker tension. The violin is a bowed String instrument with four strings usually tuned in Perfect fifths It is the smallest and highest-pitched member The strings were of gut. They were stretched between the yoke and bridge, or to a tailpiece below the bridge. There were two ways of tuning: one was to fasten the strings to pegs which might be turned; the other was to change the place of the string upon the crossbar; probably both expedients were used simultaneously.

Statue of the Olympian deity, Apollo holding a lyre.
Statue of the Olympian deity, Apollo holding a lyre. The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon ( Greek: Δωδεκάθεον

According to ancient Greek mythology, the young god Hermes created the lyre from a large tortoise shell (khelus) which he covered with animal hide and antelope horns. Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance Hermes ( Greek,, ˈhɝmiːz in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them of Shepherds and Tortoises or land Turtles are land-dwelling Reptiles of the family of Testudinidae', order Testudines. Antelope are Ruminant hoofed Mammals of the family Bovidae in the order of Even-toed ungulates. A horn is a pointed projection of the Skin on the head of various Mammals consisting of a covering of horn ( Keratin and other Proteins Lyres were associated with Apollonian virtues of moderation and equilibrium, contrasting with the Dionysian pipes and aulos, both of which represented ecstasy and celebration. In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman The pan flute or pan pipe (also known as panflute or panpipes) is an ancient Musical instrument based on the principle of the Closed The aulos ( Greek αυλός, plural αυλοί, auloi or tibia ( Latin) was an ancient Greek musical instrument

Locales in southern Europe, western Asia, or north Africa have been proposed as the historic birthplace of the genus. The instrument is still played in north-eastern parts of Africa.

Some of the cultures using and developing the lyre were the Aeolian and Ionian Greek colonies on the coasts of Asia (ancient Asia Minor, modern day Turkey) bordering the Lydian empire. Geography Physical Ionia was of small extent not exceeding 90 geographical miles in length from north to south with a breadth varying from 40 to 55 miles but to this Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Some mythic masters like Orpheus, Musaeus, and Thamyris were believed to have been born in Thrace, another place of extensive Greek colonization. Orpheus ( Greek: Ὀρφεύς ˈɔrfiəs ( OHR-fee-uhs) or /ˈɔrfjuːs/ ( OHR'-fews) in English is a figure from Greek mythology born in For people surnamed Musaeus see Musäus. Musaeus is also a spider genus ( Thomisidae) In Greek mythology, Thamyris ( Greek: Θάμυρις son of Philammon and the nymph Argiope, was a Thracian singer who was so proud Thrace (Тракия Trakiya or "Trakija" or Trakia, Θράκη Thráki, Trakya is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe The name kissar (kithara) given by the ancient Greeks to Egyptian box instruments reveals the apparent similarities recognized by Greeks themselves. The cultural peak of ancient Egypt, and thus the possible age of the earliest instruments of this type, predates the 5th century classic Greece. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία This indicates the possibility that the lyre might have existed in one of Greece's neighboring countries, either Thrace, Lydia, or Egypt, and was introduced into Greece at pre-classic times. Thrace (Тракия Trakiya or "Trakija" or Trakia, Θράκη Thráki, Trakya is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe Defining Lydia Aside from a legend related by Herodotus, who states that the name Lydia came from king Lydus at the time of the fall of Troy This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics.

Number of strings on the classical lyre

The number of strings on the classical lyre varied at different epochs, and possibly in different localities – four, seven and ten having been favorite numbers. They were used without a fingerboard, no Greek description or representation having ever been met with that can be construed as referring to one. The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments is a part of most Stringed instruments It is a thin long strip of Wood that is Nor was a bow possible, the flat sound-board being an insuperable impediment. In Music, a bow is moved across some part of a Musical instrument, causing Vibration which the instrument emits as Sound. The plectrum, however, was in constant use. Often called a pick or plec, a plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. It was held in the right hand to set the upper strings in vibration; when not in use, it hung from the instrument by a ribbon. The fingers of the left hand touched the lower strings (presumably to silence those whose notes were not wanted).

There is no evidence as to the stringing of the Greek lyre in the heroic age. Plutarch says that Olympus and Terpander used but three strings to accompany their recitation. Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c Terpander (Greek Τέρπανδρος of Antissa in Lesbos, was a Greek Poet and Citharode who lived about the first half of the 7th century As the four strings led to seven and eight by doubling the tetrachord, so the trichord is connected with the hexachord or six-stringed lyre depicted on so many archaic Greek vases. The accuracy of this representation cannot be insisted upon, the vase painters being little mindful of the complete expression of details; yet one may suppose their tendency would be rather to imitate than to invent a number. It was their constant practice to represent the strings as being damped by the fingers of the left hand of the player, after having been struck by the plectrum which he held in the right hand. Before Greek civilization had assumed its historic form, there was likely to have been great freedom and independence of different localities in the matter of lyre stringing, which is corroborated by the antique use of the chromatic (half-tone) and enharmonic (quarter-tone) tunings pointing to an early exuberance, and perhaps also to an Asiatic bias towards refinements of intonation. A quarter tone is an interval about half as wide (aurally or logarithmically as a Semitone, which is half a Whole tone.

Modern Greece

While the lyre is no longer played in modern Greece, the term lyra lives on as the name shared by various regional types of fiddles (bowed lutes) found throughout the country. There are two basic styles of lyra fiddles: 1) a pear-shaped instrument with a vaulted back which is found in the Greek islands – in particular, the Dodecanese and Crete – and the northern mainland regions of Macedonia and Thrace; and 2) an instrument with a narrow rectangular cylinder body of the Pontic Greeks who trace their roots to Pontos (Pontus), the Black Sea region of northern Turkey. Crete ( Greek: Κρήτη transliteration: Krētē, modern transliteration Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the Macedonia ( Μακεδονία, Makedonía,) is a geographical and historical region of Greece in southeastern Europe Thrace (Тракия Trakiya or "Trakija" or Trakia, Θράκη Thráki, Trakya is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe Geography The Black Sea region loosely called Pontus by various scholars has a steep rocky coast with rivers that cascade through the gorges of the coastal ranges (The Pontic Greek lyra is also known as kemenche. A kemenche ( Turkish: kemençe Laz: Ç'ilili(ჭილილი Greek: κεμεντζές is a bottle-shaped 3-stringed type of Rebec or ) Both types of lyra typically have three strings. They are held vertically upright and bowed horizontally; if the player is seated, the instrument's base rests on the player's upper left thigh. The Cretan lyra is traditionally played in a duo with the laouto, a long-neck fretted lute that is strummed like a guitar. The music of Crete is a traditional form of Greek Folk music called κρητικά (kritika

Central and Northern Europe

Reproduction of the lyre from the royal burial at Sutton Hoo, late 6th/early 7th century AD
Reproduction of the lyre from the royal burial at Sutton Hoo, late 6th/early 7th century AD

Other instruments known as lyres have been fashioned and used in Europe outside the Greco-Roman world since at least the early Middle Ages, and one view holds that many modern stringed instruments are late-emerging examples of the lyre class. Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries In modern Olympic and amateur Wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling is a particular style and variation There is no clear evidence that non-Greco-Roman lyres were played exclusively with plectra, and numerous instruments regarded by some as modern lyres are played with bows. In Music, a bow is moved across some part of a Musical instrument, causing Vibration which the instrument emits as Sound.

Lyres appearing to have emerged independently of Greco-Roman prototypes were used by the Teutonic, Gallic, Scandinavian, and Celtic peoples over a thousand years ago. In modern Olympic and amateur Wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling is a particular style and variation A prototype is an original type form or instance of something serving as a typical example basis or standard for other things of the same category Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Dates of origin, which probably vary from region to region, cannot be determined, but the oldest known fragments of such instruments are thought to date from around the sixth century of the Common Era. After the bow made its way into Europe from the Middle-East, around two centuries later, it was applied to several species of those lyres that were small enough to make bowing practical. The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. There came to be two broad classes of bowed European yoke lyres: those with fingerboards dividing the open space within the yoke longitudinally, and those without fingerboards. The last surviving examples of instruments within the latter class were the Scandinavian talharpa and jouhikko. The talharpa is a four-stringed bowed Lyre from northern Europe The jouhikko is an ancient 2-4 stringed Finnish bowed Lyre, also called jouhikannel (see Kantele) Different tones could be obtained from a single bowed string by pressing the fingernails of the player's left hand against various points along the string to fret the string.

The last of the bowed yoke lyres with fingerboard was the "modern" (ca. 1485 - ca. 1800) Welsh crwth. Wales has a strong and distinctive tradition of Folk music related to the Celtic music of countries such as Ireland and Scotland. The crwth is an archaic stringed Musical instrument, associated particularly with Welsh music, although once played widely in Europe It had several predecessors both in the British Isles and in Continental Europe. Pitch was changed on individual strings by pressing the string firmly against the fingerboard with the fingertips. Like a violin, this method shortened the vibrating length of the string to produce higher tones, while releasing the finger gave the string a greater vibrating length, thereby producing a tone lower in pitch. This is the principle on which the modern violin and guitar work.

While the dates of origin and other evolutionary details of the European bowed yoke lyres continue to be disputed among organologists, there is general agreement that none of them were the ancestors of modern orchestral bowed stringed instruments, as once was thought.

Alternative meanings of "lyre"

In furniture design, a lyre arm is a wooden lyre-shaped element often used at the front of the arm of a chair, typically created as an exposed wooden part of a chair, sofa or other furniture piece. A lyre arm is an element of design in Furniture, Architecture or the Decorative arts, wherein a shape is employed to emulate the Geometry of A chair is a kind of Furniture for Sitting, consisting of a back and sometimes arm rests commonly for use by one person

A music holder used by marching bands is also called a "lyre" for its shape similar to this instrument.

Lyre also can denote the framework supporting the foot pedals underneath a piano. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The term is most often used in connection with older pianos of ornate designs.

The constellation Lyra is said to resemble a lyre shape, but it looks more like a lute. Lyra (ˈlaɪrə Lyre) is one of the 48 Constellations listed by Ptolemy, and is one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either Fretted or unfretted and a deep round back or more specifically to an instrument from

Lyres around the world

References

Dictionary

lyre

-noun

  1. a stringed musical instrument.
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