lyre
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What is a lyre?
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument with a U-shaped frame, or yoke, consisting of two arms and a crossbar. The strings stretch from a tailpiece to the crossbar, and they are typically plucked.
The ancient Greeks used the lyre to accompany songs and recitations, and legend credits Hermes with its invention. As an attribute of Apollo, the lyre symbolized wisdom and moderation. The two main types of Greek lyres were the lyra and the kithara.
Today, the lyre is found in East Africa, with two main types in Ethiopia and Eritrea: the rectangular begana, used for sacred music, and the bowl-shaped krar, used for secular purposes.
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How is a lyre different from other stringed instruments?
The lyre is a stringed instrument distinguished by its yoke, featuring two arms and a crossbar that project from and remain level with its body. The strings stretch from a tailpiece on the bottom to the crossbar. Unlike instruments where strings are stopped, lyre strings vibrate freely along their full length when plucked.
Lyres come in two main types: box lyres, with a boxlike wooden body, and bowl lyres, which feature a rounded body, often with a tortoiseshell back. While the lyre was significant in ancient Babylonia, Egypt, and Greece, today, it is mainly found in East Africa. In Ethiopia and Eritrea, the large, rectangular, 10-stringed beganna is used for sacred music, while the smaller, bowl-shaped krar is used for secular purposes.
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Where and when was the lyre first used?
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument with a yoke that has two arms and a crossbar projecting from the body.
Giant lyres were used in Sumerian society in the 3rd millennium BC. These instruments were placed on the ground and played by seated musicians.
Greek legend credits Hermes with the invention of the lyre. He presented it to Apollo to atone for stealing Apollo's cows. The tale suggests a relationship between the lyre and cattle. Similarly, in Mesopotamia, the lyre was surmounted with a carved bull’s head, and today in East Africa, the lyre is most frequently encountered in cattle cultures.
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How do you play a lyre?
The lyre is a stringed instrument with a yoke, or two arms and a crossbar, that project out from the body. The strings go from the bottom or front of the instrument to the crossbar. Most lyres are plucked, but some are bowed.
To play, hold the lyre vertically or at an angle and pluck with a plectrum. The left-hand fingers mute unwanted notes and occasionally pluck or stop a string to produce a higher note. In solo performances, both hands pluck the strings. In Ethiopia, one hand mutes strings as the other strums with a plectrum. Alternatively, one hand plucks while the other plucks a drone on tonic strings.
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What was the lyre's role in ancient history and culture?
The lyre, a stringed instrument with a U-shaped frame, held a significant position in ancient societies. In ancient Greece, it symbolized wisdom and moderation as an attribute of Apollo, the god of music and prophecy.
The lyre was used to accompany song and recitation. The ancient Greeks had two main types of lyres: the lyra, for amateurs, and the kithara, for professional singers.
Lyres were also prominent in Mesopotamia, where they were used in religious ceremonies and to accompany bardic recitations. Today, the lyre continues to flourish in East Africa.
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How has the design of the lyre changed over time?
The lyre's design has seen considerable changes throughout its history. Originating in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, early lyres, such as those found in Sumerian reliefs, were large, asymmetrical box lyres, often adorned with a bull carving and tuned using wooden wedges.
In ancient Greece, two main types prevailed: the lyra and the kithara. These lyres evolved from 3-4 strings to as many as 12, typically played with a plectrum. Medieval Europe saw the emergence of new box lyre varieties, known as rotta, which transitioned from wound thongs to tuning pegs. By the 12th century, bowed lyres appeared, such as the Welsh crwth, which featured a fingerboard.
Today, lyres persist in East Africa, with distinctive types in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Ethiopian beganna, akin to the Greek kithara, is used for sacred music, while the krar, resembling the Greek lyra, serves secular purposes. Contemporary krars often incorporate modern materials like metal pans for the resonator, illustrating the ongoing evolution of the instrument.
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lyre, stringed musical instrument having a yoke, or two arms and a crossbar, projecting out from and level with the body. The strings run from a tailpiece on the bottom or front of the instrument to the crossbar. Most lyres are plucked, but a few are bowed. Box lyres are instruments having a boxlike wooden body with a wooden soundboard; in some instances the arms are hollow extensions of the body, as in the ancient Greek kithara. Bowl lyres have a rounded body with a curved back—often of tortoiseshell—and a skin belly; the arms are invariably constructed separately, as in the Greek lyra.
Box lyres were widespread in the ancient Middle East. Giant lyres placed on the ground and played by seated musicians appear in Sumerian reliefs (3rd millennium bc); some exceeded 40 inches (100 cm) in height, although smaller lyres were also used. Typically ornamented with a carved bull on one side, the Sumerian lyres were played in upright position with the fingers of both hands. They were asymmetrical, having one longer arm.
Small asymmetrical lyres predominated after Sumerian times. Most were held vertically or at an angle and were played with a plectrum; Babylonia also had a small horizontally held lyre. Egyptian lyres included (from c. 2000 bc) an asymmetrical, plectrum-plucked instrument held horizontally and (from c. 1000 bc) a smaller symmetrical lyre played upright. The Hebrew kinnor was also a box lyre. Except for the Sumerian instruments, the Middle Eastern and Greek lyres were tuned by thong or cloth bulges into which the ends of the strings were wound and which could be shifted or tightened to increase string tension. Sumerian lyres were tuned by wooden wedges inserted into the winding bulges.
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As an attribute of Apollo, the god of prophecy and music, the lyre to the ancient Greeks symbolized wisdom and moderation. Greek lyres fell into two types, exemplified by the lyra and kithara. The kithara was apparently of Asiatic origin, the lyra either indigenous or of Syrian provenance. Both shared the same playing technique, tuning, and stringing, the number of strings varying from 3 or 4 in Homer’s time to as many as 12 by the 5th century bc; the classical number was 7. Normally used to accompany singing, they were played by a plectrum held in the right hand, the left-hand fingers damping unwanted notes and occasionally plucking or stopping a string to produce a higher note. In solo playing, both hands apparently plucked with the fingers. The lyra was the instrument of the amateur, the kithara, of the professional singer. Latinized to “cithara,” it was adopted by the Romans.
In medieval Europe new varieties of lyre emerged that, like the kithara, were box lyres, although their precise relation to the lyres of classical antiquity is not known. The European lyres, often called rotta, varied from straight-sided to gently waisted. In most cases the body and yoke were cut from a single piece of wood. Tuning pegs replaced the wound thongs of the ancient lyres. Around the 12th century bowed lyres appeared; they are still played in Finland and Estonia under the name bowed harp. One bowed lyre was the Welsh crwth, which by the 13th century had gained a fingerboard running from the crossbar to the soundbox. Plucked lyres in which rattling pebbles are placed survive among the Ostyak and Vogul, Finno-Ugric peoples of Siberia.
The lyres of modern East Africa probably reflect ancient diffusion of the instrument via Egypt. Box lyres survive only in Ethiopia and among the Sebei, a Nilo-Hamitic people of Uganda. The Ethiopian begenna is a plectrum-plucked instrument normally used to accompany singing. Like the Sumerian lyres, it is tuned by wooden wedges. African bowl lyres vary from the Ethiopian masonquo and krar to the ndongo and odi of Uganda and similar instruments in the Congo region. In some cases the sound is made to buzz either by running the strings close to the skin or by placing a rattling object on the skin under the strings. Observation of the playing techniques and tuning of the African lyres affords insight into the probable tuning and playing techniques of the ancient Greek lyres, notably because in significant instances such observation corresponds with pictorial evidence and with some interpretations of Greek technical terminology.