EXPERIMENTAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE EAST IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Abstract

The aim of the article is to carry out a comprehensive instrument-scientific analysis of descriptions of experimental instruments from oriental treatises of the 9 th–10 th centuries, as well as instruments known from Persian-Arabic treatises and iconographic sources of the 6 th–15 th centuries.
Research methodology. The method applied of typological systematization of the medieval iconographical musical instruments.
Results. The article analyzes the insufficiently studied problem of the emergence of new types of instruments.
They were intended for experiments in search of expanding and fixing the sound range due to microalteration, which is characteristic of oriental monody. On the other hand, for the same purpose, existing musical instruments were used, on the basis of which hybrid instruments were created, synthesizing the features of several different instruments. These searches were intended to reproduce the specific timbre, phonic, and scale systems of Eastern music. It was found that Farabi and Urmavi did not present images of experimental instruments in their treatises, limiting themselves exclusively to their description. The authorship of the drawings is still unclear. In particular, this is the instrument «shahrud», the invention of which is attributed to al-Farabi (10 th century) and which is a synthesis of the zither and the harp. His images appeared only in copies of Farabi's treatise several centuries later (12 th–13 th centuries). These drawings reproduce a hybrid instrument – the harp-zither, which was not used in musical practice in the 10 th century, but was created by an anonymous author after the death of Farabi. It has been found that the name «shahrud» («royal rud», i. e. «royal lute») clearly indicates a lute called «rud», which is larger in size than a traditional lute. A similar situation was repeated with the instruments described in the treatise of Safiaddin Urmavi (13 th century), who is credited with the invention of two stringed instruments – the zither (nuzha) and the zither-lute (mughni).
They are also recorded a hundred years later in 14 th-century manuscripts. It has been established that the invented experimental zither «nuzha» was based on an instrument that existed in folk practice. Another experimental instrument, the mughani (muganni), which combined the design of the lute (rubab) and the zither (nuzhа) and whose creation is also attributed to Urmavi, has survived to this day under the name «balandzicom» in the folk instruments of the Pamiris. It has been proven that a similar instrument already existed earlier, in the 6th century, that is, long before the discovery of Urmavi. This is also evidenced by the depiction of similar instruments on Roman sarcophagi of the 3rd century.
Morphologically similar instruments from the 12 th century have been preserved in the frescoes of the Palatine Chapel and in the Cathedral in Cefalu (Sicily) from the time of the rule of the Islamic emirates in Europe (the Emirate of Sicily). The experimental instruments created by Maraghi are also known exclusively from descriptions in the treatise. These are the instrument «chini sazi kasat», which consisted of 76 porcelain bowls of various sizes, and the «cazay alvah», which outwardly resembles a modern xylophone.
The imperfect description of another Maraghi instrument – the «kanuni-muraseyi mudavvar» – does not allow us to identify it with any oriental instrument of that era. Аccording to the characteristics given by the author, it can be attributed to friction instruments such as the hurdy gurdy or the «lyre organistra», the drawing of which was made by Leonardo da Vinci.
Novelty. A comprehensive music instrumental and scientific analysis of descriptions and images of experimental instruments from oriental treatises of the 9 th–10 th centuries, as well as instruments known from Persian-Arabic treatises and iconographic sources of the 6 th–15 th centuries, was carried out. As a result of critical analysis of musical artifacts, generally accepted positions regarding the authorship of individual experimental instruments were refuted.
Practical significance. The results of the article can be used for further research into medieval musical instruments of the East and Europe.