Grove

Lyre

(from Gk.; Lat. lyra).

A string instrument whose strings are attached to a yoke which lies in the same plane as the soundtable (unlike a harp, whose strings lie on a plane at right angles to the soundtable) and consists of two arms and a crossbar. It is this characteristic by which Hornbostel and Sachs, in their classification system of 1914, distinguished lyres from other types of string instrument. Ancient lyres and modern African types, which are more-or-less ‘stuck together ’ from separate pieces, are stabilized through the tension of the taut strings. This is less true of medieval north European lyres, some of which have fingerboards, nor of the new types of lyre developed since 1926 (see below, §4): these types are built with a more rigid frame.

The earliest known examples of lyres date from the 3rd millennium BCE, and have been recovered from sites in Mesopotamia. Lyres appeared in several Mediterranean lands in antiquity and subsequently spread throughout medieval Europe. There is also evidence of lyres being played in the East African kingdoms of Kush (c650 BCE–325 CE) and Aksum (c100–350 CE). With a few exceptions this instrumental tradition has survived unbroken only in modern Ethiopia and neighbouring countries. From its Hellenic associations the lyre has often symbolized music in general (and lyric music in particular) in Western art and literature since the Renaissance.

Most lyres are plucked; for medieval bowed lyres, see Rotte (ii). For further discussion of the lyres of the classical world see also Lyra (i) and related article.

1. General.

Hornbostel and Sachs distinguished between bowl lyres and box lyres, according to the shape of the resonator: bowl lyres have a natural or carved-out bowl and usually a membrance belly; box lyres have a resonator that is a built-up wooden box and usually a wooden soundboard. Two further distinctions between lyres should also be made because of their importance in regard to the position of the player’s hands during performance: between a symmetrical and an asymmetrical arrangement of the arms and strings, and between strings that run parallel to each other and strings that fan out from their holder at the lower rim of the resonator. The lower ends of the strings are tied to a string holder or tailpiece near the base of the resonator and the upper ends are fastened to the yoke via various types of tuning devices similar to those on harps. The number of strings and certain aspects of the tuning pattern affect the playing technique. Some lyres have a bridge, almost in the manner of a violin bridge, that lifts the strings clear of a soundtable; but on many modern East African lyres there are no bridges and the plucked strings buzz against the soundtable (made of lizard skin). Playing technique, including the manner or holding the instrument and whether or not a plectrum is used, is also partly determined by the presence or absence of a bridge. Different lyres can be held horizontally, vertically or at a slant, and they can be set upon the ground, placed on a knee, rested against the body, held under an arm or supported by a strap.

Klaus Wachsmann/R

2. Ancient lyres.

Iconographical and archaeological evidence shows that many forms of lyre were developed during the first two millennia of the instruments' history (c2700–c700 BCE), but all fall into well-defined geographical and chronological patterns. Eastern lyres, those of the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia – the site of the earliest evidence of lyres – Syria, Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt), generally had soundboxes with flat bases, while Western lyres, those of the Aegean, Greece and Italy, had round bases.

(i) Flat-based (Eastern) lyres.

Four main types of ancient eastern lyre may be distinguished: bull lyres, thick lyres, thin lyres and giant lyres. Bull lyres, decorated with one or more bull heads, are known to have existed between 2700 and 2000 BCE. They flourished in Mesopotamia and spread to adjacent regions in the most easterly part of the Fertile Crescent (see Iran, §I, 2(ii)).

Fig.2 [not available online] shows reconstructions of two extant flat-based lyres, one with a deep soundbox, the other with a shallow one. Although the originals were both found in Egypt, their outlines are typical of those found all over the eastern region. They demonstrate that flat-based lyres may be classified according to the depth of their soundboxes, since this distinction also affects several other significant details of construction. The fact that both are asymmetrical undermines an older classification scheme devised before three-dimensional structures had been studied. Lyres with thick soundboxes had more strings, a large ‘box-bridge’ (which also acts as the string-holder), and animal decorations on the arms or yoke. They were similar to bull lyres in size but lacked bull heads. The soundhole was cut in the belly behind the box-bridge. The clearest evidence for these comes from Egypt (2000–100 BCE) and Anatolia (c1600 BCE). Some large Mesopotamian lyres of 1900–1500 BCE (Lawergren, 1997, fig.21) may also constitute a transitional form of this type. Both thick lyres and bull lyres were plucked by hand without a plectrum; both had wedges at the bottom of the right arm, but the Mesopotamian ones lacked box-bridges.

On thin lyres the base of the resonator was left open, thus acting as a sound hole (further differences are shown in Lawergren, 1993, Table 1). They are first known to have existed in Syria in about 2500 BCE, but were shortly thereafter known throughout the Fertile Crescent. Their form remained remarkably unchanged over several millennia. The instrument was supported by means of a sling around the player's left wrist and the base of the lyre's right arm. It was played with a plectrum that was probably struck across the strings, as it was on later Greek lyres. The arms often bulged outwards asymmetrically. On Egyptian lyres they may resemble a figure 7 and a reversed figure 5; this detail was still present on a late lyre (Samaria, c375–c323 BCE) where it was probably an archaizing element. Besides lyres with curved arms, simpler types were also known. These had straight arms and a perpendicular yoke which formed a rectangular outline, symmetrical in shape or nearly so. Such lyres originated in about 700 BCE in northern Syria or Phoenicia. In certain areas the term kinnarum was applied to thin lyres from about 2320 BCE. The biblical kinnor was only a late form (1st millennium BCE onwards (see Biblical instruments, §3(iv); see also, Lawergren, 1998, pp.58–9).

Giant lyres, larger than standing players and usually played by two people, flourished in Egypt during the reign of Akhenaten (c1350 BCE). They were also depicted in the hands of Caananites, but no giant lyres are known from the Levant (see Jewish music, §II, 2, esp. [not available online]). However, there are magnificent examples in Anatolia (c1600 BCE) and Mesopotamia (Uruk, c2500 BCE). A giant lyre depicted in Susa (c2500 BCE) probably only had one player, as had large Hellenistic lyres in Egypt.

(ii) Round-based (Western) lyres.

Like the thin flat-based lyre, the round-based lyre arose in northern Syria and southern Anatolia. However, it virtually died out there (c1750 BCE) but reappeared later in the West, where it was the only type of lyre between 1400 and 700 BCE. After 700 BCE lyres with flatter bases began to appear in the Western corpus but the majority of lyres painted on vases from 800 to 600 BCE were round-based until the Hellenistic period (from about 330 BCE), when few traces of the former segregation remained. Presumably the expansion of the Assyrian and Hellenistic empires and increased trading contributed to the mixing of styles. Western lyres often had ornamental curved parts at the arms. In the earliest instances these may have represented animal parts but, when the feature re-emerged on concert kitharas, they probably had a more functional role, acting as springs and hinges that enabled the pitches of the strings to be changed quickly while the instrument was being played.

Several distinct types of Western lyre are known to have existed. Homer used the terms phorminx and kitharis; some modern scholars have therefore adopted the former to designate any round-based Aegean lyre contemporary to Homer (8th century BCE) and to the age he described in the Iliad and Odyssey (12th century BCE, a time when no lyre names are known from contemporary documents; see Phorminx). This usage fails to recognize distinct subtypes such as the cylinder kithara, and the fact that the lyres from these two periods look very different.

The cylinder kithara, as its name suggests, had cylinder-like (and functionless) features at the junction of the arms and the body. It was unique in many ways. It first appeared in Ionia (c550 BCE) and spread to Athens and Etruria; in the latter region it survived until about 300 BCE. It was also known in the Hellenistic world (see Lawergren, 1993, fig.8). Its shape and construction is known from stone reliefs and vase paintings (see Etruria, [not available online]). It was the dominant form of lyre in Etruria, whereas the concert kithara was the most prestigious chordophone in Athens. The cylinder kithara was earlier called the phorminx and cradle kithara. Neither term is adequate, the former on account of its Homeric associations (cylinder kitharas did not exist in Homer's time), the latter being too general (the ‘cradle’ shape of the base is a feature common to all round-based lyres, not just one particular type).

The appearance of the impressive, flat-based, concert kithara (c625–c400 BCE; for illustration and further discussion, see Kithara) signalled the end of East/West segregation. Its complex arm structure has received little attention, but the curved parts may well have been tuning devices (Lawergren, 1996, fig.14). Its arm would probably pivot slightly sideways, thereby permitting the yoke to move up and down. In this manner the strings could be tightened or slackened and the pitches raised or lowered.

The lyra or chelys was a round-based lyre confined to the West. It was probably not conceived until the 1st millennium BCE ; it remained popular through the Roman period and was often shown on late mosaics (for further discussion of this type of lyre, see Lyra (i)).

Bo Lawergren