Symphonia

This article is about an ancient musical instrument. For other uses, see Symphonia (disambiguation).

Symphonia (Greek συμφωνία) is a much-discussed word, applied at different times to the bagpipe, the drum, the hurdy-gurdy, and finally a kind of clavichord. The sixth of the musical instruments enumerated in Book of Daniel, Daniel 3 (verses 5, 10 and 15), is erroneously translated "dulcimer"; in all probability it refers to the bagpipe.^[1]

The symphonia, signifying drum, is mentioned in Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae under the entries for tympanum and sambuca.^[1] The reference comparing the tympanum (kettledrum) to half a pearl is borrowed from Pliny.^[2]

"Symphonia" or chifonie was applied during the 13th and 14th centuries, in the Latin countries more especially, to the hurdy-gurdy. "Symphonia" is applied by Praetorius to an instrument which he classed with the clavichord,^[3] spinet, regal and virginals, but without giving any clue to its distinctive characteristics.^[1]

References

Citations

1 2 3 Schlesinger 1911, p. 289.
↑ Schlesinger 1911, p. 289 cites Pliny Nat. hist. IX. 35, 23.
↑ Schlesinger 1911, p. 289 cites Praetorius 1618, pp. 72, 73, 179

Sources

Praetorius, Michael (1618). Syntagma Musicum: De organographia (in Latin). 2. Wolfenbüttel. pp. 72, 73, 179.
Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). "Symphonia". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 289.

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