Greek stringed instrument professional#

The instruments used by ‘Melpomen’ are copies of artefacts from early 1 st millennium BC (private collection) and from 500 BC ( National Museum Athens), made by Markus Uhl. The Kýmbala are bronze cymbals made in various sizes. They produce a dry and hard sound comparable to the Spanish castanets. They have been used to accompany dances mostly together with an Aulós. The krótala are wooden clappers of different size played pair wise. The Týmpana are frame drums of various size comparable to those still being played in formerly Greek influenced regions. The Lýra we use is a meticulous replica of the only surviving instrument from the beginning of the 5 th century BC, which since its discovery has been kept in the British Museum (in London). However, in everyday Greek life, the seven-stringed Lýra was used almost exclusively in music education. Its importance is reflected today in the term ‘lyric poetry’, which actually means poetry sung to the accompaniment of a lyre – or any other stringed instrument. The Lýra is definitely the embodiment of and often also the generic term for Greek stringed instruments. The playing technique is similar to the Barbitos where the player’s right hand uses a plectrum to strike the strings whereas the fingers of the left hand stop or pluck the strings. The instrument played by ‘Melpomen’ follows attic vase paintings from about 500 BC which show the Kithara from all sides. A big hollowed resonance box with rich ornaments show that it must have been a true luxury instrument.

Greek stringed instrument professional#

The kithára, again with seven strings, is the accompanying instrument of professional singers. The materials used and the making are highly accurate. The instruments used by the ensemble Melpomen are based upon fragments preserved in the museum of Paestum/Southern Italy and upon attic vase paintings of about 500 BC. Seven long strings, widely swung side arms and a carapace as sounding box are characteristic for its construction. The Bárbitos is a string instrument on which singers accompanied themselves during festivities. The instruments employed are exact replicas of preserved instruments in the British Museum of London, the Archaeological Museum of Paestum/Southern Italy and the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. The playing techniques follow double blown instruments still being played in the area of the Mediterranean (e.g the Egyptian Arghoul) with circular breathing and finger articulation. It has always been played as a double instrument regardless of lengths, tonalities and materials. His replicas are always, as are the original ones, richly ornamented and made from precious materials. He is well reputed both as a restorer of old precious instruments and as maker of new instruments such as viola da gambas for famous musicians as e.g.

As a violin maker he has being occupied with historical string instruments since his beginnings. His work is highly esteemed and recognitioned on this field as show invitations to international symposia (Cairo 20) and congresses (ISGMA), lectures at diverse universities and the grant of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

He is mainly focused on Greek instruments of the classical period about 500 BC – auloí, bárbitos, kithára, l ra and krótala – as well as on Egyptian instruments of the New Kingdom about 1300 BC. Reichlin has been working on the field of music archaeology, together with Conrad Steinmann. Since 20 years the instrument maker Paul J.