See also:

• DULCIMER (Fr. tympanon; Ger. Hackbrett, Cymbal; Ital. cembalo, timpanon or salterio tedesco)

DULCIMER (Fr. See also:

• TYMPANON, or TYMPANUM

tympanon; Ger. Hackbrett, Cymbal; Ital. cembalo, timpanon or salterio tedesco)  , the prototype of the See also:

• PIANOFORTE (Ital. piano, soft, and forte, loud)

pianoforte, an See also:

• INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

instrument consisting of a See also:

• HORIZONTAL

horizontal See also:

• SOUND
• SOUND, THE (Danish Oresund)

sound-See also:

• CHEST (Gr. Kiarl, Lat. cista, O. Eng. cist, test, &c.)

chest over which are stretched a varying number of See also:

• WIRE (A.S. wir, a wire; cf. Swed. vire, to twist, M.H.G. wiere, a gold ornament, Lat. viriae, armlets, ultimately from the root wi, to twist, bind)

wire strings set in vibration by strokes of little sticks or hammers . The See also:

• DULCIMER (Fr. tympanon; Ger. Hackbrett, Cymbal; Ital. cembalo, timpanon or salterio tedesco)

dulcimer differed from the psalterium or See also:

• PSALTERY, PSALTERION

psaltery chiefly in the manner of playing, the latter having the strings plucked by means of fingers or plectrum . The shape of the dulcimer is a See also:

• TRAPEZE, or TRAPESE

trapeze or truncated triangle, having the See also:

• BASS
• BASS (the same word as " base," and so pronounced, but influenced in spelling by the Ital. basso)

bass strings stretched parallel with the See also:

• BASE

base, which See also:

• MEASURES

measures from 3 to 4 ft.; the strings de-crease gradually in length, the shortest measuring from about 18 to 24 in. at the truncated See also:

• APEX

apex . The sound-See also:

• BOARD (O. Eng. bord)

board has one or two See also:

• ROSE
• ROSE (Rosa)
• ROSE, GEORGE (1744-1818)
• ROSE, HUGH JAMES (1795—1838)
• ROSE, WILLIAM STEWART (1775-1843)

rose sound-holes; the strings are attached on one See also:

• SIDE
• SIDE (mod. Eski Adalia)

side to hitch pins and at the other to the larger tuning pins firmly fixed in the wrest See also:

• PLANK

plank . The strings of See also:

• FINE

fine See also:

• BRASS
• BRASS (O. Eng. braes)

brass or See also:

• IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron wire are in See also:

• GROUPS
• GROUPS, THEORY

groups of two to five unisons to each See also:

• NOTE
• NOTE (Lat. nota, mark, sign, from noscere, to know)

note; the vibrating lengths of the strings are determined by means of two See also:

• BRIDGES
• BRIDGES, ROBERT (1844– )

bridges . The dulcimer is placed upon a table in front of the performer, who strikes the strings with a little See also:

• HAMMER, FRIEDRICH JULIUS (1810-1862)

hammer mounted on a See also:

• METAL
• METAL (through Fr. from Lat. metallum, mine, quarry, adapted from Gr. µATaXAov, in the same sense, probably connected with ,ueraAAdv, to search after, explore, µeTa, after, aAAos, other)

metal See also:

• ROD (O.E. rodd, probably related to Norw. rudda, stick, rodda, stake)
• ROD, EDOUARD (1857-1910)

rod and covered on one side with hard and on the other with soft See also:

• LEATHER (a word which appears in all Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Leder, Dutch leer or leder, Swed. leder, and in such Celtic forms as Welsh llader)
• LEATHER, ARTIFICIAL

leather for forte and piano effects . The See also:

• COMPASS (Fr. corn pas, ultimately from Lat. cum, with, and passus, step)

compass, now See also:

• CHROMATIC (Gr. xpcoµaruc6s, coloured, from xpwµa, colour)

chromatic throughout, varies according to the See also:

• SIZE

size of the instrument; the large cymbalom of the Hungarian See also:

• GIPSIES, or GYPSIES

gipsies has a range of four chromatic octaves, _ to The origin of the dulcimer is remote, and must be sought in the See also:

• EAST
• EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

East . In the bas-reliefs from Kuyunjik, now in the See also:

• BRITISH

British Museum, are to be seen musicians playing on dulcimers of ten strings with See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long sticks curved at the ends, and damping the strings with their hands . This is the pisantir of the days of See also:

• NEBUCHADREZZAR, or NEBUCHADNEZZAR

Nebuchadrezzar, translated " psaltery " in See also:

• DAN

Dan. iii . 5, &c., and rendered " psalterion " in the See also:

• SEPTUAGINT, THE (Gr. of 0', Lat. LXX.)

Septuagint, a confusion whichhas given rise to many misconceptions) . In the Septuagint no less than four different See also:

• INSTRUMENTS

instruments are rendered psalterion (from Gr . >'iAAw, See also:

• PLUCK

pluck, pull), i.e. ugab, nebel, pisantir and toph, two stringed, one See also:

• WIND
• WIND (a common Teut. word, cognate with Skt. vats, Lat. ventus, cf. " weather," to be of course distinguished from to " wind," to coil or twist, O.Eng. windan, cf. "wander," "wend," &c.)

wind and one percussion .

The use of the word in See also:

• GREEK
• GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

Greek for a musical instrument is not recorded before the 4th See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century B.C . The See also:

• MODERN

modern santir of the Persians, almost identical with the See also:

• GERMAN
• GERMAN, DUTCH AND SCANDINAVIAN

German hackbrett, has a compass from ®—to= according to See also:

• FETIS, FRANCOIS JOSEPH (1784–1871)

Fetis 2 The Persians See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place its origin in the highest antiquity . Carl See also:

• ENGEL, ERNST (1821-1896)
• ENGEL, JOHANN JAKOB (1741-1802)

Engel 3 gives an See also:

• ILLUSTRATION

illustration said to be taken from a very old See also:

• PAINTING

painting' The dulcimer was extensively used during the See also:

• MIDDLE

middle ages in See also:

• ENGLAND
• ENGLAND, THE CHURCH OF

England, See also:

• FRANCE
• FRANCE, ANATOLE (1844– )

France, See also:

• ITALY
• ITALY (Italia)

Italy, See also:

• GERMANY
• GERMANY (Ger. Deutschland)

Germany, See also:

• HOLLAND
• HOLLAND, CHARLES (1733–1769)
• HOLLAND, COUNTY AND PROVINCE OF
• HOLLAND, HENRY FOX, 1ST BARON (1705–1774)
• HOLLAND, HENRY RICH, 1ST EARL OF (1S9o-,649)
• HOLLAND, HENRY RICHARD VASSALL FOX, 3RD
• HOLLAND, JOSIAH GILBERT (1819-1881)
• HOLLAND, PHILEMON (1552-1637)
• HOLLAND, RICHARD, or RICHARD DE HOLANDE (fl. 1450)
• HOLLAND, SIR HENRY, BART

Holland and See also:

• SPAIN
• SPAIN (Espana)

Spain, and although it had a distinctive name in each See also:

• COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country, it was everywhere regarded as a See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of psalterium . The importance of the method of setting the strings in vibration by means of hammers, and its bearing on the See also:

• ACOUSTICS (from the Gr. &eobav to hear)

acoustics of the instrument, were recognized only when the invention of the pianoforte had become a See also:

• MATTER

matter of See also:

• HISTORY

history . It was then perceived that the psalterium in which the strings were plucked, and the dulcimer in which they were struck, when provided with keyboards, gave rise to two distinct families of instruments, differing essentially in See also:

• TONE, THEOBALD WOLFE (1763-1798)

tone quality, in technique and in capabilities: the See also:

• EVOLUTION

evolution of the psalterium stopped at the See also:

• HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, DOUBLE VIRGINALS (Fr. clavecin; Ger. Clavicymbel, Kiel-Flugel; Ital. arpicordo, cembalo, davicembalo, gravecembalo; Dutch, davisinbal)

harpsichord, that of the dulcimer gave us the pianoforte . The dulcimer is described and illustrated by See also:

• MERSENNE, MARIN

Mersenne,5 who calls it psalterion; it has thirteen courses of pairs of unisons or octaves; the first strings were of brass wire, the others of See also:

• STEEL, FLORA ANNIE (1847– )

steel . The curved stick was allowed to fall gently on to the strings and to rebound many times, which, Mersenne remarks, produces an effect similar to the trembling or tremolo of other instruments . See also:

• PRAETORIUS, MICHAEL (1571_1621)

Praetorius 5 figures a hackbrett having a See also:

• BODY

body in the shape of a truncated triangle, with a See also:

• BRIDGE

bridge placed between two rose sound-holes, and played by means of two sticks . Another kind of hackbrett 7 (a psaltery), which was played with the fingers, was known to Praetorius . The pantaleon, a See also:

• DOUBLE
• DOUBLE (from the Mid. Eng. duble, the form which gives the present pronunciation, through the Old Er. duble, from Lat. duplus, twice as much)

double dulcimer, named after the inventor, Pantaleon Hebenstreit of See also:

• EISLEBEN (Lat. Islebia)

Eisleben, a violinist, had two sound-boards, 185 strings, one See also:

• SCALE
• SCALE (1) A

scale of overspun See also:

• CATGUT

catgut, the other of wire . Hebenstreit travelled to See also:

• PARIS
• PARIS (also called ALEXANDROS)
• PARIS, ALEXIS PAULIN (1800-x881)
• PARIS, BRUNO PAULIN GASTON (1839-1903)
• PARIS, FRANCOIS DE (169o-1727)
• PARIS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ALBERT
• PARIS, TREATIES OF (1814-1815)

Paris with his See also:

• MONSTER (Lat. monstrum, from root of monere, to warn; i.e. something terrible or portentous)
• MONSTER, GEORG, COUNT ZU (1776-1844)

monster dulcimer in 1705 and played before See also:

• LOUIS
• LOUIS (804–876)
• LOUIS (893–911)
• LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
• LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian

Louis XIV., who baptized it See also:

• PANTALOON (Ital. pantalone)

Pantaloon . Quantz8 and Quirin of See also:

• BLANKENBURG

Blankenburg e both gave descriptions of the instrument .

(K .