On the History of Russian "Recumbent Harp"

Main Article Content

Mikhail G. Kondratyev

Abstract

The article examines the history of the psalter-shaped chordophone, a kind of harp – “recumbent harpˮ which, according to the generally accepted view, came to Europe during the Crusades’ era from the Middle East countries. In the XIII–XIV centuries, it was developed in the practice of Russian buffoons, who brought to the Volga region an instrument expelled from the borders of Muscovite Russia in the XVII century. Therefore, in the XIX and XX centuries, researchers illustrated excursions into the history of the psalter-shaped gusli with photographs of the actually existing Chuvash instrument. According to R.B. Galaiskaya, among the Volga region peoples the multi-stringed chordophone existed earlier and in a sufficiently perfect form to be interested to Orthodox missionaries of the XIII–XVI centuries. It is consistent with the ideas about the level of developing the Kama-Volga Bulgaria culture and with information from the F.P. Pavlov and M.N. Nigmedzyanov’s works. The history of the “recumbent harpˮ, preserved in the life of Chuvash and other peoples of the Volga region can be traced back to Ancient China, which had citro-shaped instruments as early as the IV century BC, through the Turkic-Speaking Bulgarian ancestors as a result of a number of migrations settled in modern areas. Thus, an alternative version of the psalter-shaped harp origin in the cultural history of Russia, outlined in the works of the past century researchers, acquires the features of a historical concept that requires further development.


Keywords: psalter-shaped chordophone, recumbent harp, buffoons, Chuvash gusli, alternative version, Ancient China, Kama-Volga Bulgaria, peoples of the Volga region.

Article Details

How to Cite
Kondratyev М. Г. (2023). On the History of Russian "Recumbent Harp". Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 52(3), 86–94. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1467
Section
From the History of Domestic Musical Culture
Author Biography

Mikhail G. Kondratyev, Chuvash State Institute of Humanities, Cheboksary, Russia

Dr.Sci. (Arts), Chief Research Worker at the Art Department