Identifying popular musical instruments in

the iconography and archaeology in the

Medieval and Renaissance period in Europe

Conference: The Art of the Poor in the Late Middle

Ages and Renaissance
Warburg Institute, London, 14-15th June 2018

Roger Blench
International Research Fellow, Department of History, University of Jos
Chief Research Officer, Kay Williamson Educational Foundation
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge
Visiting Professor, University of New England, Armidale
Academic Visitor, Museu Emilio Goeldi, Belem, Brazil
 Iconographic evidence for social behaviour
 Using iconography as evidence for societal practice faces
a common problem across the world, that pictorial art is
typically created by social or religious elites, and so tyends
to reflect their taste and practices.
 This is not only true in Europe. Iconography of the lives of
ordinary people is equally rare in most iconographic
practice
 A few slides show rare examples of ‘daily life’ among non-
elites in China, Cambodia, Peru and Nigeria
Han picture bricks (ca. 300 AD)
Cockfighting, Bayon, Angkor,
12th century
Nasca house model, 100 AD
Nok terracottas (ca. 2500 BP)
Iconographic evidence for musical instruments in
popular practice in the Middle Ages
 If we are distinguish popular musical practice from that of
the elites in the Middle Ages, we need to develop keys to
interpretation of imagery (instruments played by angels,
animals etc.)
 As with other categories of representation, musical
instruments played by the elite, both secular and religious,
are over-represented both in the art of the Middle Ages
and in textual discussions.
 The paper aims to establish a popular instrumentarium for
Europe, through an assessment of the available sources,
and to suggest directions for future research.
 Background
 Musical practice is
abundantly
represented in the art
of the ancient Near
East and in Greece
and Rome
 And there are
numerous finds of
actual instruments
 The image shows a
mosaic of a panpiper
in the Domus Tapetti,
Ravenna, 4th century
AD
 Background II
 However, the partial
collapse of iconography in
Western Europe after the
fall of the Roman Empire
means that we largely
depend on archaeology
 Surviving Dark Ages is so
intensely religious as to
show few popular scenes
 The picture shows a
display of lurs, long
trumpets, in the
Nationalmuseet,
Copenhagen
 Background III
 Pictorial images, both in stone-carvings on sacred buildings
and in manuscripts begin to occur anew around the 10th
century
 Although very often these are extremely sketchy images,
hard to interpret
 When instruments are reliably represented, there are
problems in disentangling their social context, and the
interference from religious convention
 For example, King David, a popular figure with musical
significance would definitely have played the lyre in
historical context
 But, although lyres persisted in European musical traditions,
he is usually shown playing the harp
 Background IV
 When court performers or angels are shown playing
instruments, it is plausible they represent elite or religious
contexts.
 Performers accompanying acrobats and other performers, or
dances are evidently more ‘popular’
 But the common convention of having animals perform on
musical instruments is harder to interpret
 Certain traditions, such as in Scandinavia, are more egalitarian
than others. So, for example, the churches painted by Albertus
Pictor (1440-1507) in Uppland show a wide range of popular
instruments.
 There are significant variations in the representation of musical
practice in different places.
 For example, the rich repertoire of capitals in the cloister at
Monreale (ca. 1200 AD) includes both scenes of daily life and
images from pre-Christian mythology, but not a single musical
instrument.
Albertus Pictor (1440-1507)
 Textual references
 Textual references to non-elite musical performance are
extremely sparse until the Renaissance. The role of music in
the quadrivium meant that high status was accorded music
theory, and all early texts, such as the Micrologus of Guido
d’Arezzo (991/992 – after 1033) hardly describe performance.
 The remarkable Yconomica of Konrad of Megenburg (ca.
1350) which is a guide to household management, not a
musicological treatise.
 Konrad distinguishes professional musicians from
ioculatores, for whom facultas lucri cupida mendica est
(ability exercised for gain is beggarly) and rather scathingly
notes that paupers must ‘sweat at their instruments’,
developing musical skills propter indigencias suas (because
they are poor).
 With the Musica getuscht und angezogen of Sebastian
Virdung (born c. 1465 - after 1511) some reference is made
non-elite practice.
 Surviving folk traditions
 Another source is surviving folk traditions; instruments such as
the shawm remain widely played in folk contexts, despite having
disappeared from the classical repertoire.
 The triple-pipe (a clarinet with two drones) was popular across
Europe from the 10th century, but had died out by the 13th, but
survives in Sardinia

Triple-pipe,
launeddas,
Sicily
Popular instruments, Praetorius, De
Organogrpahia, 1618

Only with Praetorius’

Syntagma Musicum
(De Organographia
1618) do we get an
overview of instruments
at all levels of society
(and the first
acknowledgment of the
music of other
cultures).
 Surprises I
 Archaeology can turn up
surprises, instruments
which are never referred
to or illustrated in
iconography
 One example is the
terracotta ocarina found
in house excavations in
Stockholm
 These instruments,
common in the pre-
Columbian New World
are popular folk
instruments across Terracotta ocarina,
Europe and indeed as far
as China Medeltyd Museet,
Stockholm
 Surprises II
 Such ocarinas probably
developed from ceramic
animal whistles such as
still exist in Eastern
Europe
 And which probably
originally developed from
animal lures

Kaunas music
museum, Lithuania
 Surprises III
 In the eighteenth century, the Meissen factory began to
produce elegant sets of tuned instruments
 Indeed, an arrangement of Beethoven’s Ninth exists for ocarina
orchestra – a lost classic
 The Jews' harp: Europe’s most
popular instrument?
Surviving medieval instruments are few in number (cf.
catalogue in Crane 1972),
These provide valuable information about construction and
appearance, although not social context.
Until recently, archaeology rarely contributed to our
understanding of early musical instruments.
However, an increasing density of excavation and better
identification of fragmentary instruments has meant that we
can begin to make some assertions about popular instruments
with some confidence.
By far the most common instrument found in excavations in
Europe is the Jews’ harp (Kolltveit 2006).
Yet it is rarely illustrated or discussed in texts
Indeed, the Jews’ harp section in the Beach Boys’ ‘Good
vibrations’ has rarely had the scholarly attention it deserves
Medieval Swedish Jews' harps

Medeltyd Museet, Stockholm

Jews' harp player, Herkaberga
The cog-rattle; sacred and secular?
The cog-rattle, often known in England as the ‘football-
rattle’ probably derives from mechanical bird-scarers in
Eastern Europe
It is still used for popular ceremonies in Poland, the Baltics
and even Switzerland
But somehow it made its way into religious orders in
Western Europe
And some remarkable decorated specimens are preserved
from the 14th century nunneries
Though we are not sure how they were used
Cog rattle, French, 14th c.
Folk cog rattle, Lithuania
Kaunas Museum
 Popular instruments and their first appearance I
Instrument First appearance Type of evidence

Idiophones

Cog-rattle, surviving example, 14th Found widely in folk traditions across

ratchet century Europe, especially elaborated in
Poland and related areas. Also used
in churches and synagogues
Castanets 13th century Referred to the Catigas’ manuscript.
Probably never spread outside Spain.
Triangle 14th century Mersenne (1636) notes they were played
by beggars, but medieval images
show angelic performers
Xylophone 1511 (Schlick) First shown in a Holbein engraving of
1523. Probably introduced by sailors
from West Africa
 Popular instruments and their first appearance II
Instrument First Type of evidence
appearance
Membranop
hones
Frame-drum 17th century The Irish bodhrán strongly resembles North African
frame-drums such as the Moroccan bender. However,
its use in Ireland can only be documented relatively
late, and its widespread use only dates from the
1960s.
Tambourine Known from Origin in the Near East and represented in classical
antiquity antiquity. Associated with popular ecstatic cults. Only
surviving in European folk culture along southern
edges. Unclear whether the tradition is continuous
from antiquity to medieval period.
Friction- 1559 ? cf. The Fight Between Carnival and Lent. Pieter
drum Bruegel the Elder. Found widely in folk traditions.
May be an introduction from Central Africa
 Frame drums

Tambourine, the Cat playing rectangular

Triumph of Bacchus frame-drum
 Popular instruments and their first appearance III
Instrument First Type of evidence
Chordopho
nes
Lyre 10th c. Known to the Romans, and a folk instrument around
much of Europe, surviving into modern times in
Wales and Poland.
Hammer 14th or early Found widely in folk traditions from Europe to China.
dulcimer[1] 15th c.

Gittern 13th c. First represented in an anonymous manuscript from

Avranches, Manche, France
Hurdy-gurdy 10th [?]/ 12th Abbot Odo of Cluny (d. 942) is attributed the treatise
c. Quomodo organistrum construatur. Stone-carving on
the Porta da Gloria, Santiago da Compostela
Psaltery 12-15th c Gorleston psalter c. 1310
Vielle, fidel 12th c The seal of Bertan II, Count of Forcalquier, France,
dated 1168, shows him playing a vielle
Rebec 12th century Early textual sources conflate references with the
vielle.
Fidel player, ducal palace, Venice
Organistrum, Santiago cathedral
 Popular instruments and their first appearance IV
Instrument First appearance Type of evidence
Aerophones
Transverse Known from Rudolf von Ems's Weltchronik (c. 1255-70)
flute antiquity, perhaps
disappears and re-
introduced from
Byzantium in the 12th
century
Duct-flute, 14th century At least eight duct-flutes have been recovered
recorder from fourteenth century[2] archaeological sites.
Pipe and tabor instruments are also usually
duct-flutes
Panpipe Known from Represented from the 11th century onwards.
antiquity
Ocarina ‘medieval’ At least one Neolithic example, found at
Runik in Kosovo. Modern-looking globular
ocarinas of terracotta with duct-flute
embouchures found in Sweden
Shawm 12th century Origin disputed. Perhaps known in classical
antiquity, but medieval traditions date from
the period of the Crusades
Shawm and tabor, Norwich Cathedral roof-boss
 Popular instruments and their first appearance V

Instrument First appearance Type of evidence

Aerophones
Bagpipe Known from Assuming the identification of the
antiquity utricularius played by the Emperor Nero is
indeed accurate
Idioglot Known from The characteristic European form is the
clarinet antiquity launeddas or Sardinian triplepipe and the
Basque alboka. Widely represented in
Western Europe from the 8-10th centuries, it
then appears to die out
End-blown 11th century Undercroft of Canterbury cathedral
horn,
cornetto
Cornetto and harp, undercroft, Canterbury
Cathedral
Bagpipe in
Notke’s ‘Dance
of Death’
 Ensemble practice
 Although courts kept large numbers of performers, images
of ensembles are rare until the 14th c.
 Even so, we are unsure whether groups of musicians
actually indicate plausible ensembles
 Mixtures of costumes and loud and soft instruments
suggest this is not always the case
 But some images do imply that ‘scratch’ orchestras, rather
like Irish pub sessions, were not infrequent
14th century ensemble, Germany
 Popular dance songs
 Preserved secular dance music from the Medieval period is
incredibly rare until the 14th century
 Images showing groups of dancers accompanied by single
performers, such as bagpipers or string instruments suggest
popular practice
 One of the most precious survivals from the late middle Ages
is the Llibre Vermell de Montsarrat (compiled 1399) a
collection of dance-songs for pilgrims. The particular interest
of this collection is that the compiler includes a description of
performance;
 ‘Because the pilgrims wish to sing and dance while they keep
their watch at night in the church of the Blessed Mary of
Montserrat, and also in the light of day; and in the church no
songs should be sung unless they are chaste and pious, for
that reason these songs that appear here have been written.
And these should be used modestly, and take care that no
one who keeps watch in prayer and contemplation is
disturbed.’
 Popular dance songs

The dance-song Mariam

matrem virginem in the
Llibre Vermell
Dance with gittern, 14th c.
Popular traditions cross over into religious
practice
There are intriguing cases where popular practice leaks
into the religious sphere.
In the Carmina Burana manuscript (ca. 1230) found at
Benediktbeuern, includes a Missa Potatorum and Officio
Lusorum, a remarkable popular parody of the Mass text
appears where key spiritual terms are replaced by
references to drinking and gambling.
This was part of the once yearly reversal performances,
where ordinary people mocked the solemnity of the
monasteries. Related to carnival and the Feast of Fools
Officio Lusorum, Carmina Burana
 Where next?
 Although in some ways the iconography of the Middle
Ages and Renaissance would appear to be well-explored,
the inventory of stone- and wood-carvings on religious
buildings across Europe has barely begun.
 A comprehensive list does not exist for any country of the
existence, dates, state of preservation and interpretation of
such carvings.
 Non-musicologists regularly mis-interpret iconography and
guides to medieval instruments and their interface with
European folk traditions remains nascent
 Elite forms of iconography, such as painting, typically do
not represent ordinary life, with a few exceptions.
 If we want to better understand the contexts of music in the
medieval period and its relationship with broader societal
trends, much work remains to be done.
 THANKS
To Jeremy Montagu
for discussions
and to many
church
administrations
for permission to
photograph their
interiors