'Lost' music instrument recreated [the Lituus]

BBC ^ | Saturday, May 30, 2009 | Pallab Ghosh

[SunkenCiv]

New software has enabled researchers to recreate a long forgotten musical instrument called the Lituus. The 2.4m (8ft) long trumpet-like instrument was played in Ancient Rome but fell out of use some 300 years ago. Bach's motet (a choral musical composition) "O Jesu Christ, meins lebens licht" was one of the last pieces of music written for the Lituus. Now, for the first time, this 18th Century composition has been played as it should have been heard... the Lituus produced a piercing trumpet-like sound interleaving with the vocals. Until now, no one had a clear idea of what this instrument looked or sounded like. But researchers at Edinburgh University developed a system that enabled them to design the Lituus from the best guesses of its shape and range of notes... It is an unwieldy instrument with a limited tonal range that is hard to play. But played well, it gives Johann Sebastian Bach's motet a haunting feel that couldn't be reproduced by modern instruments... Written by Bach in the 1730s, it is thought that this is now the only piece of music in existence that specifies the use of the Lituus -- and has almost certainly not been performed using this instrument since Bach's time.

[DakotaGator]

This would be an extremely difficult instrument to play well. With no mechanical way to change the “length” of the instrument, all chromatic note changes are accomplished strictly using the embouchure (lip and facial muscles).

As brass instrument design evolved, music changed, and social organization shifted, the discipline and technique of the embouchure have been largely lost.

[rawhide]

I wonder if there is a video online somewhere showing that guy playing his instrument and drawing Donald Duck? That would be really neat to see.

[Secret Agent Man]

Well heck yeah. I mean, look at the bagpipes. They still need tuning, and this is after 500 years of improvements. They started with a Scotsman squeezing a bag with two peed-off cats in it, and look where they’ve progressed.

[JoeProBono]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6WyBQl2XD0

[Fred Nerks]

it’s German.

Oh Jesus Christ, The Light of My Life.

[BenLurkin]

Oooh...nice!