Listen To A Crazy Piano Invented By Leonardo Da Vinci

Popular Science ^ | 11-18-13

[Dysart]

Leonardo da Vinci, in between doing stuff like painting the best-known piece of art in the world, apparently had time to sketch up a quick blueprint for an instrument: the "viola organista," a piano-violin hybrid that he never built. It looks just like a piano, and plays like one, too, but instead of the hammers that connect to strings and play notes, cranks wrapped with horse-hair like violin bows rub the strings. The resulting sound is familiar but strange, something like a church organ that's just a little on the tipsy side.

[Dysart]

Video of a concert performance featuring Da Vinci's unique musical instrument invention, the "viola organista," at the link.

[MaxMax]

It sounds like licking plums would sound like.

[JoeProBono]

[Dysart]

They open up the hood at about the 9 minute mark to reveal the guts of this puppy. It’s a fascinating contraption to listen to and see.

[Excellence]

Odd sounding but not irritating.
The most recent episode of Sleepy Hollow shows a glass armonica being played. Now those thing should be outlawed.

http://www.glassarmonica.com/

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Dysart.

• Viola organista made by Slawomir Zubrzycki [a la Leonardo da Vinci]

[headstamp 2]

http://www.zubrzycki.art.pl/

His personal website

[Rust Buster]

There's at least one interesting story about the glass armonica. After Benjamin Franklin invented this cintraption, he gave one to his friend Mesmer - Franz Anton - who was famous for mesmerizing. Mesmer's clinic initially was in Vienna, where he became friends with Mozart, who frequently visited Mesmer at his clinic. There were no doubt many young ladies undergoing treatments involving magnetism and mesmeric technique - it was probably an interesting milieu - Mesmer became controversial and so moved his clinic to France - it may have been here that Franklin struck up a repartee with the renowned hypnotist - in any event Franklin's glass armonica was in Mesmer's clinic and Mesmer used to play it for the patients because he thought it's music was like the music of the immortal spheres or something like that and had a soothing effect on the patients - Franklin was perhaps an acquaintance of Mozart's too - Franklin apparently described Mesmer to George Washington so compellingly that on a subsequent occasion when Franklin and Washington visited France, Washington's first words upon disembarking were, ‘take me to Mesmer!’ - the point of the story being - the founding fathers in addition to being politically savvy were a pretty interesting bunch as well - something that could perhaps allow people to realize these were or at least some were entertaining American people

[RandallFlagg]

That was pretty sweet.

[FAA]

How about that.

The sound it generates is more like.......a violin. Maybe Cello. Yet, it looks like a piano. Not sharp and loud like the Pianer. More mellow and soft like a known stringed instrument.

Can’t say I like it. Just........different.

[Moonmad27]

A glass armonica was featured in the Alan Rickman film Mesmer. Its weird noise fit in that film!

[The Great RJ]

Similar to a popular Medieval instrument, the hurdy-gurdy, which also used a rotating wheel on the strings. Video

[Dysart]

Hurdy Gurdy

[Forward the Light Brigade]

The Glass Harmonica was banned in many countries—it was thought the music or just playing it would drive people insane and turn them into homocidal nuts. It was used in the famed Fantasmagoria—in Paris, 1799 that used actors, projected slides and special effects to bring ghosts demons and Satan to life. It became a money making machine— People love to be scared so it seems.

[Dysart]

Listen fast and you can hear the hurdy gurdy also appears in Lorena McKennitt's Mummer's Dance

Here

[jonrick46]

If it had a way to create vibrato, it would sound better.

[OldNewYork]

Where has this been all my life? That was beautiful. Now I want one for the parlor.

[elcid1970]

Beautiful sounding instrument! Once again, Leonardo da Vinci was both a genius and WAY ahead of his time.

Hope this catches on - even though it’s nearly six centuries since it was designed.

If da Vinci were around today, we’d have landed men on Neptune by now.

[lee martell]

That reminds me of another ear-worm, “Put The Lime In The Coconut”. That tune goes round and round in my head like a lost moth.

[Yardstick]

Cool — it’s like the ultimate analog synth.