What is cithara: the history of appearance

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Judging by the information from historical sources, music was of great importance in the life of the ancient Greeks. What is a cithara, the men of the aristocratic and warlike Sparta knew. Free citizens were required to learn how to play musical instruments. In policies (Greek cities) artistic and gymnastic competitions were held, which were held to the music. There were competitions of singers - soloists, choirs, instrumentalists, poets.

Heroic singing and cithara

A musical instrument, outwardly resembling a lyre, consisted of a trapezoidal wooden body, two longitudinal handles and a crossbar connecting them at the top. Seven strings of different thicknesses were stretched along the instrument and reinforced between the bottom of the box and the top crossbar.

The first professional musicians were wandering folk storytellers and singers. Accompanying themselves on ancient plucked instruments, they sang heroic events, glorifying the exploits of their compatriots.

Without songs and dances, it is impossible to imagine folk holidays and rituals dedicated to the patron gods of farmers, shepherds and artisans. Texts and music were transmitted by storytellersin oral form. The development of musical art contributed to the emergence of different genres. Among them:

• ancient epic poems;
• kommos - songs of revelers;
• gimeneos - wedding;
• peanos - laudatory-dance hymns;
• nomes - genre-melodic folk tunes.

What is cithara

Researchers learn about the musical art of the ancient Greeks from the images on amphoras and frescoes. Samples of musical notations have not been preserved. According to historians, there was a tradition among singers and musicians of the oral transmission of their poems and legends.

One of the popular instruments was the cithara. The importance for the song school can hardly be overestimated. This "relative" of the lyre was played mainly by men. Professional musicians performed, gathering a large number of listeners. The cithara had a heavy solid wood body that could withstand stronger string tension.

How to play strings

By hitting the strings with a bone or stone plectrum, the narrator produced sonorous and strong sounds, accompanying his narration with them. Usually this heavy instrument was played while standing, holding it at an angle to the body. Kifared was a musician who accompanied his singing. He was not just a performer, but a writer (composer) and a poet. Apollo himself, the patron of the arts, was considered an ideal example of such a creator. The cytharist only played melodies. It was believed that practically everyone could learn this.

What is cithara? ita plucked musical instrument with a solid wood body and seven identical strings. Because of its heavy weight, it could only be played by men. The height of the strings was changed by tightening or loosening them. The basic part of the education of ancient Greece included compulsory learning to play the lyre or cithara. Not everyone could professionally master the game on these instruments. This high art required innate talents, excellent memory, strength and dexterity of fingers. The winners of musical competitions were honored on a par with the champions of the Olympiads.

How the famous instrument appeared

What is cithara? Legend has it that Hermes first made it. His older brother Apollo liked the sound of the cithara so much that he never parted with it again.

Subsequently, similar musical instruments spread to other countries. The consonances in the names have also been preserved:

• chartar is his name in Persia;
• sitara or chatur - in India;
• kifare - in Rome;
• China - in Europe;
• zithers and hyterns - in England;
• citarra - in Italy;
• guitar - in France;
• guitar - in Spain;
• guitars - in Sweden.

Despite the greatly changed forms, the cithara can be considered the prototype of the modern guitar. And the number of strings remained the same, in accordance with the laws of harmony and harmony.