Vielle a Roue

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The vielle a roue (which means "wheel fiddle" in French) has had many names. Pictured at the left is a Renaissance Velle a Roue.

The earliest form was known as an organistrum and was so large that one person had to turn the crank while another person played the keys. This hard key action allowed the playing of only slow tunes and so was used mainly in the medieval church. The organistrum was redesigned during the thirteenth century to allow it to be played by one person. This made it ideal for itinerant musicians. Because of improved key action, it was now ideal for dance music and was adopted for popular and folk music of the day. The French called it the symphonia until they abandoned it for more popular music in the late fifteenth century. It was about this time that the name changed to vielle a roue, or more popularly called in your time, the hurdy-gurdy. The term hurdy gurdy was not coined in England until the eighteenth century. It is known all over Europe in our time and is used mainly by traveling musicians and peasants.

The vielle a roue has three to six strings which are caused to vibrate by a resined wheel turned by a crank. One string produces the melody notes, or two tuned in unison, by pressing keys which stop the string at the proper intervals for the scale. All the other strings drone an accompaniment at a fifth or an octave, making it sound a little like a bagpipe. It is played by means of a wheel which rubs against the strings when the right hand turns the crank to which it is attached. At the same time, the left hand stops the strings by means of a special system of keys on top of the instrument.

An early model of a Vielle a Roue

Ethan on the Vielle a Roue
For the Mac (AIFF) 240K

or (SND) 240K
For the PC (WAV) 240K
For the Unix (AU) 240K

RealAudio (RA) 23K

 

Later models of the Vielle a Roue

Ethan on the Vielle a Roue playing a Baroque Tune
For the Mac (AIFF) 80K

or (SND) 80K
For the PC (WAV) 80K
For the Unix (AU) 80K

RealAudio (RA) 20K

Ethan on the Vielle a Roue that he calls a Hurdy Gurdy
For the Mac (AIFF) 80K

or (SND) 80K
For the PC (WAV) 80K
For the Unix (AU) 80K

RealAudio (RA) 20K

 

 

(Photos courtesy of Jim Hill at website Lark in the Morning - see credits)

(Sound files courtesy of Alden Hackmann at website Alden Hackmann's Hurdy-gurdy Home Page- see credits)

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You may want to visit the following outside of Virtual Renaissance:

Alden and Cali Hackmann's Hurdy-gurdy Page
http://www.hurdygurdy.com/hg/hghome.html
Information, pictures, sound bites and links to the hurdy-gurdy.

How to Build a Hurdy-Gurdy for Under $20

http://edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/hurdy.htm

From the Straits of Mackinac in northern Michican comes Dennis Havlena's instructions on how to build a hurdy-gurdy for under twenty dollars from materials that are easy to get.

Matthew Szostak's Hurdy-Gurdy Page

http://www.midcoast.com/~beechhil/vielle/

Excellent source of information on the Hurdy Gurdy (Vielle a Roue). Includes a description of the instrument complete with clickable diagram, sound samples, general information for buying a hurdy-gurdy, and links to other hurdy-gurdy and music resources.

HurdyGurdy Music

http://www.savageresearch.com/jester/hurdygurdy.html

Although this is a commercial site, it contains great sound samples from tapes and CDs of HurdyGurdy Music. Also contains basic information about the instrument.

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References:

Baines, Anthony. European & American Musical Instruments. Viking Press, New York, 1966.

Buchner, Dr. Alexander (translated by Iris Urwin). Musical Instruments Through the Ages. Batchworth Press Limited, London, England, 1961.

Haas, Karl. Inside Music: How to understand, listen to, and enjoy good music. Doubleday, New York, 1984. ISBN: 0-385-18536-7

Hill, Jim. "Lark in the Morning". http://www.larkinam.com/ (20 June 1996)

Hindley, Geoffrey (ed.). The Larousse Encyclopedia of Music. Excalibur Books, New York, 1982.

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