Performer with various musical instruments.

Spring

So, there are a huge number of paintings that depict musical instruments. Artists turned to similar subjects in different historical eras: from ancient times to the present.

Bruegel the Elder, Jan. Rumor (fragment). 1618

The frequent use of images of musical instruments in works of art is due to the close connection between music and painting.

Musical instruments in artists’ paintings not only give an idea of the cultural life of the era and the development of musical instruments of that time, but also have a certain symbolic meaning.

Melozzo. yes Forli. 1484

It has long been believed that love and music are inextricably linked. And musical instruments have been associated with feelings of love for centuries.

Medieval astrology considered all musicians to be “children of Venus,” the goddess of love. In many lyrical scenes by artists of different eras, musical instruments play an important role.

Jan Mens Molenaar. The lady behind the spinet. 17th century

For a long time, music has been associated with love, as evidenced by the 17th century Dutch proverb: “Learn to play the lute and spinet, for the strings have the power to steal hearts.”

Andrea Solario. Woman with a lute

In some of Vermeer's paintings, music is the main theme. The appearance of musical instruments in the plots of these paintings is interpreted as a subtle hint at the sophisticated and romantic relationships of the characters.

"The Music Lesson" (Royal Collection, St. James's Palace).

The virginel, a type of harpsichord, was very popular as a musical instrument for home playing. Based on the accuracy of the image, experts were able to determine that it was made in the Rückers workshop in Antwerp, famous throughout the world. The Latin inscription on the lid of the virginel reads: “Music is a companion of joy and a healer in sorrows.”

People playing music often became characters in paintings by the French painter, founder of the Rococo style, Jean Antoine Watteau.

This range of images was extremely popular in the creative circles of France. This is evidenced by the fact that some of Watteau's paintings have the same titles as harpsichord pieces by the composer François Couperin, a French composer who was a contemporary of the artist. Sensitive connoisseurs appreciated not only Watteau’s picturesqueness, but also his musicality. “Watteau belongs to the sphere of F. Couperin and C.F.E. Bach,” said the great philosopher of art Oswald Spengler (Appendix II).

Also, musical instruments can be associated with mythological characters.

Many musical instruments symbolize the muses and are their indispensable attributes. So, for Clio, the muses of history are a trumpet; for Euterpe (music, lyric poetry) - a flute or some other musical instrument; for Talia (comedy, pastoral poetry) - a small viola; for Melpomene (tragedy) - a bugle; for Terpsichore (dance and song) - viol, lyre or other stringed instrument;

for Erato (lyric poetry) - tambourine, lyre, less often triangle or viol; for Calliope (epic poetry) - trumpet; for Polyhymnia (heroic hymns) - a portable organ, less often - a lute or other instrument.

All muses, except Urania, have musical instruments among their symbols or attributes. Why? This is explained by the fact that in ancient times, poems of various genres were sung and included, to one degree or another, a musical element. Therefore, the muses who patronized different poetic genres each had their own instrument.

Dirk Hals. Musicians. XVI century

The symbolic meaning of the instruments is associated precisely with these characters. For example, the harp in medieval and Renaissance European culture was strongly associated with the legendary author of the psalms, the biblical King David. The great king, politician, warrior was also the greatest poet and musician; through the symbolism of the ten strings of David’s harp, St. Augustine explained the meaning of the ten biblical commandments. In paintings, David was often depicted as a shepherd playing this instrument.

Jan de Bray. David playing the harp. 1670

This interpretation of the biblical story brought King David closer to Orpheus, who pacified animals by playing the lyre.

The golden harp was an attribute of the Celtic god Dagda. The Celts said that the harp was capable of producing three sacred melodies. The first melody is a melody of sadness and tenderness. The second is sleep-inducing: when you listen to it, the soul is filled with a state of peace and falls into sleep. The third melody of the harp is a melody of joy and the return of spring.

In the sacred groves, to the sound of the harp, the Druids, the priests of the Celts, addressed the gods, sang their glorious deeds, and performed rituals. During battles, bards with small harps topped with green wreaths climbed the hills and sang war songs, instilling courage in the warriors.

Among all the countries in the world, only the coat of arms of Ireland depicts a musical instrument. This is a golden harp with silver strings. For a long time the harp was the heraldic symbol of Ireland. Since 1945 it has also been the coat of arms

I. Bosch. "The Garden of Earthly Joys" -

there is an image of a man crucified on the strings of this instrument. This probably reflects ideas about the symbolism of string tension, which simultaneously expresses love and tension, suffering, shock experienced by a person during his earthly life

With the spread of Christianity and its sacred books, artists often depict angels with musical instruments. Angels playing musical instruments appear in 12th-century English manuscripts. In the future, the number of such images is constantly increasing.

The multitude of musical instruments in the hands of angels gives an idea of their shape and design, the peculiarities of their combinations, and also allows us to learn about the musical ensembles that existed in those days.

During the Renaissance, the “finest hour” for angels begins. Masters of painting are increasingly inspired by these perfect and harmonious creatures.

Scenes glorifying God are transformed in the works of Renaissance artists into real angelic concerts, from which one can study the musical culture of that time.

Organ, lute, violin, flute, harp, cymbals, trombone, viola da gamba... This is not a complete list of instruments played by angels.

Piero della Francesca. Christmas. London. National Gallery. 1475

Images of musical instruments can be divided into several groups:

1) musical instruments are used in lyrical plots;

2) the image of musical instruments has a connection with mythology, for example, ancient, where they symbolize the muses and are their indispensable attributes:

3) in stories related to Christianity, musical instruments most often personify the most sublime ideas and images and accompany the culminating moments of biblical history;

4) images of instruments also give an idea of instrumental ensembles and music-making techniques,

existing during the historical period of creation of the painting;

5) often the image of certain instruments carries philosophical ideas, as, for example, in still lifes on the theme of Vanitas;

The fascinating and, at times, mysterious side of art. After all, many ancient instruments, musical ensembles, and playing techniques can now be seen only in paintings.

Hendrik van Balen. Apollo and the Muses

Judith Leyster. Young flutist. 1635

Lady with a harp. 1818

John Melush Stradwick Vespers. 1897

E. Degas. Bassoon (fragment)

Abraham Blomar. Piper

Pierre Auguste Renoir. Girl at the piano. 1875

J. Boros. World of music. 2004

Materials used in the article
Brekhova N. “Musical instruments in painting”

Musical instruments are designed to produce various sounds. If the musician plays well, then these sounds can be called music, but if not, then cacaphony. There are so many tools that learning them is like an exciting game worse than Nancy Drew! In modern musical practice, instruments are divided into various classes and families according to the source of sound, material of manufacture, method of sound production and other characteristics.

Wind musical instruments (aerophones): a group of musical instruments whose sound source is vibrations of the air column in the bore (tube). They are classified according to many criteria (material, design, methods of sound production, etc.). In a symphony orchestra, a group of wind musical instruments is divided into wooden (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon) and brass (trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba).

1. Flute is a woodwind musical instrument. The modern type of transverse flute (with valves) was invented by the German master T. Boehm in 1832 and has varieties: small (or piccolo flute), alto and bass flute.

2. Oboe is a woodwind reed musical instrument. Known since the 17th century. Varieties: small oboe, oboe d'amour, English horn, heckelphone.

3. Clarinet is a woodwind reed musical instrument. Constructed in the early 18th century In modern practice, soprano clarinets, piccolo clarinet (Italian piccolo), alto (so-called basset horn), and bass clarinets are used.

4. Bassoon - a woodwind musical instrument (mainly orchestral). Arose in the 1st half. 16th century The bass variety is the contrabassoon.

5. Trumpet - a wind-copper mouthpiece musical instrument, known since ancient times. The modern type of valve pipe developed to the gray. 19th century

6. Horn - a wind musical instrument. Appeared at the end of the 17th century as a result of the improvement of the hunting horn. The modern type of horn with valves was created in the first quarter of the 19th century.

7. Trombone - a brass musical instrument (mainly orchestral), in which the pitch of the sound is regulated by a special device - a slide (the so-called sliding trombone or zugtrombone). There are also valve trombones.

8. Tuba is the lowest sounding brass musical instrument. Designed in 1835 in Germany.

Metallophones are a type of musical instrument, the main element of which is plate-keys that are struck with a hammer.

1. Self-sounding musical instruments (bells, gongs, vibraphones, etc.), the source of sound of which is their elastic metal body. Sound is produced using hammers, sticks, and special percussionists (tongues).

2. Instruments such as the xylophone, in contrast to which the metallophone plates are made of metal.

Stringed musical instruments (chordophones): according to the method of sound production, they are divided into bowed (for example, violin, cello, gidzhak, kemancha), plucked (harp, gusli, guitar, balalaika), percussion (dulcimer), percussion-keyboard (piano), plucked -keyboards (harpsichord).

1. Violin is a 4-string bowed musical instrument. The highest register in the violin family, which formed the basis of the classical symphony orchestra and string quartet.

2. Cello is a musical instrument of the violin family of the bass-tenor register. Appeared in the 15th-16th centuries. Classic examples were created by Italian masters in the 17th and 18th centuries: A. and N. Amati, G. Guarneri, A. Stradivari.

3. Gidzhak - stringed musical instrument (Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Uyghur).

4. Kemancha (kamancha) - a 3-4-string bowed musical instrument. Distributed in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Dagestan, as well as the countries of the Middle East.

5. Harp (from German Harfe) is a multi-string plucked musical instrument. Early images - in the third millennium BC. In its simplest form it is found in almost all nations. The modern pedal harp was invented in 1801 by S. Erard in France.

6. Gusli is a Russian plucked string musical instrument. Wing-shaped psalteries (“ringed”) have 4-14 or more strings, helmet-shaped ones - 11-36, rectangular (table-shaped) - 55-66 strings.

7. Guitar (Spanish guitarra, from Greek cithara) is a lute-type plucked string instrument. It has been known in Spain since the 13th century; in the 17th and 18th centuries it spread to Europe and America, including as a folk instrument. Since the 18th century, the 6-string guitar has become commonly used; the 7-string guitar has become widespread mainly in Russia. Varieties include the so-called ukulele; Modern pop music uses an electric guitar.

8. Balalaika is a Russian folk 3-string plucked musical instrument. Known since the beginning. 18th century Improved in the 1880s. (under the leadership of V.V. Andreev) V.V. Ivanov and F.S. Paserbsky, who designed the balalaika family, and later - S.I. Nalimov.

9. Cymbals (Polish: cymbaly) - a multi-stringed percussion musical instrument of ancient origin. They are members of folk orchestras of Hungary, Poland, Romania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, etc.

10. Piano (Italian fortepiano, from forte - loud and piano - quiet) - the general name for keyboard musical instruments with hammer mechanics (grand piano, upright piano). The piano was invented in the beginning. 18th century The emergence of a modern type of piano - with the so-called. double rehearsal - dates back to the 1820s. The heyday of piano performance - 19-20 centuries.

11. Harpsichord (French clavecin) - a stringed keyboard-plucked musical instrument, the predecessor of the piano. Known since the 16th century. There were harpsichords of various shapes, types and varieties, including the cymbal, virginel, spinet, and clavicytherium.

Keyboard musical instruments: a group of musical instruments united by a common feature - the presence of keyboard mechanics and a keyboard. They are divided into different classes and types. Keyboard musical instruments can be combined with other categories.

1. Strings (percussion-keyboards and plucked-keyboards): piano, celesta, harpsichord and its varieties.

2. Brass (keyboard-wind and reed): organ and its varieties, harmonium, button accordion, accordion, melodica.

3. Electromechanical: electric piano, clavinet

4. Electronic: electronic piano

piano (Italian fortepiano, from forte - loud and piano - quiet) is the general name for keyboard musical instruments with hammer mechanics (grand piano, upright piano). It was invented at the beginning of the 18th century. The emergence of a modern type of piano - with the so-called. double rehearsal - dates back to the 1820s. The heyday of piano performance - 19-20 centuries.

Percussion musical instruments: a group of instruments united by the method of sound production - impact. The source of sound is a solid body, a membrane, a string. There are instruments with a definite (timpani, bells, xylophones) and indefinite (drums, tambourines, castanets) pitch.

1. Timpani (timpani) (from the Greek polytaurea) is a cauldron-shaped percussion musical instrument with a membrane, often paired (nagara, etc.). Distributed since ancient times.

2. Bells - an orchestral percussion self-sounding musical instrument: a set of metal records.

3. Xylophone (from xylo... and Greek phone - sound, voice) - a percussion, self-sounding musical instrument. Consists of a series of wooden blocks of varying lengths.

4. Drum - a percussion membrane musical instrument. Varieties are found among many peoples.

5. Tambourine - a percussion membrane musical instrument, sometimes with metal pendants.

6. Castanets (Spanish: castanetas) - percussion musical instrument; wooden (or plastic) plates in the shape of shells, fastened on the fingers.

Electromusical instruments: musical instruments in which sound is created by generating, amplifying and converting electrical signals (using electronic equipment). They have a unique timbre and can imitate various instruments. Electric musical instruments include the theremin, emiriton, electric guitar, electric organs, etc.

1. Theremin is the first domestic electromusical instrument. Designed by L. S. Theremin. The pitch of the sound in a theremin varies depending on the distance of the performer's right hand to one of the antennas, the volume - from the distance of the left hand to the other antenna.

2. Emiriton is an electric musical instrument equipped with a piano-type keyboard. Designed in the USSR by inventors A. A. Ivanov, A. V. Rimsky-Korsakov, V. A. Kreitzer and V. P. Dzerzhkovich (1st model in 1935).

3. Electric guitar - a guitar, usually made of wood, with electric pickups that convert vibrations of metal strings into vibrations of electric current. The first magnetic pickup was made by Gibson engineer Lloyd Loehr in 1924. The most common are six-string electric guitars.

There are a huge number of paintings that depict musical instruments. Artists turned to similar subjects in different historical eras: from ancient times to the present.

Bruegel the Elder, Jan
RUMOR (fragment). 1618

Bruegel the Elder, Jan. Rumor (fragment). 1618
musical instruments in artists' paintings Not only give an idea of the cultural life of the era and the development of musical instruments of that time, but also have a certain symbolic meaning.

Melozzo

yes Forli
Angel
1484

It has long been believed that love and music are inextricably linked. And musical instruments have been associated with feelings of love for centuries.

Jan Mens Molenaar
Lady behind the spinet
17th century
Jan Mens Molenaar. The lady behind the spinet. 17th century

Andrea Solario
Woman with a lute

"The Music Lesson" (Royal Collection, St. James's Palace).

The main genre of Watteau’s work is “gallant festivities”: aristocratic society,
located in the lap of nature, busy talking, dancing, playing music and flirting

Also, musical instruments can be associated with mythological characters.

Dirk Hals
Musicians
XVI century

Jan de Bray. David playing the harp. 1670

This interpretation of the biblical story brought King David closer to Orpheus, who pacified animals by playing the lyre.

(C) The golden harp was an attribute of the Celtic god Dagda. The Celts said that the harp was capable of producing three sacred melodies. The first melody is a melody of sadness and tenderness. The second is sleep-inducing: when you listen to it, the soul is filled with a state of peace and falls into sleep. The third melody of the harp is a melody of joy and the return of spring

In the sacred groves, to the sound of the harp, the Druids, the priests of the Celts, addressed the gods, sang their glorious deeds, and performed rituals. During battles, bards with small harps crowned with green wreaths climbed the hills and sang war songs, instilling courage in the warriors.

W. Bosch - "The Garden of Earthly Joys" -
there is an image of a man crucified on the strings of this instrument. This probably reflects ideas about the symbolism of string tension, which simultaneously expresses love and tension, suffering, shock experienced by a person during his earthly life

During the Renaissance, the “finest hour” for angels begins. Masters of painting are increasingly inspired by these perfect and harmonious creatures.

Scenes glorifying God are transformed in the works of Renaissance artists into real angelic concerts, from which one can study the musical culture of that time. Organ, lute, violin, flute, harp, dulcimer, trombone,viola da gamba...This is not a complete list of instruments played by angels.

Piero della Francesca.
Christmas. London. National Gallery. 1475

images of musical instruments can be divided into several groups:

1) musical instruments are used in lyrical plots;

2) the image of musical instruments has a connection with mythology, for example, ancient, where they symbolize the muses and are their indispensable attributes:

3) in stories related to Christianity, musical instruments most often personify the most sublime ideas and images and accompany the culminating moments of biblical history;

4) images of instruments also give an idea of instrumental ensembles and music-making techniques,

existing during the historical period of creation of the painting;

5) often the image of certain instruments carries philosophical ideas, as, for example, in still lifes on the theme of Vanitas;

6) the symbolism of the instruments can change depending on the artist’s intention and the general content of the picture (context), as, for example, in Bosch’s painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights”.
fascinating and I and, at times, the mysterious side of art.
After all, many ancient instruments, musical ensembles, and playing techniques can now be seen only in paintings.

Hendrik van Balen
Apollo and the Muses

Judith Leyster
Young flutist
1635

Lady with a harp
1818

John Melush Stradwick Vespers
1897

Jean van Biglert
Concert

E. Degas
Bassoon (fragment)

Music surrounds us since childhood. And then we have the first musical instruments. Do you remember your first drum or tambourine? And what about the shiny metallophone, the records of which had to be struck with a wooden stick? What about pipes with holes in the side? With some skill it was even possible to play simple melodies on them.

Toy instruments are the first step into the world of real music. Now you can buy a variety of musical toys: from simple drums and harmonicas to almost real pianos and synthesizers. Do you think these are just toys? Not at all: in the preparatory classes of music schools, entire noise orchestras are made from such toys, in which kids selflessly blow pipes, knock on drums and tambourines, spur the rhythm with maracas and play their first songs on the xylophone... And this is their first real step into the world music.

Types of musical instruments

The world of music has its own order and classification. Tools are divided into large groups: strings, keyboards, percussion, winds, and also reed. Which of them appeared earlier and which later is now difficult to say for sure. But already ancient people who shot from a bow noticed that a drawn bowstring sounds, reed tubes, when blown into them, make whistling sounds, and it is convenient to beat the rhythm on any surface with all available means. These objects became the ancestors of string, wind and percussion instruments, already known in Ancient Greece. Reed ones appeared just as long ago, but keyboards were invented a little later. Let's look at these main groups.

Brass

In wind instruments, sound is produced by vibrations of a column of air enclosed inside a tube. The greater the volume of air, the lower the sound it produces.

Wind instruments are divided into two large groups: wooden And copper. Wooden - flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, alpine horn... - are a straight tube with side holes. By closing or opening the holes with their fingers, the musician can shorten the column of air and change the pitch of the sound. Modern instruments are often made from materials other than wood, but are traditionally called wooden.

Copper wind instruments set the tone for any orchestra, from brass to symphony. Trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba, helicon, a whole family of saxhorns (baritone, tenor, alto) are typical representatives of this loudest group of instruments. Later, the saxophone appeared - the king of jazz.

The pitch of the sound in brass instruments changes due to the force of the air blown and the position of the lips. Without additional valves, such a pipe can produce only a limited number of sounds - a natural scale. To expand the range of sound and the ability to reach all sounds, a system of valves was invented - valves that change the height of the air column (like side holes on wooden ones). Copper pipes that are too long, unlike wooden ones, can be rolled into a more compact shape. Horn, tuba, helicon are examples of rolled pipes.

Strings

The bow string can be considered a prototype of string instruments - one of the most important groups of any orchestra. The sound here is produced by a vibrating string. To amplify the sound, strings began to be pulled over a hollow body - this is how the lute and mandolin, cymbals, harp were born... and the guitar that we know well.

The string group is divided into two main subgroups: bowed And plucked tools. Bowed violins include all types of violins: violins, violas, cellos and huge double basses. The sound from them is extracted with a bow, which is drawn along the stretched strings. But for plucked bows, a bow is not needed: the musician plucks the string with his fingers, causing it to vibrate. Guitar, balalaika, lute are plucked instruments. Just like the beautiful harp, which makes such gentle cooing sounds. But is the double bass a bowed or plucked instrument? Formally, it belongs to the bowed instrument, but often, especially in jazz, it is played with plucked strings.

Keyboards

If the fingers striking the strings are replaced with hammers, and the hammers are set in motion using keys, the result will be keyboards tools. The first keyboards - clavichords and harpsichords- appeared in the Middle Ages. They sounded quite quietly, but very tender and romantic. And at the beginning of the 18th century they invented piano- an instrument that could be played both loudly (forte) and quietly (piano). The long name is usually shortened to the more familiar "piano". The older brother of the piano - what's that brother - the king! - that’s what it’s called: piano. This is no longer an instrument for small apartments, but for concert halls.

The keyboard includes the largest one - and one of the most ancient! - musical instruments: organ. This is no longer a percussion keyboard, like a piano and grand piano, but keyboard and wind instrument: not the musician's lungs, but a blowing machine that creates air flow into a system of tubes. This huge system is controlled by a complex control panel, which has everything: from a manual (that is, manual) keyboard to pedals and register switches. And how could it be otherwise: organs consist of tens of thousands of individual tubes of various sizes! But their range is enormous: each tube can sound only one note, but when there are thousands of them...

Drums

The oldest musical instruments were drums. It was the tapping of rhythm that was the first prehistoric music. The sound can be produced by a stretched membrane (drum, tambourine, oriental darbuka...) or the body of the instrument itself: triangles, cymbals, gongs, castanets and other knockers and rattles. A special group consists of percussion instruments that produce a sound of a certain pitch: timpani, bells, xylophones. You can already play a melody on them. Percussion ensembles consisting only of percussion instruments stage entire concerts!

Reed

Is there any other way to extract sound? Can. If one end of a plate made of wood or metal is fixed, and the other is left free and forced to vibrate, then we get the simplest reed - the basis of reed instruments. If there is only one tongue, we get Jew's harp. Reeds include harmonicas, button accordions, accordions and their miniature model - harmonica.

harmonica

You can see keys on the button accordion and accordion, so they are considered both keyboard and reed. Some wind instruments are also reeded: for example, in the already familiar clarinet and bassoon, the reed is hidden inside the pipe. Therefore, the division of tools into these types is arbitrary: there are many tools mixed type.

In the 20th century, the friendly musical family was replenished with another large family: electronic instruments. The sound in them is created artificially using electronic circuits, and the first example was the legendary theremin, created back in 1919. Electronic synthesizers can imitate the sound of any instrument and even... play themselves. If, of course, someone draws up a program. :)

Dividing instruments into these groups is just one way of classification. There are many others: for example, the Chinese grouped tools depending on the material from which they were made: wood, metal, silk and even stone... Methods of classification are not so important. It is much more important to be able to recognize instruments both by appearance and sound. This is what we will learn.