Psaltery

Template:Mcn Template:Short description Template:Infobox instrument

See Rotte (psaltery) for medieval harp psaltery & Ancient Greek harps for earlier psalterion

A psaltery (Template:Langx) (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and dulcimer. Plucked keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord were also inspired by it. Its resonance box is usually trapezoidal, rectangular or in the form of a "pig's head" and often richly decorated.

EtymologyEdit

Template:Multiple image The psaltery of Ancient Greece (epigonion) was a harp-like stringed instrument. The word psaltery derives from the Ancient Greek ψαλτήριον (psaltḗrion), "stringed instrument, psaltery, harp"<ref>ψαλτήριον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus</ref> and that from the verb ψάλλω (psállō), "to touch sharply, to pluck, pull, twitch" and in the case of the strings of musical instruments, "to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and not with the plectrum."<ref>ψάλλω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus</ref> The psaltery was originally made from wood, and relied on natural acoustics for sound production.

In the King James Bible "psaltery", and its plural, "psalteries", are used to translate several words from the Hebrew Bible whose meaning is now unknown.<ref>These words are the Hebrew keli (כלי) in Psalm 71:22 and I Chronicles 16:5; nevel (נבל) in I Samuel 10:5; 2 Samuel 6:5; I Kings 10:12; I Chronicles 13:8; 15:16, 20, 28; 25:1, 6; II Chronicles 5:12; 9:11; 20:28; 29:25; Nehemiah 12:27; Psalms 33:2; 57:6; 81:2; 92:3; 108:2; 144:9; and 150:3; and the Aramaic pesanterin (פסנתרין) in Daniel 3:5, 7, 10, and 15.</ref>

CharacteristicsEdit

While the Greek instruments were harps, psaltery came to mean instruments that were strung across a resonating wood box.<ref name=Marcuse>Template:Cite book</ref> The box-zither psalteries may have a Phoenician origin.<ref name=Marcuse/> The strings of the medieval instrument were usually made of metal, unlike the finger-plucked harp, strung with catgut, and played using a plectrum or “pick.” The harp is strung with a single string for each tone, open to be plucked from either side of the instrument; a psaltery may have multiple strings for each tone, strung across a soundboard. The psaltery has been compared to the harpsichord<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and dulcimer, though some forms of the latter are not plucked, but struck with hammers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Medieval and Renaissance psalteriesEdit

From the 12th through the 15th centuries, psalteries are widely seen in manuscripts, paintings and sculpture throughout Europe.<ref>Anon. (15th century). "Roi David jouant du psaltérion". (Chambéry, Savoie, France: manuscrit 4, fol. 319 v., Bréviaire franciscain, initiale B, psaume 1, Beatus vir) Musiconis.huma-num.fr (archive from 17 November 2018, accessed 15 June 2020).</ref><ref name=Grove/> Examples found in one reference book, the Groves New Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments, show examples in paintings from the 9th century Carolingian Empire Benedictine Psalter, in 13th century Spain (in the Cantigas de Santa Maria), in Bohemia in the 14th century, in Italy in the 14th century, and Germany in the 15th century.<ref name=Grove/>

Shapes included "triangular (rotte), trapezoidal, semitrapezoidal, wing shaped, or harp shaped".<ref name=Marcuse/> The psalterion decacordum was shaped like a square and had ten strings strung vertically.<ref name=Marcuse/> Stings could run in courses, as viewed in the middle-ages artwork.

Modern psalteryEdit

While psalteries had largely died out in Europe by the 19th century, the salterio remained common in Mexico well into the twentieth century and is still played in some regional styles.

The hammered dulcimer and related instruments, such as the santur, cimbalom, yangqin, and khim, appear very similar to psalteries, and it is often hard to tell which one historical images represent. They differ in that the player strikes the strings with small hammers rather than plucking them. As a result, they have much higher string tension and heavier frames.

In the 19th century, several related zithers came into use, notably the guitar zither and the autoharp. In the 20th century, the bowed psaltery came into wide use. It is set up in a triangular format so that the end portion of each string can be bowed.

GalleryEdit

Walraversijde94.jpg

Psaltery in the shape called a "pig's head" psaltery, a very common psaltery shape in manuscripts.<ref name=Grove>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
Gorleston Psalter psaltery player.png

Gorleston-on-Sea, England. Psaltery player from the Gorleston Psalter, c. 1310–1326.
AlaBohemicaPsaltery.jpg

(Kingdom of Bohemia, 14th century). Picture of an unusual type of psaltery, found in Central Europe. Labeled "Bohemian wing" psaltery in Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.<ref name=Grove/>
18th century psaltery.jpg

18th century Spanish psaltery. Trapezoidal psaltery.
Benedictine Psalter - King playing a psalter.jpg

Carolingian Empire. Page from the Benedictine Psalter (842-850). David playing a four-sided psaltery, psalterium quadratum or psalterium decochordum.<ref name=Grove/>
Musician with psaltery from the Psalterium cum Canticis ('Werdener Psalter') Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Ms. theol. lat. fol. 561.jpg

1020-1050, Germany. Musician with psaltery from Werdener Psalter.
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Spain. Three shapes of psalteries (bottom row) from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice Rico.
Hans Memling - Christ with Singing and Music-Making Angels - Psaltery player.jpg

Germany, 15th century. Angel playing a pig's head psaltery.
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France
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France. 1145-1155. Elder of the Apocalypse
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France, Notre Dame Cathedral
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Spain. Burgos Cathedral.
Cancioneiro da Ajuda, folio 59, musicians with psaltery and clappers.jpg

Spain, 13th century. Cancioneiro da Ajuda, folio 59, musicians with psaltery and clappers
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Triangular psaltery, Palatine Chapel, ca. 1140 A.D.
Woman playing psaltery, Tobias Stimmer.jpg

Woman playing psaltery, circa 1570 A.D.
Psaltery notes, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 72.jpg

Psaltery notes, Museum musicum theoreticalo practicum page 72
Cantigas de Santa Maria, Musician's Codex, page Bl-2 062V.jpg

1280 A.D. Rotte. Cantigas de Santa Maria
Cantigas de Santa Maria, Musician's Codex, page Bl-2 096V.jpg

1280 A.D. Cantigas de Santa Maria
Cantigas de Santa Maria, Musician's Codex, page Bl-2 089R.jpg

1280 A.D. Cantigas de Santa Maria.
Cantigas de Santa Maria, Musician's Codex, page Bl-2 071V.jpg

1280 A.D. Cantigas de Santa Maria.
David MET DT1498.jpg

Circa 1408-1410, Italy. David playing a psaltery, painting by Lorenzo Monaco.