Gudok
 Impression of the ancient Russian gudok | |
| String instrument | |
|---|---|
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | (Bowl lyre sounded by a bow) |
| Related instruments | |
| |
The gudok (IPA: [gʊˈdok], Russian: гудок), or gudochek (IPA: [gʊˈdot͡ɕɪk], Russian: гудочек), is a Russian folk string instrument, played with a bow.[1][2][3][4]
The oldest gudoks are dated to the 11th–14th centuries in Novgorod.[5] The instrument is now obsolete and has been reconstructed based on fragments found in excavations.[4]
Terminology
[edit]In sources dating to the 11th to 16th centuries, the instrument is referred to as a smyk; it is generally assumed that the gudok, which is mentioned in sources from the 17th century, is the same instrument.[6] In written sources, a player was called a smychek.[7]
Description
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2025) |
A gudok usually had three strings, two of them tuned in unison and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher. All three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings (up to eight) under the sounding board. These made the gudok's sound warm and rich.
The player held the gudok on his lap, like a cello or viola da gamba. It was also possible to play the gudok while standing and even while dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. Initially, in the 12th century (and probably before), the gudok did not have a neck for pressing strings. This suggests that it was played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails (similarly to the Byzantine lyra), rather than pressing strings onto the instrument's neck. Later, in the 14th century, some modifications of the gudok had a real neck for pressing strings.
The Russian gudok ceased to exist as a folk instrument for several centuries. All present instruments are replicas, based on several parts of gudoks found in the Novgorod excavations.[4]
There have been several attempts to revive the gudok in music. Borodin's opera Prince Igor contains a "Gudok Player's Song", which is an artistic reconstruction of how the gudok may have sounded.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Гудок". Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-02-17.
- ^ Nardolillo, Jo (14 March 2014). All Things Strings: An Illustrated Dictionary. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-8108-8444-1.
- ^ The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1. Routledge. 11 January 2013. p. 592. ISBN 978-1-136-09570-2.
- ^ a b c Jaffé, Daniel (8 March 2012). "Gudok". Historical Dictionary of Russian Music. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-0-8108-7980-5.
- ^ Knighton, Tess; Fallows, David (1997). Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Music. University of California Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-520-21081-3.
- ^ Brisbane, Mark (1992). "The Archaeology of Novgorod, Russia: Recent Results from the Town and Its Hinterland". Society for Medieval Archaeology. Society for Medieval Archaeology: 221.
- ^ Findeizen, Nikolai (7 February 2008). "7. A Survey of Old Russian Folk Instruments". History of Music in Russia from Antiquity to 1800, Volume 1: From Antiquity to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-02637-8.
The stringed instruments used in Russian folk practice are confine dt to the gusli, gudok, domra, and balalaika... At the same time a stringed instrument (probably the gudok and related instruments) was called a smyk and its player a smychek...
Further reading
[edit]- Povetkin, V. I.; Hather, Jon G. (2007). "Musical Instruments". In Brisbane, Mark; Hather, Jon G. (eds.). Wood Use in Medieval Novgorod. Oxbow. ISBN 978-1-84217-276-6.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Gudok at Wikimedia Commons
