History Will Teach Us Something: 500-Year-Old Invention by Leonardo Da Vinci Heard for the First Time
Now this is something you don't hear every day. In fact, this musical instrument has never been heard in the 500 years since Renaissance master Leonardo Da Vinci invented it. Until now.
Part piano, part cello, all incredible. Hit play and be mesmerized by the sounds of Da Vinci's "viola organista" before you keep reading.
Leonard Da Vinci invented but never actually built the viola organista. Polish concert pianist Slawomir Zubrzycki labored 5000 hours over a three-year period to bring the instrument to reality. As you are hearing, it sounds nothing like a piano. As The Age explains:
"The flat bed of its interior is lined with golden spruce. Sixty-one gleaming steel strings run across it, similar to the inside of a baby grand. Each is connected to the keyboard, complete with smaller black keys for sharp and flat notes. But unlike a piano, it has no hammered dulcimers. Instead, there are four spinning wheels wrapped in horse-tail hair, like violin bows."
The sound is of antiquity yet still familiar. Hopefully Zubrzycki won't give in and will continue living in the past and bring more of Da Vinci's invention to our ears. Recordings either familiar or original of this heretofore unheard musical instrument would be most welcome, indeed.
Bravo!
Photo credit: Tomasz Wiech/AFP
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