Lyre-guitar
A musical instrument of the chordophone family, the lyre-guitar was a type of guitar shaped like a lyre. It had six single courses and was tuned like the modern classical guitar, with a fretboard located between two curved arms recalling the shape of the ancient Greek lyre.
![](../I/Guitarra-lira.jpg.webp)
The lyre-guitar nearly always had a built-in pedestal allowing it to stand upright when not in use.
History
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Claimed to have been invented in 1780 by Pierre Charles Mareschal, a prominent French luthier, who accused the French musician Phillis Pleyel of stealing his design for what he called the Lira Anacreòntica [1] The lyre-guitar enjoyed great popularity as a salon instrument especially in Paris between 1780 and 1820. It became very much in vogue and pervaded the highest levels of society; Marie Antoinette played one[2] and the great guitarists of the day such as Ferdinando Carulli, Fernando Sor, Matteo Carcassi, Mauro Giuliani and Pierre Jean Porro wrote music and methods for it.
![](../I/GirlWithLyreGuitar.jpg.webp)
Its decline coincided with the waning of the popularity of the guitar as a salon instrument, increasingly supplanted by the piano which benefitted from ongoing improvements to its keyboard action. The lyre-guitar nevertheless persisted, not so much as a musical instrument, but more commonly as a symbol of classicist ideals appearing in numerous allegorical paintings (e.g. Mähler's portrait of Beethoven), and later on, photographs as a prop for evoking ancient Greek and Roman themes.
"The idea was to create an instrument which looked pretty and provided a visual accessory to help ladies of fashion to assume the gracious pose of Greek “kithara” players. This visual likeness became a potent ingredient of the culture of the upper classes.",[3]
Although the lyre-guitar is rarely heard or recorded it is not extinct. A body of nearly forgotten repertoire exists often by highly notable guitarists of the golden age of the guitar. Today lyre-guitars can be made to order by luthiers and authentic examples exist in museums and private collections.
Lyre-guitar luthiers
![](../I/Beethoven18045JosephM%C3%A4hler.jpg.webp)
- Robert Wornum (1780–1852)
- César Pons (1748–1831)
- Francois Roudhloff (Mauchand, France)[4]
Bibliography
- Lyre-guitar. Étoile charmante, between the 18th and 19th century by Eleonora Vulpiani
- Matanya, Ophee (1987–1988), "The Story of the Lyre-Guitar", Soundboard, XIV/4 ( Winter)
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 1980. ISBN 0-333-23111-2.
- Bonner, Stephen (1972), The classic image: European history and manufacture of the lyre guitar, 850-1840, Bois de Boulogne: Harlow, ISBN 0-900998-09-1
Notes
- "Plagiat dénoncé aux musiciens et aux amateurs des lyres nouvelles, inventées par Mareschal, Luthier à Paris", 1780, by P. C. Mareschal.
- " La lyre-guitare" in "Les Cahiers de la Guitare", 1988, by D. Ribouillault.
- Matanya Ophee, "The Story of the Lyre-Guitar", in Soundboard XIV/4, 1987-1988 Winter
- The Steve Howe Guitar Collection (Balfon Books UK) - (ISBN 1-871547-64-4) - (First British Edition 1994) - p51. Image of Roudhloff Lyre Guitar c.1815. The lyre guitar is marked with "Roudhloff the elder son" who is known to have opened a workshop in Fitzroy Square, London in the early 1900s.
External links
Historical sources
- Einige Worte über die neue französische Lyra (Lyre-Guitarre.) AMZ, August 1801 (includes an image on page 789)
- General music teacher: adapted to self-instruction...embracing also an extensive dictionary of musical terms by Gottfried Weber; Publisher: J.H. Wilkins, & R.B. Carter, 1842
- Adams' new musical dictionary by John Stowell Adams; Publisher: S.T. Gordon & Son, 1865
Websites
Recordings
Museums
- Cité de la musique, Paris (search-phrase: Mot-clé(s) : lyre guitare)
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
- Museum für Musikinstrumente der Universität Leipzig (click on Lyragitarren)
- Ringve Museum, Trondheim (in Norwegian)
- Museo Civico d'Arte di Modena (shows a lyre guitar by Gennaro Fabricatore)