As Poison Put to Sound remains on holiday break, I re-share this post, which garnered a lot of attention and speculation when I wrote it four years ago On my recent visit to Amsterdam, I visited the Rijksmuseum to investigate a curious instrument in their collection. It had come to my attention because of my research on cello endpins.
So interesting about the Bulgarian gedulka! There were a lot of good comments on this Facebook thread, which may or may not be visible to people not in the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/performancepractice/permalink/3018186844881692/. Some of the guesses were kunstkammer curiosity, poppenhuis instrument, da spalla... Happy new year to you too!
I'd love to see some of the speculative responses you got. This made me think of the Bulgarian gedulka which is played upright supported by a belt draped diagonally, in which the point of the instrument is cradled (see https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-brooklyn-us-19-april-2013-nicolay-kolev-of-the-band-cherven-traktor-55776262.html?imageid=127724A5-7AFE-4916-A507-E1624C4BF8EC&p=81747&pn=1&searchId=0e56c11e829bc11a6b32f3393fecb988&searchtype=0). Its a very different looking instrument but it is held in a manner that might have applied to this instrument so that it could be played standing up or even walking. Just another wild speculation. Happy New Year.
So interesting about the Bulgarian gedulka! There were a lot of good comments on this Facebook thread, which may or may not be visible to people not in the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/performancepractice/permalink/3018186844881692/. Some of the guesses were kunstkammer curiosity, poppenhuis instrument, da spalla... Happy new year to you too!