Re: whither the zither

[Paul M. Gifford <PGIFFORD...>]

Owen Davidson <owend (at) tp(dot)net> wrote:

> If I understand you,
> the zither evolved from a fretted ancestor like our "mountain" dulcimer,
> and added an array of open strings for the purpose of providing a
> harmonic accompaniment and perhaps sympathetic enhancement of the
> melodic notes.  Again I ask, where is this information to be found?

I happened across a fairly good article from the '30s in a German
periodical, the details of which I don't have right now, and there are 
histories of the development of the zither (Johann Petzmayer in 
Vienna, etc.), as well as studies of local varieties (by Hubert Boone 
and Allen Smith, for example), but they haven't synthesized the local 
studies. Actually, this instrument seems to have evolved from the 
monochord, which leads to your next point...

> Regarding the kanun, my understanding is that the name derives from the
> Greek "kanon," meaning "canon" in its sense of "rule."  This reflects
> its role as the leader's instrument in an ensemble, which sets the
> tunings.  Seeing that you've found cognate names in use far into Asia, I
> wonder if this derivation from Greek can be correct.  Do you have any
> information on this?
> 
Sure, it seems that Arab theorists first described it in the sense of 
"law," as its strings could demonstrate Pythagorean intervals by 
their relative length. Europeans at the same time had the monochord, 
to divide the string length. The earliest reliable mention of the 
qanun seems to be a Hebrew manuscript of the 11th century (Abu
Salt---see RISM compilation) and Spanish writers called it a 
"new" instrument in the 13th century. Fourteenth-century European 
illustrations of the _canon_ or _demi-canon_ (two varieties) show 
that it had three or four strings per course, but was mostly plucked 
with one hand. But the Egyptian and Turkish kanun (qanun) as we know 
it, with gut (nylon) strings and a skin head (I made one, even to the 
ridiculous extent of filing the brass mandals, so I know 
something about them) is a relatively recent development (c.1800?). 
Those examples from Xinjiang/Uzbekistan and Punjab are survivals of 
an earlier Persian form of the kanun, which was what it was called. 
That one had brass strings. But anyway, I managed to include one 
Jewish reference to keep this diatribe on topic...

Paul Gifford

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