lyra

lyra, ae, f., = λύρα,

• a lute, lyre, a stringed instrument resembling the cithara, fabled to have been invented by Mercury and presented to Apollo, Hyg. Astr. 2, 7: curvae lyrae parens, Hor. C. 1, 10, 6: Threiciam digitis increpuisse lyram, Ov. H. 3, 118: mox cecinit laudes prosperiore lyrā, id. A. A. 3, 50; Val. Fl. 5, 100.—
• II Transf.
• • A Lyric poetry, song: imbellis, Hor. C. 1, 6, 10: Aeoliae Lesbis amica lyrae, Ov. Am. 2, 18, 26; id. P. 3, 3, 45.—
  • B In gen., poetic genius: Inferior lyra, Stat. Th. 10, 445.—
  • C Lyra, the constellation, the Lyre: exoriente Lyra, Ov. F. 1, 315; cf. Hyg. Astr. 3, 6; Varr. R. R. 2, 5.

lyra, ae, f. (λύρα), I) die Lyra, Laute, ein von der Kithara nur durch die Form etwas verschiedenes Saiteninstrument (der Sage nach von Merkur erfunden und dem Apollo geschenkt), lyrae cantus, Plin.: dulces lyrae moduli, Amm.: lyra curva, Hor.: Pythagoras perturbationem animi lyrā componebat, Sen.: cum (Themistocles) in epulis recusaret lyram, Cic. Tusc. 1, 4. – II) übtr.: 1) die lyrische Dichtkunst, das Lied, imbellis lyrae potens, Hor.: Aeoliae lyrae amica, Ov. – 2) übh. das Dichtertalent, inferiore lyrā, Stat. Theb. 10, 446. – 3) Lyra, ein Sternbild, die Leier, Ov. u.a.

lyra [CL < λύρα] 1 lyre, harp; b (Gk. gen.); c (fig.). d harp-string. [pantheras] quae Lucanus poeta ad ~am Orphei cum ceteris animantibus et bestiis a deserto Thraciae ‥ cecinit Lib. Monstr. II 7; organa, nabla, lire, tympana, musae Gosc. Edith (II) 270; longe inferiore ~a calamoque fragili Gir. TH III intr.; cimbala clara sonant, sompnifereque lire H. Avr. Poems 27. 166; suspenderat ‥ liram in clavo parieti infixo ‥ per se in sonum erupit sine officio digitorum cithara Chr. Wallingf. 44; si te juvat saccus satur, / quicquid dicas acceptatur / tanquam lire consonum Walt. Wimb. Van. 45; lira, a harpe WW.  b quidnam decentius est ‥ speculari circa Dei altarium ‥ simias tibicines et onos liras Boetii [Boeth. Cons. Phil. I 4: ὄνος λύρας] Ad. Dore Pictor 142.  c [Domine] lira salutis largiens armoniam J. Howd. Cant. 251; lira [sc. Christus] luget ne lugeas [ecclesia seu anima] indefesse Ib. 342.  d hec lira, A. harpestring WW. 2 song, music. Juno liram volucrum languescere sentit J. Exon. BT I 251; in hac igitur opera et opere tali quid aliud nisi ‥ deliracio quedam in lira declaratur ‥? Gir. SD 140; lira pro luctu [donabitur], pallium pro merore J. Howd. Cant. 235. 3 (astr.) Lyra, northern constellation. qua statione Venus, qua Jupiter ardet amenus, / qua Lyra, qua miseros recreans Cyllenius heros R. Cant. Malch. V 28; pendet ab Herculeis humeris Lyra Mercurialis, / astra quibus fulsit vir fera monstra domans Neckam DS I 363. 4 cloth of Lire or Liere in Brabant. 1391 (v. blodius a); 1452 toga ‥ de viridi lira (Test.) MunAcOx 647. 5 (as title of book) the postils of Nicholas de Lyra. 1384 in subsidium libro scribendo qui dicitur ~a Ac. Durh. 425.

lўra, æ, f. (λύρα), lyre, instrument à cordes : Hyg. Astr. 2, 7 ; Hor. O. 1, 10, 6 || chant, poème lyrique : Hor. O. 1, 6, 10 ; Ov. Am. 2, 18, 26 || poésie : Stat. Th. 10, 445 || [constellation] la Lyre : Hyg. Astr. 3, 6 ; Varro R. 2, 5.

lyra , ae. f.
七絃琴。牛郎星。

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lyra ae, f

• , λύρα, a lute, lyre, a stringed instrument invented by Mercury and presented to Apollo: curvae lyrae parens, H.: pulsa manu, O. —Lyric poetry, song: imbellis, H.: opus est leviore lyrā, O.—The constellation, the Lyre: exoriente Lyrā, O.

LYRA

LYRA(Lat. fides), a lyre, the chief stringed instrument used in Greek music. Two main varieties are known to us from ancient art and literature, viz. the lyre (λύρα) properly so called, and the cithara (κιθάρα).<

The distinctness of the lyre and the cithara may be shown from

Plato (Rep. 3. p. 399 D, λύρα δή σοι, ἧν δ'ἐγώ, καὶ κιθάρα λείπεται κατὰ πόλιν χρήσιμα), and from Aristotle, who excludes the cithara from education (Pol. 8.6 = p. 1341, 18, οὔτε γὰρ αὐλοὺς εἰς παιδείαν ἀκτέον οὔτ' ἄαλλο τεχνικὸν ὄργανον, οἷον κιθάραν κἂν εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἕτερόν ἐστιν) Mythologists generally taught that the cithara was invented by Apollo, the lyre by Hermes (Paus. 5.14, 8). The difference between the two instruments seems to be sufficiently ascertained from the representations of them found on ancient monuments, especially painted vases, on which two well-marked types can be traced. One of these answers closely to the description which the author of the Homeric hymn to Hermes gives of the lyre invented by the youthful god (H. Merc. 41 ff.). The lower part or body of the instrument consists of a tortoise-shell, or of a wooden case in which the original tortoiseshell is more or less faithfully reflected. In this shell are fixed two curved arms (πήχεις) or horns, joined at the upper end by a crossbar (ζυγόν). The strings pass from the shell, over a bridge or fret of reeds (δόνακες), to the ζυγόν. The instruments of the other type are larger, and show a decided advance in point of construction. The shell is replaced by a wooden case, usually square or angular, and instead of horns we find the sides of the case prolonged upwards, so that the whole framework acts as a resonance box of considerable power. Now, it is clear from the evidence of the monuments that the first of these was the instrument of education and of every-day life; while the second was the technical instrument, seen in the hands of professional players (κιθαρῳδοί), who wear the long robe proper to musical contests and other festivals. The first, therefore, must be the lyre, and the second the cithara.

The early history of the lyre and cithara is obscure. In Homer we find a stringed instrument called the φόρμιγξ, used especially to accompany singing or epic recitation (ἀοιδή). We also hear, somewhat less frequently, of the κίθαρις: but there is no trace of a difference between them. The verb (φορμίζω is used of the κίθαρις (Od. 1.153-155); and conversely we find the phrase φόρμιγγι κιθαρίζειν (Il. 18.569). The word λύρα is post-Homeric: it occurs once in the Hymn to Hermes (50.423), but does not seem to have been in common use before the time of Pindar. It is worth noticing, as a consequence of the comparatively late date of the word, that the derivatives λυρίζω, λυριστής, are unknown in good Greek, κιθαρίζω and κιθαριστὴς being always used of the lyre and cithara alike; just as χαλκεύς, bronze-smith, was applied to workers in iron as well as in the older metal. It would be rash, however, to infer that the Homeric instrument resembled the cithara rather than the lyre. We may suppose that the later form of the cithara was developed gradually, retaining the original name, which therefore included all varieties, until the new word λύρα came into vogue for the commoner and more primitive kind. The author of the Hymn to Hermes recognises only one form, that of the lyre, to which he applies the terms κίθαρις and φόρμιγξ as well. The identity of the κίθαρις and the lyre is also maintained by Aristoxenus, the pupil of Aristotle (Ammon. de diff. Voc. p. 82, κίθαρις καὶ κιθάρα διαφέρει, φησὶν Ἀριστόξενος ἐν τῷ περὶ ὀργάνου· κίθαρις γάρ ἐστιν ἡ λύρα κ. τ. λ.).

Regarding the original number and tuning of the strings, contradictory accounts were current. According to one statement in Diodorus (Diod. 1.16), Hermes was the author of harmony of sound, and in that character invented a lyre with three strings, answering to the three seasons. The same author elsewhere (5.75) says that Hermes invented his lyre in place of the cithara, which Apollo had laid aside in remorse for his cruelty to Marsyas. According to the Hymn to Hermes (50.51) the primitive lyre was one of seven strings: ἑπτὰ δὲ συμφώνους ὀων ἐτανύσσατο χορδάς.

On the other hand, the increase of the number of strings from four to seven appears to be claimed by Terpander, in two lines attributed to him: σοὶ δ' ἡμεῖς τετράγηρυν ἀποστέρξαντες ἀοιδὰνἑπτατόνῳ φόρμιγγι νέους κελαδήσομεν ὕμνους.

A different account, however, is given by Aristotle (Probl. 19.32), where he touches on the question why the interval of an Octave is not called δι'ὀκτώ (as a Fourth is διὰ τεσσάρων, a Fifth διὰ πέντε). He suggests by way of answer that the scale was formerly one of seven notes only, saying that Terpander left out the note called τριτη, and added the νήτη at the upper end of the scale (the octave of the ὑπάτη, or lowest note). If this account is the true one, what Terpander did was to raise the scale to the compass of an Octave, but without increasing the traditional number of strings. However this may be, the comparative antiquity of a scale of at least seven notes is proved by their names. The following are the notes of the central octave in the later system, with the modern notes which show the intervals on the diatonic scale:--

e ὑπάτη,, lit. uppermost, our lowest note.

f παρυπάτη, next to ὑπάτη.

g λιχανός, forefinger note.

a μέση, middle note.

b παραμέση.

c τρίτη, third, viz. from the νήτη.

d παρανήτη.

e νήτη, for νεάτη, lowest, our highest.

Of these names there is only one that is admittedly later than the rest, viz. παραμέση, which probably dates from the time when the heptachord of Terpander acquired an eighth string, and consequently a complete diatonic scale of the compass of an Octave. If we may trust a passage quoted from Philolaus (Nicom. p. 17), the gap then filled up was not that between μέση and τρίτη. Philolaus gives the name τρίτα (he writes in Doric) to the later παραμέση, the note which was a tone above the μέση. The change, therefore, consisted in inserting a note half a tone above the τρίτη of Philolaus, which new note then became the third, and made it necessary to find a new name--παραμέση --for the old τρίτη. But the language of Aristotle himself (Probl. 19.7, 32, 47) shows that the exact steps of this progress were no longer known. According to Nicomachus, the eighth string of the scale was added by Pythagoras. Probably, however, this is a mere inference from the Pythagorean discovery of the numerical ratios on which the musical intervals--the Octave, Fifth, Fourth, and Tone--are based. Another notice (Boeth. de Mus. 1.20) attributes the improvement to a certain Lycaon of Samos.

The lyre was originally played without the aid of a plectrum; and each string seems to have been sounded by a particular finger. Thus the λιχανός or forefinger was so called, according to Nicomachus (p. 22), because it was sounded by the forefinger of the left hand. It follows, as has been pointed out by Gevaert (2. p. 254), that the left hand was used for the lower tetrachord, and that the little finger was not used to touch the strings. When the plectrum came into use, it was held in the right hand, and perhaps was specially employed for the air, while the softer tones produced by the fingers. of the left hand served for the accompaniment. This is suggested (though by no means proved) by the epigram of Agathias (Anth. Pat. 11.352) quoted by Gevaert: Τὸν σοφὸν ἐν κιθάρῃ, τὸν μουσικὸν Ἀνδροτίωνα,εἴρετό τις τοίην κρουματικὴν σοφίην·Δεξιτερὴν ὑπάτην ὁπότε πλήκτροισι δόνησας,ἡ λαιὴ νήτη πάλλεται αὐτομάτως.

The phenomenon here referred to is the sympathy by which a sounding body excites the vibration of another whose note is in unison with it, or with one of its harmonics.

The seven-stringed lyre was still in use in the time of Pindar, unless we suppose that the epithets ἑπτάκτυπος (Pyth. 2, 70) and ἐπτάγλωσσος (Nem. 5, 24) are due to mere poetical tradition. On the other hand, we are told that Lasus of Hermione, who was an older contemporary of Pindar, introduced new notes, by which he broke up (διέρριψεν) the existing scale (Plut. Mus. cc. 29, 30) A passage quoted by Plutarch (l. c.) from the comic poet Pherecrates denounces a series of similar innovators--Melanippides, Phrynis, Cinesias, and finally Timotheus of Miletus, who outraged music with his twelve strings. The object of the additional strings seems to have been not so much to obtain greater compass as to make it possible to combine different modes or keys, perhaps also different genera (see the art. MUSICA), on the same instrument, and to pass easily from one to another. It is the multiplicity of keys or scales (πολυαρμονία) which is always ways associated with multiplicity of strings (πολυχορδία) in the minds of those who, like Plato, regarded such changes as dangerous and corrupting.

It is characteristic of the lyre and the cithara that the strings are all of the same length, so that the difference of pitch is entirely due to different thickness. In this respect they differed from instruments such as the harp, which have strings of different length, and again from those in which the length of the string is varied by the player, as in the case of the violin. The woodcuts above show the method of holding the lyre, in playing with the right hand only or with both. It was also played sitting, and supported on the knees. The cithara was held in the same manner. The harp type was represented in Greek music by the τρίγωνον or triangular harp, a Phrygian instrument, with which we find associated the Lydian πηκτίς. Both are condemned by Plato (Rep. 3. p. 399) for the excessive number of their strings. They are also mentioned together in a fragment of Sophocles, fr. 361: πολὺς δὲ Φρὺξ τρίγωνος ἀντίσπαστά τεΛυδῆς ἐφυμνεῖ πηκτίδος συγχορδίᾳ.

The μάγαδις, which was closely akin to the πηκτίς, was so called from the bridge or fret (μαγάς), by which a string could be divided by the player, so as to yield a higher note. It had twenty strings, and admitted of playing the same tones simultaneously in different octaves (hence called μαγαδίζειν). This is also attributed by Aristotle (Probl. 19.14) to an instrument called the φοινίκιον or Phoenician lyre. The most perfect of all these instruments seems to have been the ἐπιγονεῖον, called after its inventor, Epigonus of Ambracia, which had forty strings. Besides these, we hear of the βάρβιτος, which is thought to have been nearly related to the lyre, also the νάβλα and the σαμβύκη (Strab. 10. p. 471). Several of these names are confessedly barbarous, and all the instruments now in question lay under the imputation of being more or less alien to genuine Greek art. They evidently enjoyed much popularity, but were never regarded as of equal dignity with the lyre and cithara.

(Compare Carl von Jan, De fidibus Graecorum, Berolini, 1859; Westphal, Geschichte der alten und mittelalterlichen Musik, Breslau, 1864; Gevaert, Histoire et Théorie de la Musique de l'Antiquité, Gand, 1875-81.)

[D.B.M]

Lyra

(λύρα, pure Latin, fides). A stringed musical instrument, said to have been invented by Hermes, who stretched four strings across the shell of a tortoise. In historical times a whole tortoise shell was used for the sounding-bottom, the curved horns of a goat or pieces of wood of a similar shape were inserted in the openings for the front legs, and joined near the upper ends by a transverse piece of wood called the yoke. On the breastplate of the shell was a low bridge, across which the strings (usually seven) ran all at the same height to the yoke, and were either simply wound round it or fastened to pegs; at the other end they were tied in knots and fastened to the sounding-board. It was ordinarily played with the left hand, while to produce louder and longer notes the strings were struck by the right hand with the plectrum, the point of which was usually like the leaf of a tree, and sometimes in the shape of a heart or like a little hammer.

The cithara differed from the lyra in replacing the shell by a wooden case either square or angular, and instead of the so-called horns (cornua) the sides of the case were prolonged upwards, as shown in the accompanying illustration. The cithara, therefore, represents an advance in point of construction over the lyre. The φόρμιγξ of Homer is probably the lyre rather than the cithara, though the word λύρα is post-Homeric; and the κίθαρις does not appear to have been different ( De Diff. Voc. p. 82). In later times, the cithara took on a form not unlike the modern guitar, the word guitar, in fact, being a derivation of cithara through the Italian chitarra. See Von Jan, De Fidibus Graecorum (Berlin, 1859), and the works mentioned in the article musica.