Vielle

Classification	Bowed string instruments
Related instruments
Byzantine lira Fiddle Crwth Rebec Viol

The vielle is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the Medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, five (rather than four) gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs. The instrument was also known as a fidel or a viuola, although the French name for the instrument, vielle, is generally used. It was one of the most popular instruments of the Medieval period, and was used by troubadours and jongleurs from the 13th through the 15th centuries. The vielle possibly derived from the lira, a Byzantine bowed instrument closely related to the Rebab, an Arab bowed instrument ^[1]

Starting in the middle or end of the 1400s, the word vielle was used to refer to the hurdy gurdy.^[2]

Several modern groups of musicians have formed into bands to play early music (pre-Baroque), and they sometimes include vielles, or modern reproductions, in their ensembles, together with other instruments such as rebecs and saz.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

1. ^ “fiddle,” Encyclopædia Britannica, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/206069/fiddle (retrieved March 06, 2009)
2. ^  "Vielle". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

This article relating to string instruments is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e