Barbiton

Barbitos in Nordisk familjebok (1904–1926)

The barbiton, or barbitos (Gr: βάρβιτον or βάρβιτος; Lat. barbitus), is an ancient stringed instrument related to the lyre known from Greek and Roman classics.

The Greek instrument was a bass version of the kithara, and belonged in the zither family, but in medieval times, the same name was used to refer to the barbat a different instrument that is a variety of lute.

Error in the use of names[]

The barbat or barbud, began being translated into Latin as barbiton sometime during the late Middle Ages, a mistaken practice which has passed into English and other European languages through long use. The barbat is an unrelated lute-like instrument developed in Persia, whereas the kithara was developed in Greek Anatolia, where it was popular, and spread into the rest of the Aegean. Throughout this article barbiton refers only to the Anatolian / Aegean instrument, and barbat is the only name used to refer to the lute-family instrument from Persia.

Differences between the barbat and the barbiton

Barbat	Barbiton
The barbat has always had a finger board for changing the pitch of the strings.	The barbiton has never had a finger board; its strings’ pitch could not be changed without retuning.
Like all instruments in the lute family, different chords are played on the barbat by fingering the pitch of the strings.	Like all instruments in the lyre / kithara family, different chords were played on the strings by resting fingers against strings for the unwanted notes, to silence them.
For most chords all of the strings of the barbat would sound for any one chord.	For all chords, only a few of the barbat’s strings would sound; most of its strings were silent for any one chord.

Since neither instrument was familiar to European musicians of the late Middle Ages – both had fallen out of use sometime between the mid-Imperial period and the end of the Roman empire – the error was not caught, nor corrected. The mistaken seems to be perpetually dredged up from the earlier texts.

Ancient descriptions of the barbiton[]

The Sicilian poet, Theocritus (xvi. 45), calls the barbitos an instrument of many strings, i.e. more than seven, which was by the Hellenes considered to be a perfect number, and matched the number of strings customary in the kithara.^[1]

Anacreon^[2] (a native of Teos in Asia Minor) sings that his barbitos "only gives out erotic tones"^[1] – a remark which could have been metaphorical, but could also be a literal reference to the instrument's tuning in the Greek Iastian harmonia.^[3]

Pollux (Onomasticon iv. chap. 8, § 59) calls the instrument barbiton or barymite (from βάρυς, heavy and μίτος, a string), an instrument producing very deep sounds which comes out of the soundbox. The strings were twice as long as those of the pectis and sounded an octave lower.^[1]

Pindar (in Athen. xiv. p. 635), in the same line wherein he attributes the introduction of the instrument into Greece to Terpander, tells us one could magadize, i.e. play in two parts at an interval of an octave on the two instruments.^[1]

Although in use in Asia Minor, Italy, Sicily, and Greece, it is evident that the barbiton never won for itself a place in the affections of ancient Greeks; it was regarded as a barbarian instrument affected by those only whose tastes in matters of art were unorthodox. It had fallen into disuse in the days of Aristotle, but reappeared under the Romans.^[4][5] Aristotle said that this string instrument was not for educational purposes but for pleasure only.^{[citation needed][dubious – discuss]}

Often Sappho is also depicted playing the barbitos, which has longer strings and a lower pitch. It is closely associated with the poet Alcaeus and the island of Lesbos, the birthplace of Sappho, where it is called a barmos.^[6] The music from this instrument was said to be the lyre for drinking parties and is considered an invention of Terpander. The word barbiton was frequently used for the kithara or lyre.^[3]

Modern interpretation[]

Barbitos[]

In spite of the few meagre shreds of authentic information extant concerning this somewhat elusive instrument, it is possible nevertheless to identify the barbiton as it was known among the Greeks and Romans. From the Greek writers we know that it was a deep toned instrument, with pitch range of at least two octaves, that had enough features in common with the lyra and kithara, to warrant their classification as a family of related instruments.^[1]

Barbat[]

The later, unrelated instrument, is described by the Persians and Arabs as a kind of rebab or lute, or a chelys-lyre,^[7] It was first introduced into Europe through Asia Minor by way of Greece, and centuries later into Spain by the Moors, amongst whom it was in the 14th century known as al-barbet.^[8]

Third, unnamed, mixed lyre / rebab[]

Barbiton, from a bas-relief in the Louvre, Achilles at Scyros.

Musicologist Kathleen Schlesinger identified a stringed instrument of unknown name that combines the characteristics of both lyre and rebab; It is represented in least four different ancient sculptures:^[9] She writes:

It has the vaulted back and gradual narrowing to form a neck which are typical of the rebab and the stringing of the lyre. In outline it resembles a large lute with a wide neck, and the seven strings of the lyre of the best period, or sometimes nine, following the “decadent lyre”. Most authors in reproducing these sculptures showing it represent the instrument as boat-shaped and without a neck, as, for instance, Carl Engel. This is because the part of the instrument where neck joins body is in deep shadow, so that the correct outline can hardly be distinguished, being almost hidden by hand on one side and drapery on the other.^[1]

The Barbat[]

The barbat (sometimes mistakenly translated as “barbiton”) is not like the instrument depicted on Greek vase paintings. The Greek barbiton, however, although it underwent many changes, retained until the end the characteristics of the instruments of the Greek kithara / lyra family, whose strings were strummed and plucked, whereas the rebab was sounded by means of the bow at the time of its introduction into Europe.^[1]

At some period not yet determined, which we can but conjecture, the barbat approximated to the form of the large lute. An instrument called barbiton was known in the early part of the 16th century^[10] and during the 17th century. It was a kind of theorbo or bass-lute, but with one neck only, bent back at right angles to form the head. Robert Fludd^[11] gives a detailed description of it with an illustration:

Inter quas instrumenta non nulla barbito simillima effinxerunt cujus modi sunt illa quae vulgo appellantur theorba, quae sonos graviores reddunt chordasque nervosas habent.^[1]

The people called it theorbo, but the scholar having identified it with the instrument of classic Greece and Rome called it barbiton. The barbiton had nine pairs of gut strings, each pair being in unison. Dictionaries of the 18th century support Fludd's use of the name "barbiton". G. B. Doni^[12] mentions the barbiton, defining it in his index as Barbitos seu major chelys italice tiorba, and deriving it from lyre and cithara in common with testudines, tiorbas and all tortoiseshell instruments. Claude Perrault,^[13] writing in the 18th century, states that "les modernes appellent notre luth barbiton" (the moderns call our lute barbiton). Constantijn Huygens^[14] declares that he learnt to play the barbiton in a few weeks, but took two years to learn the cittern.^[1]

The barbat was a variety of rebab, a bass instrument, differing only in size and number of strings. This is quite in accordance with what we know of the nomenclature of musical instruments among Persians and Arabs, with whom a slight deviation in the construction of an instrument called for a new name.^[15] The word barbud applied to the barbiton is said to be derived^[16] from a famous musician living at the time of Chosroes II (590-628 CE), who excelled in playing upon the instrument. From a later translation of part of the same author into German^[17] we obtain the following reference to Persian musical instruments:

Die Sänger stehen bei seinem Gastmahl; in ihrer Hand Barbiton⁽ⁱ⁾ und Leyer⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ und Laute⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾ und Flöte^(iv) und Deff (Handpauke). Mr. Ellis, of the Oriental Department of the British Museum, has kindly supplied the original Persian names translated above, i.e. (i) barbut, (ii) chang, (iii) rubāb, (iv) nei.

The barbut and rubab thus were different instruments as late as the 19th century in Persia. There were but slight differences if any between the archetypes of the pear-shaped rebab and of the lute before the application of the bow to the former – both had vaulted backs, body and neck in one, and gut strings plucked by the fingers.^[1]

Modern reconstruction[]

The barbitos is part of the Lost Sounds Orchestra,^[18] alongside other ancient instruments which Ancient Instruments Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application (ASTRA) have recreated the sounds of, including the epigonion, the salpinx, the aulos, and the syrinx.

The sounds of the barbitos are being digitally recreated by the ASTRA project, which uses Physical modeling synthesis to simulate the barbitos sounds.^[19] Due to the complexity of this process the ASTRA project uses grid computing,^[20] to model sounds on hundreds of computers throughout Europe simultaneously.

See also[]

References[]

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