Seit langer Zeit schon wollte ich mir in Ellwangen im Alamannenmuseum eine alamannische Leier bauen. Aber entweder hatte ich kein Geld für den Kurs übrig oder aber ich hatte das Geld und der Kurs war wegen zu wenig Teilnehmern ausgefallen.

Aber im November 2007 war es dann endlich soweit. Georg Däges war so superlieb und machte den Kurs, obwohl wir nur zwei Teilnehmer waren. Und so konnte ich mein Geburtstagsgeld endlich in diesen Kurs investieren und es hat sich so richtig gelohnt!

The Saxon Lyre: History, Construction, and Playing Techniques
by Dofinn-Hallr Morrisson and Thóra Sharptooth *** The lyre, a particular type of stringed instrument, has proved enduringly popular in many parts of the world. In northern Europe the Germanic tribes played a type of lyre called in Old English the hearpa. Mentioned in Beowulf, the lyre may have been the instrument to accompany the performance of Anglo-Saxon poems and stories such as Beowulf. The remains of several such "Germanic lyres" and their bridges have been found in Saxon and Frankish graves in Germany and England; they range in date from the fifth through the tenth century (Crane, 10). The most famous is no doubt the one from the Sutton Hoo excavation, currently dated to the early seventh century. Sufficient information exists about the Saxon lyre to permit reasonable reconstruction and play of the instrument, and that is the subject of this article.

collection of links about the Saxon Lyre

THE ANGLO-SAXON LYRE
The Anglo-Saxon Lyre is a five to seven (mostly six) string instrument used throughout northern Europe during the early middle ages. Known variously as a lyre, cithara, rotte, hearpe, etc., it has a couple of forms. Primary research on this instrument has already been done in a number of places, including several places on the web, so I'm not going to duplicate that information here (see below for various links). The most famous "example" of this instrument is the Sutton Hoo lyre, small fragments of which were found in a burial mound in SE England, dating from the 7th century C.E., which are presently on display in the British Museum along with a reconstruction of what the instrument might look like (I believe originally made by Dolmetsch).

The Saxon Lyre: History, Construction and Playing Techniques - Figures
by Dofinn-Hallr Morrisson and Thóra Sharptooth

Making an Anglo-Saxon Lyre

George von Gerolstein
(MKA: George A Cavender)
Submitted in consideration for The Bryn Madoc Baronial Champion of Arts and Sciences, AS XLII
Distributed under the the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License *

Other Stringed Instruments
Research and design are two of my favorite aspects of instrument construction, so if you are intrested in something unusual, PLEASE contact me - I'd love to build it for you.

Die Trossinger Leier ist eine sechssaitige Lyra aus einem alamannischen Adelsgrab des 6. Jahrhunderts aus der „Musikstadt“ Trossingen im Landkreis Tuttlingen. Diese nahezu vollständig erhaltene Leier gilt als das besterhaltene Stück unter den insgesamt 15 bisher bekannten frühmittelalterlichen Exemplaren. Künftig wird sie im Archäologischen Landesmuseum in Konstanz ausgestellt.