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Da Vinci’s Viola Organista to be Played in Croatia for First Time

Da Vinci’s Viola Organista

Audience in Croatia will have a chance for the first time to hear Leonardo da Vinci’s viola organista being played.

The viola organista is a musical instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci more than 500 years ago but which was never built in his lifetime.

The instrument uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings, similar to how a violin produces sounds, with the strings selected by pressing keys on a keyboard like an organ.

The design drawings of the viola organista were preserved in da Vinci’s notebooks of 1488–1489and in the drawings in the Codex Atlanticus.

Leonardo da Vinci’s sketch- (image: www.istitutopontevaltellina.it)

In 2012 Polish pianist and constructor Sławomir Zubrzycki built the first concert Viola Organista and brought it to concert halls and music festivals all over the Europe, starting a new chapter of its history.

On Tuesday 21 February 2017 at 8:00 pm at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb Zubrzycki will be a guest of the Antiphonus ensemble as they present Orlando di Lasso’s Tears of St. Peter (Lagrime di San Pietro) and music by A. Gabrieli with a French spice.

Da Vinci’s Viola Organista

The concert will be a chance for Croatians to see the viola organista played live for the first time.

More details about the event can be found on the museum’s website here.

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