The lyre - lijerica
Island of Hvar, 1820
wood (maple), animal intestine, horsehair
gouging, cutting, binding
length = 52 cm
width of the box = 15 cm
diameter of the upper part = 12 cm
length of the strings = 31,2 , 35 and 31,6 cm
length of the bow = 32,5 cm
POH-420ab/1920
The Collection of Musical instruments by Franjo Ksaver Kuhač
The lijerica neck and resonance box are made of one piece of maple wood, while part of the upper cover is partially glued. Three strings fixed at three wooden pegs are made of animal intestine.
The bow is made of wood with horsehair strings.
Kuhač purchased this instrument in the city of Hvar in 1869 from the lijerica builder Jakov Dujmić, of whom he writes that “he is so good at playing, that upon the advice of some gentlemen from Hvar he went to Trieste at the beginning of 1860, and “concert-ed” there with high praises…” (Kuhač 1877: 64).
Kuhač notes in his work that lijerica “never accompanies a poem or song, only a dance,” and that lijerica is a solo instrument which does not take “any accompaniment, nor a group of several violins” (Kuhač 1877: 64)
