History of the mandolin

There are many different types of musical instruments in the world. Many of them are folk, and their belonging to a particular culture is easy to determine by name. For example, a mandolin… This word smells of something Italian. Indeed, the mandolin is a stringed plucked musical instrument, somewhat reminiscent of a lute.The predecessor of the mandolin lute, oddly enough, did not appear in Italy, but in Ancient Mesopotamia in the XNUMXth-XNUMXnd millennium BC. e. In Europe, the mandolin, or mandola, as it was called in those days, appeared in the XNUMXth century and rightfully became a folk Italian instrument. The instrument resembled a compact copy of the soprano lute, had a straight neck and steel strings. The knights sang songs of praise and played it under the windows of their beloved ladies! This tradition, by the way, has survived to this day.

The heyday of the instrument came in the XNUMXth century, and is associated with the name of the Italian masters and musicians of the Vinaccia family. They not only created their own version of the “Genoese mandolin” instrument, but also traveled around Europe with it, giving concerts and teaching people how to play it. It becomes popular in high society, schools are created, the mandolin begins to sound in orchestras, music is specially written for it. However, worldwide popularity did not last long, with the advent of other instruments with a brighter expressive sound in the early 19th century, it began to be forgotten. In 1835, Giuseppe Vinaccia radically changed the look of the classic Neapolitan mandolin. Enlarges the body, lengthens the neck, wooden pegs were replaced with a special mechanism that perfectly kept the tension of the strings. The instrument has become more sonorous and melodic, it has again received recognition from both ordinary music lovers and professional musicians. For the era of romanticism, it seemed just an ideal instrument that harmoniously fit into any orchestra. The mandolin goes beyond Italy and Europe and spreads all over the world: from Australia to the United States of America, in the USSR, for example, its sound could be heard at various concerts and in some feature films. In the 20th century, due to the emergence of such musical styles as jazz and blues, the popularity of the instrument only grew.

Nowadays, the possibilities of the mandolin are becoming more pronounced, it is actively used in modern music and is used not only in classical styles, but also in completely different directions. One of the most famous mandolists is the American Dave Apollo, originally from Ukraine. The most famous type of mandolin is considered to be the Neapolitan, however, there are other varieties: Florentine, Milanese, Sicilian. Most often they are distinguished by the length of the body and the number of strings. The length of the mandolin is usually 60 centimeters. It can be played both sitting and standing, but in general, the playing technique is similar to playing the guitar. The sound of the mandolin has a velvety and soft tone, but at the same time fades away very quickly. For lovers of clockwork music, there is an electronic mandolin.

The mandolin is a very easy-to-learn musical instrument, but once you learn how to play it, you can become a real soul of the company and stand out from the others!