Cithrinchen

Cithrinchen
Cithrinchen or Bell cittern by Joachim Tielke in the V&A Museum, London, UK.
String instrument
Other namesBell cittern, Citrinchen, Hamburger cithrinchen
Related instruments

The Cithrinchen or Bell cittern was a distinctively shaped instrument of the renaissance and baroque periods. It was usually strung with doubled courses of thin, light tension brass or steel strings. It usually had 3 soundholes (with decorative roses) and 5 (or sometimes 6 or more) courses (pairs) of strings. It was popular in Germany, England and Sweden. [1][2][3][4][5]

Most such instruments built nowadays are reconstructions of historical instruments, or modern mandolin-type instruments which simply use the same body shape as the historical Cithrinchen.

  1. ^ "Zistern".
  2. ^ "ATLAS of Plucked Instruments - cittern".
  3. ^ "Hamburger Cithrinchen".
  4. ^ "Cithrinchen".
  5. ^ "Cithrinchen - Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek".