Leonardo da Vinci dreamed of this beautiful instrument 500 years ago, but there's no record to suggest he ever built it, only notes and a sketch in his
Codex Atlanticus. Polish concert pianist
Slawomir Zubrzycki spent three years building the world's first
viola organista, which has a keyboard much like any organ or piano, but also 61 strings and four horsehair-covered spinning wheels, much like violin bows. He premiered it at the
International Royal Piano Festival in
Krakow on Oct. 18, and the result is a haunting but beautiful sound, reminiscent of a cello, that we'll never tire of listening to.
A bizarre instrument combining a piano and cello has finally been played to an audience more than 500 years after it was dreamt up
Leonardo da Vinci.
Da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance genius who painted the
Mona Lisa, invented the ‘‘viola organista’’ - which looks like a baby grand piano – but never built it, experts say.
The viola organista has now come to life, thanks to a Polish concert pianist with a flair for instrument-making and the patience and passion to interpret da Vinci’s plans.
Full of steel strings and spinning wheels,
Slawomir Zubrzycki’s creation is a musical and mechanical work of art.
‘‘This instrument has the characteristics of three we know: the harpsichord, the organ and the viola da gamba,’’ Zubrzycki said as he debuted the instrument at the
Academy of Music in the southern Polish city of
Krakow.
