My ponderings on lyres
So, I've been talking to Danae, the guy in Oregon who makes lyres. I've found out that he's been making lyres for 2 years and has sold about 20 of them -- his first to someone in the SCA and the rest mostly to the UK, of all places.
Well, I asked him what he knew about how the Sutton Hoo lyre (which is the style he makes) differs from later lyres. (Archaeological finds become rare after the 8th or 9th c. or so) He said that the Sutton Hoo lyre is actually quite unusual in terms of shapes, being perfectly lozenge shape. He thinks that Scandinavian lyres would probably be more in shape with the German lyres, like the Trossingen lyre (near complete!!!). Other photos of the Trossingen lyre: here and here.
So, being there's definitely a shape difference in the German vs. English lyres, it makes me want to ask him if he'd be willing to try the Trossingen shape...'cause there are no finds on Scandinavian lyres. There's a theory that in the 10th century, Scandinavian lyres get a bend. This theory is due to the depiction of the "Gunnar" lyre -- a carving in a stave church portal of Gunnar from the Völsunga saga story which shows Gunnar playing a "harp" (aka lyre) with his feet -- which obviously has a much more "figure eight" figure than the traditional lyres. So, there are some who have done some hypothetical 10th century Scandinavian lyres, though I'm not sure I'd like to go the hypothetical route.
So, my basic puzzlement is...do I want to do the 6th/7th century English style of lyre that's tried and true with Danae, or do I want to see if he'd be willing to try the late 7th century Trossingen lyre shape to try to get a little closer to what my persona might have played? Either would be about 200 or 300 years earlier than my persona but...then again, there's no hard evidence what Scandinavian lyres looked like, other than the 12th century(?) depiction with Gunnar, just those hypothetical transitional lyres.
Well, I asked him what he knew about how the Sutton Hoo lyre (which is the style he makes) differs from later lyres. (Archaeological finds become rare after the 8th or 9th c. or so) He said that the Sutton Hoo lyre is actually quite unusual in terms of shapes, being perfectly lozenge shape. He thinks that Scandinavian lyres would probably be more in shape with the German lyres, like the Trossingen lyre (near complete!!!). Other photos of the Trossingen lyre: here and here.
So, being there's definitely a shape difference in the German vs. English lyres, it makes me want to ask him if he'd be willing to try the Trossingen shape...'cause there are no finds on Scandinavian lyres. There's a theory that in the 10th century, Scandinavian lyres get a bend. This theory is due to the depiction of the "Gunnar" lyre -- a carving in a stave church portal of Gunnar from the Völsunga saga story which shows Gunnar playing a "harp" (aka lyre) with his feet -- which obviously has a much more "figure eight" figure than the traditional lyres. So, there are some who have done some hypothetical 10th century Scandinavian lyres, though I'm not sure I'd like to go the hypothetical route.
So, my basic puzzlement is...do I want to do the 6th/7th century English style of lyre that's tried and true with Danae, or do I want to see if he'd be willing to try the late 7th century Trossingen lyre shape to try to get a little closer to what my persona might have played? Either would be about 200 or 300 years earlier than my persona but...then again, there's no hard evidence what Scandinavian lyres looked like, other than the 12th century(?) depiction with Gunnar, just those hypothetical transitional lyres.