Zdeněk Seidl - Hudební nástroje

In the galleries on this page you can see more or less faithful reconstructions of historical musical instruments according to the preserved iconographic records.
You can find some of these instruments in the collection of Miloslav Vaváček and you can see or hear them in his program called Bagpipes - an Instrument of Kings and Beggars.

Royal Bagpipe Based on the Cantigas de Santa Maria

The Cantigas de Santa Maria (CSM) is a collection of 420 Marian songs from the 13^th century. It was written during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile, called El sabio (the Wise) and has been preserved in four manuscripts, one of which is owned by the library at El Escorial Palace. It is richly decorated with miniatures of musicians with instruments and it is one of the most important organological sources of the Middle Ages.
The royal bagpipes have a short drone led parallel to the chanter and the two pipes come from a stock in the shape of a royal head.

Royal bagpipe based on the CSM
Chanter g¹-a², drone g/a
cherrywood, carved head, inleayed rosettes, brass ferules

Royal bagpipe based on the CSM
Chanter c²-d³, drone c¹/d¹
bowxwood, carved head, inlays, brass ferules

Royal bagpipe based on the CSM
Chanter c²-d³, drone c¹/d¹
natural maple, carved head, inlays, etched brass ferules, relief carving, pewter inlays

Double Chanter Bagpipe Based on the Cantigas de Santa Maria

Another instrument based on the miniature in the Cantigas de Santa Maria is bagpipe with two chanters and four drones. It is not clear whether all the drones and chanters played at the same time. I chose the approach where both chanters play together, but the drones play individually or at most in pairs.

Double Chanter Bagpipe Based on the CSM
2 chanters g¹-a², g¹-d², drones G,A,D,E
cherry wood, wooden inlays, brass rings, brocade bag cover

Double Chanter Bagpipe Based on the CSM
2 chanters g¹-a², g¹-d², drones G,A,D,E
cherry wood, wooden inlays, brass rings

Double Chanter Bagpipe Based on the CSM
2 chanters g¹-a², g¹-d² drones G,A,D,E
maple, burnt ornaments, brass rings

Angel Bagpipe Based on a Fresco at the Karlstejn Castle

An important and extensive source for organological research in medieval Bohemia is the stair cycle of frescoes at the royal castle of Karlstejn from the middle of the 14^th century. The cycle depicts 24 angels playing various period instruments. The frescoes were remarkably well preserved until the 19^th century, when they were unfortunately demolished during the reconstruction of the castle and then repainted - fortunately, according to the exact copies, so their documentary value has been preserved.
Angel bagpipe from Karlstejn represent a prototype of the most common medieval bagpipes with one chanter and one drone. The drone on the fresco seems to be in one piece. It is not clear whether this is only the painter's omission or whether it corresponds to reality; the tuning of the drone would then be impractically performed directly on the reed. I leaned towards the first variant and made the drone out of two parts.
.

Bagpipe Based on the “Death, Mercenary and Prostitute” Painting by Niklaus Manuel

Niklaus Manuel was a Swiss painter, writer and politician who lived in Bern from 1484 to 1530. He created his paintings under the influence of Albrecht Dürer and Hans Baldung. The painting Death, Mercenary and Prostitute was part of an extensive cycle with motifs of the dance of death performed on the cemetery wall of the Dominican monastery in Bern. Unfortunately, the wall with the original has not been preserved, so we know the appearance of the work only thanks to a copy from the 17^th century.
The Dance of Death was a well-established artistic theme in the Middle Ages and early modern times, reminiscent of the fragility of being and the transience of earthly life in the spirit of the Latin memento mori. These thematic scenes showed anthropomorphized death, often playing period musical instruments to dance for people of different social classes. The bagpipes captured by Niklaus Manuel have strange drones stylized into some sort of lanterns.

Hümmelchen Based on the Instrument from a Shipwreck from the 17th Century

The chanter of this hümmelchen type bagpipe is based on a torsion found in a shipwreck sunk near the northern German town of Uelvesbüll. The wreck was found in 1994, dendrochronologically dated to the 17^th century and can be seen today in the Maritime Museum in Husum.
The rest of the bagpipes is completed according to the painting The Shepherd with bagpipes by the Dutch master Peter Wtewael (1596 - 1660.)

Bagpipes Based on an Illumination in the “Maastricht Book of Hours” Manuscript

Maastricht Book of Hours was created at the beginning of the 14^th century in Liége, France and today is owned by the British National Library.
The so-called Books of Hours were the most widespread medieval manuscripts. They contained analogues of monastic daily prayers for lay believers. They were often richly illuminated, and this is the case with the Maastricht Book of Hours.
The book is inhabited by bizarre characters and grotesque scenes: we find a number of hybrid characters of half people - half animals, a monkey riding a goat, an archer whose anus plays the whistle, or a musician playing rakes on a blacksmith's bellows like on a violin
...
And we can also find here a number of special bagpipes. The drones usually run parallel to the chanter and are terminated by a cup-shaped bell.

The Bladder Pipe Based on a Sculpture from the Matěj Rejsek´s Smelter

Matěj Rejsek (1445 - 1506) was a Czech builder, sculptor, stonemason, maverick, and genius of the Czech architectural style called Jagiellonian Gothic. He participated in the construction of the Powder Gate, the Týn Church in Prague, and then especially in the completion of the Church of St. Barbara in Kutná Hora.
The sandstone sculpture of the Musician with a bladder pipe from Rejsek's smelter formed part of the decoration of the so-called Hrádek in Kutná Hora.
Today it is stored in the Lapidary of the National Museum in Prague.

Bagpipe based on an ilumination in the Žlutice hymn-book

The Žlutice hymn-book was made in 1558 at a cost of 283 Meissen groschen. It is a manuscript utraquist songbook for the local church choir.
The illuminator of the Žlutice cancional was Fabián Puléř - an important Czech Renaissance painter known for his illuminations of utraquist liturgical books and altar paintings.
The manuscript is now in the library of the Museum of Czech Literature. The facsimile can be seen in the exposition of the Museum in Žlutice.

Historical Reconstructions