Western European Authors of the 18th Century about the Old Russian Bow Instrument — Gudok

Abstract

This article aims to reconstruct the appearance of the gudok and some features of its performance, existence and functioning according to writings of Western European authors of the 18th century. Publications of J. Staehlin, J. Georgi, J. Bellermann, M. Guthrie are the first experiments of purposeful study of Russian folk instruments. A detailed description of the gudok can be found there, which allows to recreate the instrument’s appearance, the specifics of its tuning, the ways to hold it, and its performing techniques. The methodological basis of the study is represen­ted by the comparative-historical and structural-typological methods, which makes it possible to carry out an integrated approach to studying the problem, to analyze works of Western European researchers of the 18th century about the gudok in comparison with iconographic and archaeological materials. The study results in identification of the type of gudok that was common in the Russian instrumental culture of the 18th century. The main features of its design are characterized by a pear-shaped body, a flat top deck with “C-shaped” resonator holes and a convex bottom (hollowed trough) flat stand, and a small wide neck without frets with a snail head, with three strings tuned to a fifth or a fifth and an octave, and a small bow. A specific feature of the gudok playing style was sounding the melody on the upper string with the background accompaniment of the two lo­wer bourdon strings. The article for the first time presents a terminolo­gical analysis of the gudok’s names in original texts of Western European researchers of the 17th—18th centuries. In the notes of foreign travelers of the 17th century, the gudok was called similarly to the names of Western European bow instruments (“Geige”, “Bierfidler”, “Fiddle”). Authors of the 18th century used in their works the Russian word “Gudok” in its va­rious forms in German and French (“Gudok”, “Der Gudak”, “Guddock”, “Goudok”).