On the way to learning, the side paths are sometimes the most
interesting.  I swayed into the Lira Organizzata quite by accident and
now want to know if anyone on the Digest might be able to shed some light
on this rather obscure instrument.

It dates to the 18th century and, being related to the vielle a roue, (or
hurdy-gurdy of the renaissance era),  it is not strictly in the family of
automatic music but rather is semi-automatic as the chords are selected
manually.  Its claim to fame is that it is constantly confused with the
latter-day mechanical organs that Americans refer to as a hurdy-gurdy.

The unique characteristic of the Organizzata is that it has one or two
ranks of stopped pipes, along with the traditional strings found on a
vielle.  In this regard, perhaps one can imagine how the two completely
separate types of instruments came to be called by the same term.

Does anyone know anything more about this unique instrument?  It is
presumed to be legitimate as there is an example on prominent exhibit at
both the Paris Museum of Music (France) and the Dublin National Museum
(Ireland).

On a related note, can anyone shed light on how the term hurdy-gurdy came
to be?  To my knowledge, its historical genus appears no where in the
lexicological references.

Can it be that the term is onomatopoeic in its origin?  (I.e., the buzz
defines the sound and the word.)  That is to say, does the term describe
the sound that people heard a few centuries ago?

Any responses will be appreciated, I think.

Angelo Rulli
St. Paul, MN

 [ The MMD Archives has several references leading to the hurdy-gurdy;
 [ a nice thread began in Digest 960201, and I wrote a treatise about
 [ the word in Digest 960202, reproduced below.  -- Robbie