A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Vielle

VIELLE, originally the name of the large primitive violin used by the French Troubadours in the 13th century. [See Violin, p. 274b.] It was next applied to the Hurdy-gurdy, an instrument which is contemporaneous with the Troubadour's fiddle, being in fact in its original form simply the latter instrument adapted for playing with a wheel and handle, the intonation being regulated by a clavier on the fingerboard. Early in the last century the modern vielle or hurdy-gurdy was cultivated as a musical instrument of high class, ranking nearly with the lute and bass viol, and many of the French Vielles of that period are beautiful artistic productions. The instrument is not altogether extinct in our own time; the writer remembers a performer who visited Vichy in 1870, describing himself as 'Vielliste de sa Majesté l'Empereur,' who executed some difficult music, chiefly operatic airs and fantasias, on his singular instrument, with considerable effect. The staccato with the wheel is surprisingly brilliant; the defect of the instrument for the listener is its monotony of force and intonation, and for the player the extreme fatigue which the rotary motion induces in the muscles of the right arm. Even in England a clever performer may sometimes (though rarely) be heard about the streets.

[ E. J. P. ]