The ''domra'' (Cyrillic: до́мра, ) is a long-necked

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

n, and

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

folk

string instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the s ...

of the

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

family with a round body and three or four metal strings.

History

The first known mention of domra is in ''Admonitions of Metropolitan Daniel'' (1530). This musical instument gained great popularity in the 16th–17th centuries, replacing gusli. There are numerous mentions of domra in historic documents of this period. In addition, medieval Russian illuminated manuscripts of the

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters w ...

contain images of musicians with necked plucked-string instruments, and some of those miniatures are clearly captioned «depiction of domras». Judging by those images, late medieval Russian domras can be divided into two types: lute-shaped, which had five to six strings, a large body and а pegbox angled back, and tanbur-shaped, which had three to four strings, a small body and a straight pegbox. After the pious Tsar

Alexis of Russia Aleksey Mikhaylovich ( rus, Алексе́й Миха́йлович, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ; – ) was the Tsar of Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. While finding success in foreign affairs, his reign saw several wars ...

issued an edict ordering the persecution of

Russian folk musicians Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and pe ...

and destruction of their instruments (1648), domra gradually came into disuse and was replaced by

balalaika The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the thir ...

, which was much easier to make and play. In 1896, a student of

Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev (russian: Василий Васильевич Андреев; 26 December 1918)
article on the city ...

found a broken instrument in a stable in rural Russia. It was thought that this instrument may have been an example of a domra, although at that time no illustrations or examples of the traditional domra were known to exist (the traditional domra was only known through numerous mentions in folklore, though examples existed of the ''

dombra The ''dombra'', also known as ''dombyra'' ( kz, домбыра, uz, dombira, ba, думбыра) is a long-necked Kazakh, Uzbek and Bashkir lute and a musical string instrument. The dombyra shares certain characteristics with the komuz ...

'', a related Turkic instrument). A three-stringed version of this instrument was later redesigned in 1896, patented, and introduced into the orchestra of Russian folk instruments. The three-stringed domra uses a tuning in 4ths. Later, a four-stringed version was developed employing violin tuning by Moscow instrument maker, Liubimov, in 1905. Today, it is the three-stringed domra that is used almost exclusively in Russia. It is played with a

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In har ...

, and is often used to play the lead melody in Russian

ensembles. The four-stringed domra is primarily widespread in Ukraine. The modern domra is typically played with a plectrum, although some performers strum the instrument like a balalaika, but this is uncommon.

Orchestral instruments

The basic domra is tuned as follows: * Three strings: EAD tuning. * Four strings: GDAE tuning (like the

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

or the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

) Instruments are made in various sizes including piccolo, prima, alto, tenor, bass, and contrabass. * Piccolo: b1 e2 a2 * Prima: e1 a1 d2 * Mezzo-Soprano: b e1 a1 * Alto: e a d1 * Tenor: B e a * Bass: E A d * Contrabass (minor): 1E 1A D * Contrabass (major): 1A D G

Performers

Tamara Volskaya Tamara Volskaya is a performing musician whose principal instrument is the domra. She graduated Kyiv Conservatory of Music, is a Merited Artist of Russia, a Laureate of USSR music competitions, and a professor at the Mussorgsky Ural State Conserv ...

is considered to be one of the leading contemporary performers on the 4 string domra. She is a Merited Artist of Russia, a Laureate of the USSR competition, and a professor at the Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatory in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

, Russia. She now lives in New York City. Aleksandr Tsygankov is considered to be one of the leading contemporary performers, teachers, and composers of the 3 string domra. He lives in Moscow.

References

Bibliography

External links