r the drone sound of the hurdy-gurdy was at this time in Austria is indicated by the movement of the dance opus 27, no.5 (c. 1820) by Joseph Lanner, who used the hurdy-gurdy in it (ex. 51). Even a vignette on the first printing of Johann Strauss' waltz "Die Gemütlichen" [translation JW: "The comfortable/amiable ones"].
from 1848/49 shows a couple dancing to the hurdy-gurdy. (ill. 231) [figlink]
[missing part of sentence: Vereinzelt gespielt (Abb. 119) ....]
The instrument fell out of use sometime later.
In Hungary, where the hurdy-gurdy was earlier very widely spread and still used in the 19th century as a dance instrument, there can be found in the last decades only a few old men in the vicinity of Szentes who can play the instrument [fn]. There the instrument belonged to the folk music instrumentarium, while in the other parts of the country, up until approximately the mid 1950's, it was found principally in the hands of beggars [fn].
The Hungarian practice of playing the hurdy-gurdy is completely different from that of the western European countries. Differences are apparent in the arrangement of the keys, which in Hungary do not produce a major scale, but rather most frequently a Mixolydian scale [fn], which is also the scale generally used on the Hungarian bagpipes [fn]. [Editor's note: this is not the case on the Hungarian hurdy-gurdies which we are aware of.] Above all considerable differences can be seen in the playing of the melody, and in the sequence of the individual notes. In France and Spain pauses between the return of one key and the insertion of the next are carefully avoided, since the goal is a uniform flowing of the melody, uninterrupted by the sound of the free string, which would be heard between notes. In Hungary however the sound of the free string is inserted between the notes of the melody as a type of extra drone; this is a practice which was cultivated in conscious imitation of the manner of playing the bagpipes there [fn].
The musicians used a special technique in playing the
Hungarian bagpipes, whereby the melody note would be played only very briefly and then the sound of the primary note immediately reinstated. The player covers with his fingers all the holes of the playing pipe and opens only the hole for the melody note, which he then immediately closes again, thus playing again the primary note of the pipe [fn].
The Hungarian repertoire for the hurdy-gurdy is composed of the same folk and dance songs as for the bagpipes, which in the last decades was used especially by shepherds as musical instruments for their dances [fn]. Melodies for the bagpipes were played either on this instrument or on the hurdy-gurdy, again an indication of a common practice and an identical repertoire for both instruments (ex. 52). Just how popular the bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy music was in Hungary is shown by the behavior of gypsy fiddlers, who later replaced these instruments in the dance music. Since their listeners were accustomed to the drone sounds of the hurdy-gurdy and the bagpipes, the fiddlers sometimes had to imitated the music of the bagpipes on their instrument in order to please their public [fn].
In Spain the hurdy-gurdy survived up into the 20th century in the provinces of Asturia and Galicia [fn]. In Galicia it belonged to the traditional folk instruments of this region, like the bagpipes [fn]. It was played almost exclusively by the blind [fn], who appeared with their instrument especially in summer and at feasts, church celebrations, and above all in the Corpus Christi processions and in pilgrimages [fn]. In the countryside of Asturia and Avila there are still wandering hurdy-gurdy players and players of the "rabel", a three-stringed lute-shaped instrument. The rabel players are likewise
usually blind. These blind musicians with their rabel and hurdy-gurdy sing and play songs of miracle-working saints and of bandits or report about extraordinary events and adventures [fn]. Satirical and other cutting songs as well as romances were also played on the hurdy-gurdy. Lastly it served, as in other co