ion', and at the World Exhibition in 1889. On 11 June 1889 at a celebration of the fine arts in the Parisian city hall, a large gathering of painters, sculptors, musicians and poets, there appeared once again a group of hurdy-gurdy players and bagpipers from Berry. At the head of them all Jean Baffier played the hurdy-gurdy. On this day the musicians from Berry, playing the folk music of that region, marched past four to five thousand Parisians. [fn] Baffier made serious efforts to reawaken interest in folk music in Paris, but the success of the musicians drawn into the city by him was based more on the public's curiosity than a genuine interest.
Aside from these efforts it was once again attempted at the end of the last century to introduce the hurdy-gurdy again into artistic music. In a "Société des instruments de musique anciens" [fn] founded by Van Waefelghem in 1895 there was also a quartet with the instruments hurdy-gurdy, viola d'amore, viola de gamba and harpsichord, which were played by Delsart, Van Wafelghem, Diemer and Laurent Grillet. (ill. 232) [figlink]. Grillet, one of the co-founders of the society [fn], played the hurdy-gurdy. He came from Sancoins in the departement Cher, which belongs to the province of Berry, which is even today one of the
principle centers of the hurdy-gurdy. Grillet was probably acquainted with the hurdy-gurdy from his youth and had played it since then. In this ensemble he played it without the characteristic sound: he strung his instrument with just one string, which served as the melody string, and left all the other strings off, so that it had no drone strings. Thus he removed the peculiar tonal characteristic of the hurdy-gurdy, its drone tones, which even in the 18th century were not removed for the music which Grillet wanted to revive with his instrument (see page 320). In this case a violin or another bowed instrument would probably given better service.
In the society 'La Couperin' in Versailles there was another hurdy-gurdy player in the person of the director of this society, Eugène de Bricqueville, who made efforts to revive the use of the instrument. He played the 18th century music written particularly for the hurdy-gurdy and had as accompanying instruments a bass and a descant viola [fn].
These attempts to again create a place for the hurdy-gurdy in serious music were founded on the special French situation which had arisen on account of the aristocratic fashion of the 18th century. For the first time in the history of this instrument a fad had created a repertoire for the hurdy-gurdy which was written down and hence could be reproduced at any time by any player, in contrast to the music of the provinces which was handed only down aurally.
E. The Use of the Hurdy-gurdy in Recent Times
The particular sound common to both the bagpipes and the hurdy-gurdy did not lead to a repertoire equally playable on either instrument, but was used as early as the Middle Ages for duos involving these two instruments (see page 242). This combination was preserved up until the present time in the folk music of France as well
as Hungary [fn]. At times the bagpipes were replaced by another instrument, as for example in Hungary, where the combination of hurdy-gurdy and clarinet is widespread [fn]. The hurdy-gurdy was used more frequently just by itself than with other instruments, for which it seemed just as suitable as the bagpipes when in the hands of a good player, due to the combination of melody and accompaniment. With their fixed drone sounds these instruments produced indeed just a simple accompaniment, but nevertheless they were the instruments, as Felix Hoerburger mentions, which stimulated a much stronger dance movement than more complicated harmonic structures could [fn]. For this reason the hurdy-gurdy and the bagpipes were for a long time preferred as dance music instruments.
We have only scattered information about the repertoire of the hurdy-gurdy in the various countries, partly because of its early disappearance, partly because for a long time this music was handed down or