ally. There was nowhere a specific repertoire for the hurdy-gurdy except in France, and even in France the music intended for the hurdy-gurdy was at the same time intended for the bagpipes and other instruments as well.
In the other countries in which the hurdy-gurdy was played up to recent times, it remained often in the hands of beggars, whose repertoire likewise did not remain fixed. As a folk instrument it served for the performance of the folk music tradition and did not develop its own repertoire. For this reason, in the pieces for the hurdy-gurdy which were written down, the only differences that can be ascertained pertain to the folk music of the particular country and not to the peculiarities of the instrument.
The music preferred for there hurdy-gurdy had its limits. On the basis of its construction the hurdy-gurdy is like the bagpipes in sound and the type of harmony it produces, for which reason it can be assumed that music intended for the bagpipes was also played on
on the hurdy-gurdy [fn]. The bagpipes however had an extensive repertoire since it was used throughout Europe as a dance instrument [fn].
In the Soviet Union the hurdy-gurdy was found in the hands of White Russian and Ukrainian beggars after the 1917 revolution (ill. 79,132,133) [figlink][fn]. But it was still played by the country folk, since in Ukraine for example there were earlier even well-attended schools for hurdy-gurdy players, "in denen erfahrene Musiker das Spiel auf der Relja lehrten". [fn] ["in which experienced musicians learned to play the relja"] In the White Russian steppes even in recent time the hurdy-gurdy was played by farmers at village dances and for evening entertainment, and was used by professional musicians principally for accompaniment of vocal duets [fn]. Example 48 shows that the songs could be very short and accompanied by the hurdy-gurdy: in example 49 on the other hand the musician sings the song without any accompaniment and plays on the hurdy-gurdy only as prelude and postlude.
In Romania, where the hurdy-gurdy was known as the 'lira' [fn] 'viela mecanica' [fn], and earlier as the 'organ' or 'lauta' [fn], it belonged to the instrumentarium of the northern Moldau region and Transylvania, but has completely disappeared today [fn].
In Bohemia the hurdy-gurdy was still a popular instrument of the traveling musicians in the 19th century and later also of the beggars [fn]; the farmers of the Bohemian-Moravian heights still played it in the 19th century for specific
dances and songs [fn]. In Slovakia it disappeared entirely as early as the 19th century [fn].
A picture similar to that of most of the Eastern European countries id offered by the regions in Western and Northern Europe. In the 20th century the hurdy-gurdy had disappeared entirely from Scandinavia, England, Germany and Italy, while in the 19th century it could still be traced in some of these countries: in the last century one could hear in the streets of English cities still "Airs ... such as the hurdy-gurdy players ... grind so piteously before cottage doors" [fn]. These hurdy-gurdy players were often however not Englishmen, but often "Italian hurdy-gurdists" [fn] (see page 417) [Editor's note: these "Italian hurdy-gurdists" are more likely to have been playing the barrel organ, hence "organ grinders"]. Outside of the cities however the hurdy-gurdy was still popular in England, as the name of a dance house in a mining camp, "hurdy-gurdy house" shows [fn]. As in England, hurdy-gurdy playing in Germany declined rapidly in the 19th century. Around 1850 the instrument which had been popular "einst bei dem Landvolk" [translation JW: "once amongst country folk"] was only heard seldom [fn]. In Westfalen however for example, it remained "bis ins 19. Jahrhundert hinein ... insbesondere bei Bettelmusikanten im Gebrauch." [fn] [" up into the 19th century...especially with beggars in use"] It was still known as a dance instrument: "Lai'r-danz" with the name "Huttsche mit de Futtsche", originally dance to the hurdy-gurdy in the Kreis Ülzen, was danced once again in 191