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| Classification | Chordophone |
|---|---|
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 321.321-5 |
| Playing range | |
| Varied | |
| Related instruments | |
Thetorban (Ukrainian:Торбан, alsoteorban orUkrainian theorbo) is aUkrainianmusical instrument that combines the features of the Baroquelute with those of thepsaltery.[1] The Тorban differs from the more common European bass lute known as thetheorbo in that it had additional short unfretted treble strings (known asprystrunky) strung along the treble side of the soundboard.
It appeared in the second quarter of the 18th century, probably influenced by the central EuropeanTheorbo and theAngelique which, according to Ukrainian sourcesCossack mercenaries would have encountered in theThirty Years' War.[2] According to Marcin Ludwicki andRoman Turovsky, the torban's inventor was Tuliglowski, a Paulite monk fromJasna Gora, who designed the instrument between 1736 and 1740.[3][4] The Torban was manufactured and used mainly in Ukraine, but also occasionally encountered in neighbouring Poland and Russia (only 3 luthiers could be identified from the surviving instruments).[5] There are about 40 torbans in museums around the world, with the largest group of 14 instruments inSt. Petersburg.[6] The term "torban" was often misapplied in the vernacular in western Ukraine to any instrument of the Baroque Lute type until the early 20th century.
The surviving printed musical literature for torban is extremely limited, notwithstanding the widespread use of the instrument in Eastern Europe. It was an integral part of the urban oral culture in Ukraine, both in Russian and Polish (later Austro-Hungarian Empire) controlled parts of the country (after the split). To date the only notated examples of torban music recorded are a group of songs from the repertoire of Franz Widort; collected by Ukrainian composer and ethnographerMykola Lysenko and published in the "Kievskaya Starina" journal in 1892, with a collection of songs byTomasz Padura published in Warsaw in 1844.
The multi-strung, expensive in manufacture, stringing, maintenance and technically difficult fretted torban was considered an instrument of Ukrainian gentry,[7] although most of its practitioners were Ukrainians and Jews of low birth, with a few aristocratic exceptions. A few virtuoso players are known by their reputation, such asAndrey Sychra (from Lithuania), and the Widort family, originally from Austria but active in Ukraine since the late 18th century. The Widort family produced three generations of torban players: Gregor Widort, his son Cajetan, and grandson Franz.[8]
Such aristocratic associations sealed the instrument's fate in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution: it was deemed insufficiently proletarian and was discouraged. A predecessor of the torban called thekobza (also sometimes referred to as thebandura) was the instrument of the common folk. It differed from the torban by the absence of a second peg box at the end of the neck and the lack of bass strings, and was closely related in its organology to central Europeanmandora and other instruments descending from thepandura (also seelute).
Later in the 20th century, some banduras were often manufactured to imitate the look of the torban, which has also contributed to its misidentification.
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