Saga - 2016, Qupperneq 122

Aftur á móti segist Uno von Troil (1746–1803), sem kom hingað
1772 með leiðangri sir Joseph Banks, hafa séð tvö hljóðfæri á Íslandi:
Jag såg i landet tvänne spel-Instrumenter, Laang spil, med sex messings
strängar, och Fidla, med två tagelsträngar, som bägga speltes med stråke.
et annat Instrument, Symphon, hörde jag äfven talas om, men såg det ej.50
Að öllum líkindum hefur Uno von Troil séð fleiri en eitt langspil því
að það eintak sem Sir Joseph Banks hafði sjálfur með sér til eng -
lands hafði fjóra strengi en ekki sex. Frá því segir tónskáldið og
fræðimaðurinn Charles Burney:
Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander, when they visited this island in 1773
[!], brought thence a very ancient musical instrument, of a narrow and
long form, which used to be played on with a bow; and of which they
did me the honour to make me a present. It is called by the natives the
Long-Spiel, and has four strings of copper, one of which is used as a
drone. Pieces of wood are placed at different distances upon the finger -
board to serve as frets. Though this individual instrument has the
appear ance of great antiquity, yet, rude and clumsy as it is, there can be
no doubt but that it was still more imperfect in its first invention. For
to have placed these frets, implies some small degree of meditation,
experience, and a scale; and as to the bow, that wonderful engine!
which the ancients, with all their diligence and musical refinements,
had never been able to discover, it seems, from this instrument, to have
been known in Iceland at least as early as in any other part of europe.
Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander, when they found the Long-Spiel on
the island, had very great difficulty in discovering a person among the
inhabitants who either could, or would, dare to play on it. At length a
wicked Icelander was found, who being rendered more courageous
and liberal than the rest by a few glasses of generous gin, ventured, in
secret, to exhilarate these philosophers — —with a Psalm-tune.51
rósa þorsteinsdóttir120
50 Uno von Troil, Bref rörande en resa till Island MDCCLXXII (Uppsala: Magnus
Swederus Bokhandel 1777), bls. 70; úr bréfi til „Herr Cancellie Rådet och
Riddaren Ihre. Stockholm d. 1 Sept. 1774.“ Heimildir eru um að Þórður
Þorláksson (1637–1697) Skálholtsbiskup hafi flutt symphon, harpsichord og
regal til landsins (sjá Guðrún Laufey Guðmundsdóttir, „Tónlistararfleifð
Þórðar Þorlákssonar“, Menntun og menning í Skálholtsstifti 1620–1730. Ritstj.
kristinn Ólason (Reykjavík: Grettisakademían 2010), bls. 11–21, hér bls. 14),
ekki er þó líklegt að það sé sá sami symphon og von Troil heyrði um 75 árum
eftir andlát Þórðar.
51 Charles Burney, General History of Music from the Earliest Ages to the Present
Period, vol. 3 (London: the author 1789), bls. 40–41. Burney telur að eftir
siðbreytinguna hafi almenningi á Íslandi verið bannað að leika á hljóðfæri.
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