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Podcasts Take Two
Hear what Leonardo da Vinci's Viola Organista sounds like 500 years later (video)
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Nov 19, 2013
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Hear what Leonardo da Vinci's Viola Organista sounds like 500 years later (video)
A Polish pianist built the rare instrument — a combination of a piano and a viola — based on the Renaissance master's original design and played it: We have video!

A Polish pianist built the rare instrument — a combination of a piano and a viola — based on the Renaissance master's original design and played it: We have video!

It's time for a blast from the past:

Video

That is the Viola Organista, a 15th century instrument designed by that ultimate Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci. What you can't see is that this music is issuing from what appears to be a piano.

The man playing it is Polish musician Slawomir Zubrzycki. He built the instrument from plans found in da Vinci's notebooks and debuted it at the Academy of Music in Krakow, Poland.

The Viola Organista resembles a grand piano with a keyboard. It has sixty-one strings inside but instead of hammers that strike them, the keys control four spinning wheels wrapped in horsehair. Their movements act like a bow on a cello string, creating the rich sounds you hear, similar to full string ensemble.