Photo: Ruth Fraňková, Radio Prague International
Jukka Ollika is a Finnish harpsichord maker based in Prague, who recently completed an experimental instrument called Omniwerk. It was created by combining two historical keyboard instruments, a baroque era keyboard lute, and a Viola Organista, invented by Leonardo da Vinci. I met with Jukka Ollika in his studio in Prague’s district of Vysočany to have a look at the strange instrument and to hear what it sounds like.
“This instrument is a combination of two historical keyboard instruments. The lower manual, which is like the lute harpsichord, is basically like a cembalo, but instead of metal strings, it has gut strings. In this particular instrument, we have used synthetic gut strings, so the sound is not that metallic, and sounds more like a lute or a harp.
“And then we have the second manual, a Geigenwerk or Viola Organista. The mechanism of this instrument, the drawing, was made by Leonardo da Vinci. And in the 1600s, several manufacturers started to make this instrument. The idea is that you have a mechanism which is moving the string against this kind of a belt, which works like a violin bow.”
See the rest here.