Lira da braccio

Lira da braccio (It.) [Gk. lyra], bowed chordophone of the It. Renaissance; it evolved in the late 15th c. and is now generally assumed to be a development of the med. fiddle. It coexisted with the *viola da braccio, with which it was confused and by which it was ultimately replaced. Vasari in 1564 speaks of the lira ovvero viola and Galilei in 1581 mentions the “viola da braccio that was called lira not many years ago” (viola da braccio detta da non molti anni indietro lira). Lire da braccio…