Viola organista

Viola organista chordophone designed by Leonardo da Vinci (d. 1519) (but never made), with mechanically bowed strings. In an earlier drawing the strings are bowed by a revolving wheel, in a later one by an endless bow of horsehair. The viola organista is the first mechanically bowed instr. to be designed after the *organistrum and is a precursor, or perhaps one should say, a drawing-board precursor, of the *Geigenwerk. Leonardo wrote in his notebooks that he intended obtaining “unending” sounds…