Hurdy-Gurdy Stamp Board

This article features my hurdy-gurdy stamp collection; it’s my hurdy-gurdy stamp board. Occasionally, I feature collections of stamps depicting specific instruments. You can see my trumpet stamps, saxophone stamps, and xylophone stamps on their own pages. This post features a European folk instrument that is far less common and rarely appears on stamps: the hurdy-gurdy.

The Hurdy-Gurdy

The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that uses a wheel rubbing against strings to create sound. A hand crank turns the rosined wheel which sounds both drone strings and melody strings. The player uses their other hand to press keys, which push tangents against a string to change its pitch and create the melody. This mechanism sits against a hollow sound box to give the strings more volume. The combination of a drone and melody makes the instrument sound similar to a bagpipe.

The rosined wheel rubbing the string is not unlike the bow of a fiddle and the two instruments may have developed around the same time. The earliest form of the instrument, known as an organistrum, can be seen in art work from the tenth century. The hurdy-gurdy was especially popular in the Renaissance and was used for dancing and other forms of entertainment. The instrument spread from western Europe, where it was popular in France and Spain, to central and eastern Europe where it developed into different styles. The instrument has a wide variety of names including the vielle á roue in France, zanfoña in Spain, the lira or relia in Ukraine, and, of course, the hurdy-gurdy in English.

The hurdy-gurdy was commonly played by street musicians to earn money and in some places was an instrument for blind musicians. Due to this association with poor musicians, the hurdy-gurdy has for most of its history been a lowly instrument in European society.

There are not a lot of stamps depicting the hurdy-gurdy and there is little commonality between them. So I will present them in the chronological order by date of release.

West Berlin

The oldest hurdy-gurdy stamp in my collection comes from West Berlin in 1973. The hurdy-gurdy is shown by itself and was one of a set of eight stamps celebrating musical instruments. The others show a military drum, a lute, an organ, a piano, a harp, a violin, and a French horn.

East Germany

The next stamp is from East Germany and it is my favorite. The stamp celebrates the collection of musical instruments at the University of Leipzig. Again, the hurdy-gurdy appears in a set of stamps, this time featuring four unusual instruments from the museum collection. The others are a lira da braccio, an unusually shaped brass instrument, and a serpent. I will have to feature this whole set someday as the stamps are beautiful and the instruments are interesting.

Czechoslovakia

The next stamp comes from Czechoslovakia in 1982. Again, the stamp is part of a set. This time, the set features engravings of instruments. This particular engraving featuring a street musician holding a hurdy-gurdy is by the early seventeenth century artist Jacques Callot.

The Soviet Union

In 1989, the Soviet Union produced a series of stamps that depict folk instruments from its various regions. The above stamp shows instruments popular in Belarus, including a hurdy-gurdy. Notice the body shape is more “fiddle” like that on other versions of the instrument.

France

Although the hurdy-gurdy was extremely important to France, this is the only stamp I have from that country with the instrument. Of course, the stamp was part of a large set of stamps that depict musical instruments.

Belarus

Finally, in 1998, Belarus made a stamp featuring the hurdy-gurdy. It was one of two stamps in a set featuring folk instruments. Unfortunately, it is a terrible depiction of the instrument, as you cannot even see the keys. However, the hand crank at the bottom gives it away as a hurdy-gurdy.

Make sure and check out some music featuring the hurdy-gurdy. The below video is great because you can really see the instrument, how it works, and how the player makes music. Enjoy!