The harp has always been their principal instrument, and for many centuries a rude kind of violin called the crwth, of which there will be occasion to speak in connection with the violin, at a later period in this work. ❋ Unknown (1874)
Sinfi sings some of our Welsh songs, and accompanies herself on a peculiar obsolete Welsh instrument called a crwth, which she always carries with her. ❋ Theodore Watts-Dunton (1873)
After a while she widened her reputation in a curious way as the only performer on the old Welsh stringed instrument called the "crwth," or cruth. ❋ George Henry Borrow (1842)
w is a vowel in Welsh, so "crwth" really shouldn't be in the all consonant list. ❋ Unknown (2004)
Why does this sound like the last gasp of the geritol crwth? by John Little on Wednesday, Jan 6, 2010 at 8: 49: 11 PM ❋ Unknown (2010)
But, during the early 17th century, the crwth lost its prestige as the bardic system fell out of favour, and musical influences from mainland Europe became fashionable. ❋ Unknown (2007)
They sing Welsh poetry ranging from stanzas of the Gododdin 6th century, to ritual and †popular songs of the 18th and 19th centuries, and play the ancient strummed lyre of†Northern Europe, the crwth - the medieval bowed lyre - and an early medieval British yew trumpet, the bloodcurdling sounds of which open their interpretation of the Welsh Tristan story, Ystorya Trystan, which is part of the Arthurian epic. ❋ Unknown (2007)
"The crwth and the lyre, together with the harp, were the only instruments considered to be prestigious enough to accompany bardic music," said Mary-Anne. ❋ Unknown (2007)
In Pirate's maisonette, everyone is singing now a counterforce traveling song, with Thomas Gwenhidwy, who has not fallen to the dialectic curse of Pointsman's Book after all, accompanying on what seems to be a rosewood crwth: ❋ Pynchon, Thomas (1978)
Among these were a diminutive harp, which was laid on the table while being played, the fiddle, also called vielle or viola (prototypes of our violin), the very ancient crwth, crowd or chrotta (an instrument having originally three, but later five strings, now obsolete), and the hurdy-gurdy. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
The word is possibly of Celtic origin (Welsh crwth) and a doublet of the archaic crowd, or crowth, a fiddle. ❋ Ernest Weekley (1909)
Possibly an impulse was given the fiddle by the Moorish rebab, brought into Spain in the eighth century, but ancient Celtic bards had long before this used a bow instrument -- the chrotta or crwth, derived from the lyre, which was introduced by the Romans in their colonizing expeditions. ❋ Aubertine Woodward Moore (1885)
By looking at the original lute and the Arabian _rebeck_ or Welsh _crwth_ (originally Latin _chorus_), we can see how the modern violin received its generally rounded shape from the lute, its flatness from the _rebeck_, the sides of the instrument being cut out in order to give the bow free access to the side strings. ❋ Edward MacDowell (1884)
The bowed instruments were originally of two types, the first in the form of the lute or mandolin; the second probably derived from the Welsh _crwth_, consisting of a flat, long box strung with strings (called fidel from _fides_, "string"). ❋ Edward MacDowell (1884)
For, in addition to being able to accord the harp or the crwth, and play different themes with their variations, two preludes and other pieces "with their sharps and their flats," they had to know the "three styles of expression," and accent them with the voice in different styles of song. ❋ Unknown (1874)
Independently of the minstrels of this high class, they had also wandering minstrels who played the crwth of three strings, and who made themselves useful in the customary dances and songs of the peasants and the common people. ❋ Unknown (1874)
The second class of musical bards was composed of the players upon the crwth, of six strings. ❋ Unknown (1874)
