Hannibal Lecter's Favorite Instrument

[Peter Pringle]

Here's a short clip from the NBC television series HANNIBAL, based on the character of Hannibal Lecter from THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. I tried to post this privately to YT but the video has a digital marker in it that identifies it as the property of NBC. As soon as I posted it, YT blocked it worldwide.

The black man who owns the violin shop is also a serial killer.........charming.

I watched the entire episode which was sent to me in mp4 format by a theremin fan......not particularly interesting or well done....same old, same old........say mold.

http://www.peterpringle.com/lecter.mov

[David Curtis]

Hannibal Lecter and his theremin first came to light in the Thomas Harris book 'Hannibal' - the sequel to SOTL.:

At Sotheby's in New York, he purchased two excellent musical instruments, rare finds both of them. The first was a late-eighteenth-century Flemish harpsichord nearly identical to the Smithsonian's 1745 Dulkin, with an upper manual to accommodate Bach - the instrument was a worthy successor to the gravicembalo he had in Florence. His other purchase was an early electronic instrument, a theremin, built on the 1930s by Professor Theremin himself. The theremin had long fascinated Dr. Lecter. He had built one as a child. lt is played with gestures of the empty hands in an electronic field. By gesture you evoke its voice

The episode of the TV show 'Hannibal' (set before 'Red Dragon') also featured a harpsichord. I don't recall if it was Flemish in design, or if it had an upper manual.

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[Gordon Charlton]

Much as I agree with the character's assessment of the instrument, I do not think he is very much like the Hannibal character from the books.

Lecter has a deep appreciation of the fine arts, including classical music, and is fastidious about observing social conventions. Furthermore his senses are acute - he is visually very observant and his sense of smell is highly developed. One would imagine this refinement extends to his hearing too, certainly he can identify regional accents very well. In the book he is interesting in purchasing an RCA theremin, a classical rather than experimental instrument.

All these factors suggest to me that he is more likely to be a precision thereminist rather than one who explores between the notes.

Gordon

[Gordon Charlton]

Correction - not an RCA - one built by Theremin. And I read David's post just before posting my own!

[Peter Pringle]

In the TV episode from which the clip is taken, Lecter tells the proprietor of the violin shop that he is looking for gut strings for his harpsichord.

HELLO???? Gut strings for a harpsichord?

The violin shop owner is in the disconcerting habit of making musical instruments out of people. In this particular episode he makes a viol out of some poor sod, and tries to bow the vocal cords as if they were a cello!

[Jesper Pedersen]

I couldn't resist searching for gut strung harpsichord and learned about something I didn't know existed: http://www.baroquemusic.org/barluthp.html Thanks for the hint Peter! Apparently J.S. Bach had two of these extremely rare instruments. 

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[mpic...@earthlink.net]

Fascinating! I want one!

Beautiful sound.

Gotta win the lottery...

S

[Peter Pringle]

What a magnificent work of art that instrument is! I have never seen one before, although I am acquainted with it under the name of "lautenclavicymbel". It differs from the harpsichord in a number of important ways, but it is certainly a member of the harpsichord family of instruments. 

Gee....do you suppose Hannibal Lecter had one of these? I sure hope he didn't spill food on it!

[Peter Pringle]

Here is an audio-only YT video of the lautenwerk lute/harpsichord. It sounds as great as it looks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Lfg7_FprY

[Lawrence P Kaster]

It's amusing, to me, that we can discuss a rare musical instrument in terms of an imaginary serial killer's preference for obscurities, and somehow feel a relevance missing from my own fable last week about a much more ordinary sort of death.  Perhaps it is more shocking to consider a death at the paws of furry predators than at the hand of a human sociopath.  The stories told on our TV Networks and in popular film seem to be acceptable enough in regards to grisly detail. 

Either way, I offer no apology for my bluntness.  I was, however, being perhaps a little too obtuse:  I was probably thinking of wolves in the sense of a group of critics, and of symbiotic relationships in general. 

Then I am not unused to being accused of having a new-age sort of philosophy. But really, since the date of 'convergence' is well passed can we now simply let such accusations rest? It's such a catch-all and meaningless term, anyway. Like Jazz, it means so many things to so many people that we need to have another insult to use. Dilettante? Hobbyist? Eclectic?

LPKaster

http://lpkaster.com

Sent from my iPhone

[Peter Pringle]

Lawrence wrote:

It's amusing, to me, that we can discuss a rare musical instrument in terms of an imaginary serial killer's preference for obscurities, and somehow feel a relevance missing from my own fable last week about a much more ordinary sort of death.

Lawrence,

I'm not sure what post you are referring to here......

As for Hannibal Lecter, it should come as no surprise that he seems to elicit more interest as a fictional character than other assorted, real life, flesh & blood critters. 

[Lawrence P Kaster]

Not surprised, either. Just amused...

LPKaster

http://lpkaster.com

Sent from my iPhone

[mpic...@earthlink.net]

Gorgeous!

I quoted you all on Friday's performance. Our classical guitarist was doing a Bach piece for Lautenwerk on the guitar.

She mentioned that no one really knows what a Lautenwerk is and that guitarists commandeer the music all the time to play it on the guitar.

I told her what you all had discovered about the Lautenwerk lute/harpsichord and what it was etc. A very cool moment.

Thanks fellas! Was that random or what?

XOXO,

S

On May 23, 2013, at 7:06 AM, Peter Pringle wrote:

Here is an audio-only YT video of the lautenwerk lute/harpsichord. It sounds as great as it looks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Lfg7_FprY