REBEC: Italian musical instrument

The rebec is a bowed string musical instrument. In its common form, the musical instrument has a narrow boat-shaped body and about 1 to 5 strings. The musical instrument is played on the arm or the chin and it is the ancestor of the violin.

Dating back to the middle Ages, the musical instrument was prominent in the 15^th and 16^th centuries. Although it is a European musical instrument, the rebec was derived from the rebab, an Arabic bowed musical instrument, and the Byzantine Empire. The musical instrument was referred to by the name around the starting part of the 14^th century, though an analogous musical instrument, often known as lyra, had been performed since around the 9^th century.

The introduction of this musical instrument into Western Europe perhaps accorded with the conquest of Spain by the Moors, in the Iberian Peninsula. There is a witness of the existence of bowed musical instrument in the 9^th century in the Eastern Europe.

The musical instrument was adopted a major musical instrument in Arab classical music and in Morocco a traditional Arabo-Andalusian music has been kept living by the descendants of Muslims who left Spain as refugees following the Reconquista. The musical instrument became a favorite instrument in the tea houses of the Ottoman Empire and was the favorite until the advent of the violin, the only bowed musical instrument in the Ottoman Empire. A distinguishing feature of the musical instrument is that the body of the rebec is constructed from a solid piece of wood. This differentiates the musical instrument from the later period vielles and gambas that are known in the Renaissance.

The number of strings on the musical instrument differs from 1 to 5, although three strings is the most common number that can be found on the musical instrument. The strings of the musical instrument are normally tuned to 5^th, although this tuning is not the commonly general used tuning. The rebec was traditionally in the treble range, like the violin, but later larger versions of the musical instrument were fabricated, so that by the 16^th century, composers were able to write pieces for consorts of the instrument, like they did to the consorts of viols.

In time, the viol came to substitute this musical instrument and the rebec was little use beyond the renaissance time. The rebec was used by dance masters until the 18^th century. The musical instrument also continued to be used in the folk music, specifically in the eastern part of Europe and Spain.