The first ever xylophone that was used in an orchestra

Saint-Saëns was the first composer to use a xylophone in an orchestra - and this is the sort of instrument he would have seen - quite different from the xylophone we know today. We decided to build one for our performance of Saint-Saëns' Dance Macabre to get the perfect clattering sound for the skeletons.

Thu 26 Jan | 7pm
London, Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall

SAINT-SAËNS: Phaëton
SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto No 1
SAINT-SAËNS: Danse macabre
SAINT-SAËNS: Symphony No 3 ‘Organ Symphony’

Steven Isserlis cello
James McVinnie organ
Maxim Emelyanychev conductor

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[romulo-mello]

Even the xylophone is period instrument! Good job!

[musurgiauniversalis]

Saint-Saëns himself called this instrument "harmonica de bois et de paille".

[SpitfireRoad]

The dulcimer hammers and flat wood tone really evokes the imaginary sounds of dancing bones jingling and jangling in rhythm. Love this stuff.

[tscimb]

I wish it had stayed styled like that.
It would have emphasized it's uniqueness, and maybe wouldn't have been chucked into the grab-bag bin of 'not-pianos' for young percussionists just discovering new instruments.

[infinitecarz]

The mallets used look like ones used for a hammered dulcimer

[jared_bowden]

Interesting. I always thought that the xylophone was just a modified balafon, but it actually has Eastern-European folk roots.

[andycordy]

Fascinating! The hammers used here look like those used on a hammer dulcimer. The playing posture looks very uncomfortable on the back.

[keeskees]

The background music is 'The Two Imps' (K.J. Alford, or actually Frederick Ricketts). I played it many times in the 80's, when I was a little lad.

[TheScreamingFrog]

This is so cool!
I haven a marimba. Beautiful instrument ❤

[MusicSim]

Is there any full recording/performance of Danse Macabre using the Strohfidel?

[ZiSlepovitch]

Michal Josef Guzikov's instrument

[Baribrotzer]

I wonder how close the layout is to a cimbalom.

[itamarbar]

Why are 19th century pieces played with A4=415 tuning?

[ferretyluv]

Those are such weird mallets. What are they?

[RyanAlexanderBloom]

That’s a ridiculous layout. As a modern percussionist I hate it. Also, you can just take the resonators off a modern xylophone if you want a dry clattering sound. It takes literally 5 seconds. I do understand the interest in historical performance… as long as I don’t have to learn that layout myself.

[JessmanChicken]

You pronounce it "Sa Saw?" Jesus

[richsackett]

Fiddle is generic verb for musical instrument playing.

[iqhjtbv]

It came from Russia. Russian musician Alexander Kutikov made first four line xilofon in 19th century. Many russian percussionist played this xilophone in 20th century too. During my studying in musical colledge i saw one of this instrumens, it was wery old.