(Fr. cordes sympathiques; Ger. Resonanzsaiten; It. corde di resonanza).
In string instruments, strings that are not played (i.e. not bowed or plucked) but nevertheless sound ‘in sympathy’ with the same note (or one of its partials) emanating from another sounding string, generally one activated by bowing. Consequently, sympathetic strings are generally, although not always, tuned in unison with the bowed strings, and they are used in varying numbers on such instruments as the viola d'amore, baryton, Hardanger fiddle, trumpet marine, sitār and sārangī. A typically strung, large 18th-century viola d'amore, for instance, has six or seven bowed strings and, in addition, six or more (up to 14) ‘sympathetic’ wire or brass strings, strung from the tuning-pegs and thence underneath the fingerboard and running through holes in the middle of the bridge to pins securing the strings at the tailpiece (for illustration, seeBridge, fig.1). These last-mentioned strings are not bowed but vibrate sympathetically in unison with the fundamental or partial of the bowed strings, creating a silvery resonance. The dozen or so sympathetic strings on a sitār are positioned to be accessible for plucking during performance, running to one side of the main strings and under the raised frets. Those on the baryton run under the fingerboard and may be plucked from behind the neck by the thumb of the left hand. Sympathetic strings are sometimes added to the highest register of the piano, and are called ‘Aliquot strings’. Introduced originally (1873) into the upper registers of Blüthner pianos, they give an added resonance. The tendency of strings to vibrate sympathetically with each other is exploited to enhance the overall resonance of all string instruments (including those without extra sympathetic strings). This effect becomes especially prominent when ‘open’ Scordatura tunings are used, for example, by the Lyra viol (the sound of the Lirone is also characterized by this resonance).
DAVID D. BOYDEN/R