clipped from: www.redorbit.com A new computer program has helped researchers to recreate a long extinct musical instrument known as the Lituus.
Though the 8-foot long trumpet-like instrument was popular in ancient Rome and throughout the middle-ages, it began to fall out of favor with composers some 300 years ago. Johann Sebastian Bach’s “O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht” — composed in 1736 — is one of the last known pieces of music to have been written for the instrument.
For the first time in hundreds of years, classical music buffs have been able to hear this famous composition as Bach intended it to sound.
Experts say that due to its size, it is an extremely awkward and difficult instrument to play and is able to produce only a limited range of notes. However, if played correctly, they say it lends Bach’s famous work a haunting, melancholy tone not achievable with modern instruments.