Torban

The torban is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque Lute with those of the psaltery. The Тorban differs from the more common European Bass lute known as the Theorbo in that it had additional short treble strings strung along the treble side of the soundboard. It appeared ca. 1700, probably influenced by the central European Theorbo and the Angelique which Cossack mercenaries would have encountered in the Thirty Years' War, although the likelier possibility is that certain Tuliglowski, a paulite monk, was its inventor. The Torban was manufactured and used mainly in Ukraine, but also occasionally encountered in neighbouring Poland and Russia. There are about 40 torbans in museums around the world, with the largest group of 14 instruments in St. Petersburg. The term "torban" was often misapplied in the vernacular in western Ukraine to any instrument of the Baroque Lute type until the early 20th century. The surviving printed musical literature for torban is extremely limited, notwithstanding the widespread use of the instrument in Eastern Europe.