Fidula & Flauto
Music accompanied many aspects of life in the Middle Ages: in churches and monasteries, at princely courts, in streets and squares, at festivities and dances, and during work. People sang and played instruments such as the fiddle, harp, flute, shawm, bagpipe, and jaw harp. Manuscripts, visual sources, and archaeological finds provide an insight into this diverse soundscape today.
The new special exhibition “Fidula & Flauto” follows these traces. It opens on 15 August 2026 and will be on display until 31 August 2026 in the Kornkasten in Steinhaus. The exhibition explores how music was notated, performed, and transmitted, which instruments were played in the Middle Ages, and what evidence has survived in manuscripts, wall paintings, and archaeological finds. A particular focus is placed on the reconstruction of historical instruments. Often, only individual fragments have survived. By comparing them with visual sources, similar finds, and historical descriptions, researchers can determine what an instrument may originally have looked and sounded like.
On Friday, 28 August 2026, “Fidula & Flauto” will also come to life through music. As part of the historical reenactment event “De Re Metallica” and to open the event weekend, Ensemble Tempus will present reconstructions of medieval instruments at 7 p.m. in the Kornkasten in Steinhaus. The musicians will explain how the instruments were made and played and discuss their sound before performing a concert of medieval music.
Ensemble Tempus has been working with historically informed performance practice and early music for many years. The concert will feature instruments whose forms and construction are based on historical models. Instruments presented in the exhibition through images, finds, and reconstructions can therefore also be experienced through their sound.
The new special exhibition “Fidula & Flauto” follows these traces. It opens on 15 August 2026 and will be on display until 31 August 2026 in the Kornkasten in Steinhaus. The exhibition explores how music was notated, performed, and transmitted, which instruments were played in the Middle Ages, and what evidence has survived in manuscripts, wall paintings, and archaeological finds. A particular focus is placed on the reconstruction of historical instruments. Often, only individual fragments have survived. By comparing them with visual sources, similar finds, and historical descriptions, researchers can determine what an instrument may originally have looked and sounded like.
On Friday, 28 August 2026, “Fidula & Flauto” will also come to life through music. As part of the historical reenactment event “De Re Metallica” and to open the event weekend, Ensemble Tempus will present reconstructions of medieval instruments at 7 p.m. in the Kornkasten in Steinhaus. The musicians will explain how the instruments were made and played and discuss their sound before performing a concert of medieval music.
Ensemble Tempus has been working with historically informed performance practice and early music for many years. The concert will feature instruments whose forms and construction are based on historical models. Instruments presented in the exhibition through images, finds, and reconstructions can therefore also be experienced through their sound.