Philomel (musical instrument) Philomel (musical instrument) Philomel (; or "Stahlgeige" ) is the name of a musical instrument similar to the violin, but having four steel, wire strings. It has been invented around Monaco di Baviera in the middle of the nineteenth century and has got some similarities with the Bowedmelodion also known as Streichmelodion The philomel has a body with incurvations similar to those of the guitar; therefore, without corner blocks, the outline of the upper lobe forms a wavy shoulder reminiscent of the viols but more ornate and fanciful. The peg-box sometimes terminates in a fancy head instead of a scroll.
Berlin Musical Instrument Museum Hotteterre. Curt Sachs, Director from 1919-1933, brought a scientific approach to the collections. He was one of the founders of modern organology (the study of musical instruments) and co-authored the Sachs-Hornbostel system of instrument classification. The Museum rose to international importance and his catalogs form the basis of academic research papers to this day. When the Nazis seized power in 1933, Sachs was dismissed from his post by the Nazi Party and forced to emigrate because he was Jewish. In 1935, the musical instrument collection was removed from the Academy to the new National Institute for German Music Research headed