Dolceolas were made from 1903 to 1907 and were sold for $25 by traveling salesmen. This short-lived curiosity looks sort of like a tiny piano but is from a family of early 20th Century instruments called fretless zithers. It has a small piano-like keyboard with hammers that strike one string per note on the right side. The left keys trigger bass strings and prearranged chord strings. The number of playable survivors is said to be fewer than 50.
The first commercial recording of the Dolceola was made in 1944 for Capitol Records' Southern Folklife Collection on which Paul Howard used one to accompany blues guitarist, Lead Belly. T-Bone Burnett has used one with Bonnie Raitt and Nashville musician Andy Cohen is one of the few virtuoso Dolceolists, today.
Resources: Keyscape Reference Guide
All musical instrument manufacturer and product names used in Keyscape are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Spectrasonics. The trademarks of other manufacturers are used solely to identify the products of those manufacturers whose tones and sounds were studied during Spectrasonics sound development. All names of musical artists and instrument inventors have been included for illustrative and educational purposes only and do not suggest any affiliation or endorsement of Keyscape by any artist or instrument inventor.
