Functionality

In the lira organizzata, a hybrid instrument, the crank operates the wheel for the strings and also works the bellows that make the pipes sound. A wind-chest regulates pressure and enables the musician to play the organ for a short space of time without having to crank the handle. The keyboard controls both the wooden organ-like pipes and the set of hurdy-gurdy-type strings, and a mechanism permits the player to engage either the pipes or the strings, or both together. The organ possesses two sets of stopped pipes, one along the side of the hurdy-gurdy and the other housed within the instrument’s body, beneath the bellows. The range, as required for Haydn’s works, is two and a half octaves.
The lira organizzata represents a challenge: that of playing simultaneously two very different instruments, the organ and the hurdy-gurdy. It takes both time and patience to master its playing and finally – the experience is rather like discovering treasure – hear its beautiful, delicate sound. The clear timbre and phrasing of the organ combine marvellously with the dynamics and flexibility of the string instrument.

Music

Following pieces for the lira organizzata are preserved: 5 Concerti for 2 organized hurdy-gurdies and 8 notturni 2 organized hurdy-gurdies by Joseph Haydn, one notturno and one fragment 2 organized hurdy-gurdies by Ignaz Pleyel and 3 "sinfonies" by Vicenzo Orgitano.
We also know about the commission of at least seven notturni at Adalbert Gyrowetz und maybe some more pieces at Franz Xavers Sterckel. One existing manuscript could not yet be assigned to a certain composer.
All the known works for the lira organizzata were written within a very short period of time and for Naples. One would therefore expect very few instruments to have survived. But that is not so, and the number of extant French instruments especially leads to the conclusion that musicians must have played the hurdy-gurdy repertoire on the lira organizzata.