Daniel Wing

Gusli is an ancient Slavonic multi-string plucked musical instrument of the dulcimer and zither family. This instrument bears similarities with the Greek kithara, the Jewish nevel, the Finnish kantele, etc. It’s important to mention that many ethnic groups have their own versions of this instrument, which presumably share common roots. Yet nobody can trace those roots to the times of origin of these instruments, though their resemblance is quite evident.

Aeolus' first collaboration with the Mainz cathedral organist Daniel Beckmann leads us to the Bernhard Dreymann organ, which has been restored to its former glory, in the St. Ignazkirche in Mainz. The instrument, built in 1837 at the beginning of the Romantic period, was praised by Christian Heinrich Rinck as exemplary for the then modern organ building and fits exactly into the time of Robert Schumann's works for pedal grand pianos or organ.
At the time that Robert Schumann was composing his studies and fugues for pedal grand pianos, the instrument organ was in shadow in most European countries.