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{{Short description|Russian stringed musical instrument}}
{{Distinguish|Dombra}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox instrument
| name                  = ''Domra''
| image                 = Домра эксп. цеха фабрики Луначарского, 1970-е.JPG
| image_size            = 
| alt                   = 
| caption               = 
| background            = string
| names                 = 
| classification        = [[Plucked string instrument]]
| hornbostel_sachs      = 321.321
| hornbostel_sachs_desc = Composite [[chordophone]]
| inventors             = 
| developed             = 
| timbre                = 
| volume                = 
| attack                = 
| decay                 = 
| range                 = [[File:Domra Diapason.svg|center]]
| pitch                 = 
| related               = [[Balalaika]], [[mandolin]]
| musicians             = 
| builders              = 
| articles              = 
}}

The '''''domra''''' ({{langx|ru|домра}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈdɔmrɑ}}, {{plural form}} {{lang|ru|домры}}, ''domry'') is a long-necked Russian folk [[string instrument]] of the [[lute]] family.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Joyce |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Music |date=21 May 2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-957810-8 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199578108.001.0001/acref-9780199578108-e-2719 |language=en |chapter=domra}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Libin |first1=Laurence |title=The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-974339-1 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199743391.001.0001/acref-9780199743391-e-1925 |language=en |chapter=Domra}}</ref> It has a round body and three or four metal strings.

==Name==
According to A. S. Famintsyn, ''domra'' is the russified form of Arabic ''[[tanbura]]''.{{sfn|Findeizen|2008|loc="7. A Survey of Old Russian Folk Instruments"}}

==History==
The first known written mention of the ''domra'' is in ''Admonitions of Metropolitan Daniel'' (1530).{{sfn|Imkhanitskii|2018|p=105}} This musical instrument gained great popularity in the 16th–17th centuries, replacing the ''[[gusli]]''.{{sfn|Imkhanitskii|2018|p=134}} There are numerous mentions of the ''domra'' in historic documents of this period.{{sfn|Imkhanitskii|2018|p=135–136}} For instance, ''Alphabet'' (1654), in the Moscow Synodal Library, says: "As to what ''musikiia'' is: ''Musikiia'', playing, that is, the sounding of ''gusli'' and ''kiniry'', or lyres, and ''domry'', and similar things".{{sfn|Findeizen|2008|loc="7. A Survey of Old Russian Folk Instruments"}} 

In addition, medieval Russian [[Illuminated manuscript|illuminated manuscripts]] of the [[Book of Psalms|Psalter]] contain images of musicians with necked [[Plucked string instrument|plucked-string]] instruments, and some of those [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniatures]] are clearly captioned "[[depiction]] of domras". Judging by those images, late medieval Russian ''domry'' can be divided into two types: lute-shaped, which had five to six strings, a large body and а [[Tuning mechanisms for stringed instruments|pegbox]] angled back, and tanbur-shaped, which had three to four strings, a small body and a straight pegbox.{{sfn|Imkhanitskii|2018|p=139–153}}

After the pious Tsar [[Alexis of Russia]] issued an edict ordering the persecution of [[skomorokh|Russian folk musicians]] and destruction of their instruments (1648), the ''domra'' gradually came into disuse and was replaced by the [[balalaika]], which was much easier to make and play.{{sfn|Imkhanitskii|2018|p=153–156}} According to the edict:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prokhorov |first1=Vadim |title=Russian Folk Songs: Musical Genres and History |date=8 January 2002 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |isbn=978-1-4617-0182-8 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Russian_Folk_Songs/zXv9AAAAQBAJ |language=en |page=13}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=
Whenever domras appear, they should be confiscated and, after those objects of demonic games are broken, burned. And people who play them should be beaten and sent to the end of our state.
}}

In 1896, a student of [[Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev]] found a broken instrument in a stable in rural Russia. It was thought that this instrument may have been an example of a ''domra'', although at that time no illustrations or examples of the traditional ''domra'' were known to exist (the traditional ''domra'' was only known through numerous mentions in folklore, though examples existed of the ''[[dombra]]'', a related [[Music of Turkey|Turkic instrument]]). A three-stringed version of this instrument was later redesigned in 1896, patented, and introduced into the orchestra of Russian folk instruments.<ref>{{cite web |title=Государственный академический русский оркестр им. В. В. Андреева |trans-title=State Academic Russian Orchestra. V. V. Andreeva  |website=Andreyev Orchestra |place=Russia |url=http://www.andreyev-orchestra.ru |access-date=30 January 2021}}</ref>

==Orchestral instruments==
[[File:Soviet domra.jpg|thumb|A Soviet-made 4 string Ukrainian ''domra'']]
[[Image:Domra and bandola.jpg|thumb|''Domra'' (left) and Bandola Llanera (right)]]
The basic ''domra'' is tuned as follows:
* Three strings: EAD tuning. 
* Four strings: GDAE tuning (like the [[mandolin]] or the [[violin]])

Instruments are made in various sizes including piccolo, prima, alto, tenor, bass, and contrabass.

* [[Piccolo]]: b1 e2 a2<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com/en/instrumenter/domra-stemning-og-spillemade/tabulatur-for-piccolo-domra/|title=Tablature for piccolo domra |website=Balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com}}</ref>
* Prima: e1 a1 d2<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com/en/instrumenter/domra-stemning-og-spillemade/tabulatur-for-prim-domra/|title=Tablature for prima domra |website=Balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com}}</ref>
* [[Mezzo-soprano|Mezzo-Soprano]]: b e1 a1<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com/en/instrumenter/domra-stemning-og-spillemade/tabulatur-for-mezzosopran-domra/|title=Tablature for mezzosoprano domra |website=Balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com}}</ref>
* [[Alto]]: e a d1<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com/en/instrumenter/domra-stemning-og-spillemade/tabulatur-for-alt-domra/|title=Tablature for alto domra |website=Balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com}}</ref>
* [[Tenor]]: B e a<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com/en/instrumenter/domra-stemning-og-spillemade/tabulatur-for-tenor-domra/|title=Tablature for tenor domra |website=Balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com}}</ref>
* [[Bass (sound)|Bass]]: E A d<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com/en/instrumenter/domra-stemning-og-spillemade/tabulatur-for-bas-domra/|title=Tablature for bass domra |website=Balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com}}</ref>
* [[Contrabass]] (minor): 1E 1A D<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com/en/instrumenter/domra-stemning-og-spillemade/tabulatur-for-kontrabas-domra-den-hoje/|title=Tablature for contrabass domra (the minor) |website=Balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com}}</ref>
* Contrabass (major): 1A D G<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com/en/instrumenter/domra-stemning-og-spillemade/tabulatur-for-kontrabas-domra-den-lave/|title=Tablature for contrabass domra (the major) |website=Balalajka.dk.linux20.unoeuro-server.com}}</ref>

==Performers==
[[Tamara Volskaya]] is considered to be one of the leading contemporary performers on the ''domra''.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=State Magazine |date=January 1998 |publisher=Department of State |page=51 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/State/ZipNlvSTdjgC |title=Musicians Relax, Invigorate Audience |last=Bentel |first=John |language=en |issue=410}}</ref>

Aleksandr Tsygankov is considered to be one of the leading contemporary performers, teachers, and composers of the 3 string ''domra''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gragroup.com/alxtsgankov.html |title=Alexander Tsygankov and Inna Shevchenko |website=Gragroup.com |access-date=30 January 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
{{See also|Lute#History and evolution of the lute}}
*[[Balalaika]]
*[[Mandolin]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last1=Findeizen |first1=Nikolai |title=History of Music in Russia from Antiquity to 1800, Volume 1: From Antiquity to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century |date=7 February 2008 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-02637-8 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_Music_in_Russia_from_Antiquit/SZexDAAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book | last = Imkhanitskii | first = Mikhail I. | date = 2018 | title = Istoriia ispolnitel'stva na russkikh narodnykh instrumentakh (The history of performance on Russian folk instruments) | location = Moscow | publisher = Gnessin State Musical College}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.andreyev-orchestra.ru The Andreyev State Russian Orchestra]

{{Russian musical instruments}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Russian musical instruments]]
[[Category:Necked bowl lutes]]
[[Category:Russian folk music]]
[[Category:Russian inventions]]