Torban

     A stringed plucked musical instrument from the lute family, related to theorbe and bandura, from which it differs in the presence of forced frets. Has 30 - 40 strings.
Outwardly, the torban is very similar to the German theorbo and angelica, but has more strings, like a bandura, that fit on the body. In order to produce a sound of a certain size, the torban player both presses the strings to be shortened to the fretboard and selectively produces sounds by plucking on the strings that cannot be shortened. It differs from its western relative in the absence of frets and strings (like a bandura), which expands its technical and timbre capabilities.
   History, origin

     Torban was widespread from the first half of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century in Poland, and later in Russia. The torban was invented by the Polish Paulite monk from Yasnaya Gora Tuliglovsky.
     Torban byl dorog v izgotovlenii, treboval slozhnykh priyomov igry, i byl dostupnym lish' dlya aristokraticheskikh salonov, kazatskoy starshiny, khotya bol'shinstvo ispolniteley-torbanistov byli "nizkogo" proiskhozhdeniya. Vozmozhno, eto bylo glavnoy prichinoy togo, chto etot instrument, kotoryy chasto nazyvali "panskoy banduroy", v nachale XX stoletiya byl udalen iz obikhoda kak nedostatochno proletarskiy Ещё 385 / 5 000 Результаты перевода Torban was expensive to manufacture, required complex playing techniques, and was accessible only to aristocratic salons, Cossack foremen, although most of the torban performers were of "low" origin. Perhaps this was the main reason why this instrument, which was often called the "gentleman's bandura", was removed from use at the beginning of the 20th century as insufficiently proletarian.

     Before the revolution of 1917, playing the torban was taught at the Moscow Conservatory.