Hornbostel–Sachs
E579628
Hornbostel–Sachs is a widely used system for classifying musical instruments based on how they produce sound.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Hornbostel–Sachs membranophone | 3 |
| Hornbostel–Sachs canonical | 2 |
| Hornbostel–Sachs system | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6251609 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Hornbostel–Sachs Context triple: [Appalachian dulcimer, hasClassificationSystem, Hornbostel–Sachs]
-
A.
Hornbostel–Sachs 314.122-4-8
Hornbostel–Sachs 314.122-4-8 is the classification code in the Hornbostel–Sachs musical instrument system that designates the modern piano as a specific type of chordophone.
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B.
Harmonielehre
Harmonielehre is a large-scale orchestral work by American composer John Adams that blends minimalist techniques with late-Romantic harmonic richness and expressive power.
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C.
Leskowsky Musical Instrument Collection
The Leskowsky Musical Instrument Collection is a renowned Hungarian museum and collection featuring a vast array of traditional, historical, and rare musical instruments from around the world.
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D.
Classis Moesica
Classis Moesica was a Roman imperial fleet stationed along the lower Danube, responsible for patrolling and defending the empire’s northeastern river frontier.
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E.
Schillinger System of Musical Composition
The Schillinger System of Musical Composition is a mathematically based, highly systematic approach to music theory and composition developed by Joseph Schillinger that influenced modern music education and institutions like Berklee.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Hornbostel–Sachs Target entity description: Hornbostel–Sachs is a widely used system for classifying musical instruments based on how they produce sound.
-
A.
Hornbostel–Sachs 314.122-4-8
Hornbostel–Sachs 314.122-4-8 is the classification code in the Hornbostel–Sachs musical instrument system that designates the modern piano as a specific type of chordophone.
-
B.
Harmonielehre
Harmonielehre is a large-scale orchestral work by American composer John Adams that blends minimalist techniques with late-Romantic harmonic richness and expressive power.
-
C.
Leskowsky Musical Instrument Collection
The Leskowsky Musical Instrument Collection is a renowned Hungarian museum and collection featuring a vast array of traditional, historical, and rare musical instruments from around the world.
-
D.
Classis Moesica
Classis Moesica was a Roman imperial fleet stationed along the lower Danube, responsible for patrolling and defending the empire’s northeastern river frontier.
-
E.
Schillinger System of Musical Composition
The Schillinger System of Musical Composition is a mathematically based, highly systematic approach to music theory and composition developed by Joseph Schillinger that influenced modern music education and institutions like Berklee.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
musical instrument classification system
ⓘ
organological classification system ⓘ |
| appliesTo | musical instruments worldwide ⓘ |
| basedOn | Victor-Charles Mahillon’s instrument classification system ⓘ |
| classificationBasis | physical principles of sound production ⓘ |
| classificationCodeFormat | numeric ⓘ |
| classificationStructure |
decimal-like
ⓘ
hierarchical ⓘ |
| criterion | method of sound production ⓘ |
| definesClass |
aerophones
ⓘ
chordophones ⓘ electrophones ⓘ idiophones ⓘ membranophones ⓘ |
| describedAs |
standard reference system in organology
ⓘ
widely used ⓘ |
| distinguishesFrom |
classification by cultural origin
ⓘ
classification by musical genre ⓘ |
| field |
ethnomusicology
ⓘ
musicology ⓘ organology ⓘ |
| goal |
enable cross-cultural comparison of instruments
ⓘ
provide systematic classification of instruments ⓘ |
| hasComponent |
main class numbers
ⓘ
subclass numbers ⓘ suffixes for playing technique ⓘ |
| hasNotableUser |
ethnomusicologists
ⓘ
musical instrument museums ⓘ organologists ⓘ |
| hasTopLevelCategory |
aerophones
ⓘ
chordophones ⓘ electrophones ⓘ idiophones ⓘ membranophones ⓘ |
| inception | 1914 ⓘ |
| influenced |
Sachs–Hornbostel revisions by later scholars
ⓘ
ethnomusicological typologies ⓘ museum cataloguing standards for instruments ⓘ |
| laterExtension | electrophones category ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
Curt Sachs
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Erich Moritz von Hornbostel NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| originalPublicationLanguage | German ⓘ |
| publisherOfOriginalPaper | Zeitschrift für Ethnologie NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| scope | acoustic musical instruments ⓘ |
| use |
cataloguing instruments in academic research
ⓘ
classification of musical instruments ⓘ ethnomusicological comparison of instruments ⓘ organizing museum instrument collections ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Hornbostel–Sachs Description of subject: Hornbostel–Sachs is a widely used system for classifying musical instruments based on how they produce sound.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Hornbostel–Sachs system
this entity surface form:
Hornbostel–Sachs membranophone
this entity surface form:
Hornbostel–Sachs membranophone
this entity surface form:
Hornbostel–Sachs membranophone