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The picture shows a detail of the right wing which represents the Musicians' Level (after Fraenger).
In the Hell the normal relationships of the world are turned upside down. This is dramatically conveyed in the innocuous everyday objects which have swollen to monstrous proportions and serve as instruments of torture. One nude figure is attached by devils to the neck of a lute; another is helplessly entangled in the strings of a harp.
Several huge musical instruments figure prominently in Bosch's conception of hell. They are shaped similarly to the ones used at that time, but their positioning is unrealistic (for example, a harp grows out of a lute). Their relationship to each other bears strongly fanciful elements, and they have been adapted in form. What is more, the use of these instruments is wholly fantastic. There is a human figure stretched across the strings of a harp; another writhes around the neck of a flute, intertwined with a snake; a third peers out of a drum equipped with bird-like feet, the next one plays triangle while reaching out from a hurdy-gurdy, and even the smoking trumpet displays an outstretched human arm. It is difficult to conceive that the group of damned souls would sing a hymn from the musical score fixed to the reverse of the reclining figure in front of them - although this has been proposed by some scholars. The ensemble, lead by an infernal monster, could more likely be a parody.
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