Italian Harpsichord-Building
in the
16th and 17th Centuries
by John D. Shortridge
(REPRINTED WITH CHANGES—1970)
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 225 · Paper 15, Pages 93–107
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS · WASHINGTON, D.C. · 1970
Figure 1.—Outer case of Albana harpsichord.Italian Harpsichord-Building
in the 16th and 17th Centuries
By John D. Shortridge
The making of harpsichords flourished in Italy throughout the 16th and17th centuries. The Italian instruments were of simpler constructionthan those built by the North Europeans, and they lacked the familiarsecond manual and array of stops.
In this paper, typical examples of Italian harpsichords from the HugoWorch Collection in the United States National Museum are described indetail and illustrated. Also, the author offers an explanation forcertain puzzling variations in keyboard ranges and vibrating lengths ofstrings of the Italian harpsichords.
The Author: John D. Shortridge is associate curator of cultural historyin the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
PERHAPS the modern tendency to idealize progress has been responsiblefor the neglect of Italian harpsichords and virginals during the presentday revival of interest in old musical instruments. Whatever laudabletraits the Italian builders may have had, they cannot be considered tohave been progressive. Their instruments of the mid-16th century hardlycan be distinguished from those made around 1700. During this 150 yearsthe pioneering Flemish makers added the four-foot register, a secondkeyboard, and lute and buff stops to their instruments. However, thevery fact that the Italian builders were unwilling to change theirmodels suggests that their instruments were good enough to demand nofurther improvements. Anyone who has heard a properly restored Italianharpsichord or an accurately made reproduction will agree that the toneof such instruments is of exceptional beauty.
This paper consists of a description of the structural features of twotypical Italian instruments and a general discussion of the stringingand tuning of Italian harpsichords and virginals that is based oncertain measurements of 33 instruments housed in various museums in theUnited States. To the curators and other staff members of theseinstitutions I express my sincere gratitude for making it possible forme to measure valuable instruments entrusted to their care or forsupplying similar information by mail.
The first type of instrument described below usually has been designatedin modern books about musical instruments and in catalogs of instrumentcollections as a spinet, the term virginal being applied to therectangular instruments having the keyboard along the long side. Since