Italian Harpsichord-Building in the 16th and 17th Centuries
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Italian Harpsichord-Building in the 16th and 17th Centuries - John D. Shortridge
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Title: Italian Harpsichord-Building in the 16th and 17th Centuries
Author: John D. Shortridge
Release Date: November 4, 2008 [EBook #27149]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALIAN HARPSICHORD-BUILDING ***
Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist
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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 and 17th centuries. The Italian instruments were of simpler construction than those built by the North Europeans, and they lacked the familiar second manual and array of stops.
In this paper, typical examples of Italian harpsichords from the Hugo Worch Collection in the United States National Museum are described in detail and illustrated. Also, the author offers an explanation for certain puzzling variations in keyboard ranges and vibrating lengths of strings of the Italian harpsichords.
The Author: John D. Shortridge is associate curator of cultural history in the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
PERHAPS the modern tendency to idealize progress has been responsible for the neglect of Italian harpsichords and virginals during the present day revival of interest in old musical instruments. Whatever laudable traits the Italian builders may have had, they cannot be considered to have been progressive. Their instruments of the mid-16th century hardly can be distinguished from those made around 1700. During this 150 years the pioneering Flemish makers added the four-foot register, a second keyboard, and lute and buff stops to their instruments. However, the very fact that the Italian builders were unwilling to change their models suggests that their instruments were good enough to demand no