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Harpsichord, §4: 18th century
4. 18th century.
(i) France.
The history of French harpsichord making at the beginning of the 18th century is largely an
account of the rapid expansion of the keyboard compass and the definitive adoption of a national
variant of the thick-cased, long-scaled Ruckers design. Although harpsichords of the 1690s were
still made with the typical 17th-century compass of G′/B′–c‴ and sometimes with other features of
earlier styles, such as thin cases and moulded bridges, a harpsichord made by Nicolas Dumont
in Paris in 1707 (private collection, France), with compass F′–e‴, has most of the characteristics
of a mature 18th-century French instrument. The reasons for these changes seem to have been
the preference of musicians for the tone of Ruckers harpsichords and for the expanded musical
possibilities inherent in larger instruments.
Although Ruckers harpsichords had long been known in France, they had existed alongside
native instruments, many of which were radically dissimilar in scaling and construction. Even
those instruments from the middle of the 17th century (such as those made by Jean Denis in
1648, Claude Jacquet in 1652 and Louis Denis in 1658; see §3(ii)(a) above) whose external
design coincidentally resembles that of Ruckers harpsichords are significantly different internally,
having, for example, ribs crossing under the bridges and much lighter 4′ hitch-pin rails. The
increasing regard for Ruckers harpsichords towards the end of the century, however, is shown by
deliberate imitations of them by French makers, for example by Michel Richard in 1688 (see §3(ii)
(a) above) and by a certain ‘D.F.’ (undated instrument in the collection of Yannick Guillou, Paris,
described by Anselm, C1996). Both instruments are not only thick-cased and long-scaled but
also decorated with Antwerp-style soundboard painting and, in the ‘D.F.’, block-printed papers.
While some divergences from Ruckers practice, such as the positioning of the bottom braces
nearly perpendicular to the bentside rather than to the spine, may be seen as reasonable efforts
to strengthen the case, the reinforcement of the soundboard with ribs crossing under the bridges
suggests that Richard and ‘D.F.’ did not entirely appreciate all the subtleties of Ruckers
soundboard design. Nevertheless, the massive Ruckers-style 4′ hitch-pin rails in these
harpsichords indicates that their makers were beginning to adopt Ruckers principles more than
superficially.
Knowledge of all aspects of the design of Ruckers harpsichords was undoubtedly acquired
during ravalement, the process of rebuilding old harpsichords to suit new musical requirements.
A normal Ruckers transposing harpsichord with the range of C/E–f‴ on the lower manual could
accommodate the normal 17th-century French compass of G′/B′–c‴ without altering the string
spacing on the bridge or the scale, simply by aligning the keyboards. While the original Ruckers
keys were usually retained in ravalements done in the Low Countries, French rebuilders routinely
supplied new keyboards and actions in their own more delicate style. That this was already being
done in the 1680s is suggested by the Richard harpsichord of 1688, which, with a false ‘HR’ rose
and the date ‘1613’ painted on the soundboard, was evidently intended to be passed off from the
start as a Ruckers rebuilt with French keyboards and disposition. Ravalement also normally
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Harpsichord, §4: 18th century
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included the addition of a second choir of 8′ strings. Almost as many Ruckers or Couchet
harpsichords with French keyboards and actions, but with unaltered cases and soundboards,
survive from the first quarter of the 18th century, as do original French instruments of the period.
Likewise attesting to their popularity in this period are workshop inventories of Nicholas and
François-Etienne (ii) Blanchet (see Hubbard, A1965), which list nearly as many ‘Flemish’
harpsichords as there are new instruments under construction. This popularity continued
throughout the century, but the demand for an increased compass altered the purity of design of
these early ravalements. A G′–c‴ keyboard with the narrower French spacing could be fitted in to
the case of a standard Ruckers double. The less common type of Ruckers double with chromatic
basses could accommodate a G′–c‴ compass without alteration of the spacing and, with Frenchstyle
keyboards, the compass could be G′–d‴ or even e‴. Further extensions of the compass,
however, required more radical rebuilding of the old harpsichords.
The full five-octave compass of F′–f‴, which was to remain standard until the decline in
harpsichord making at the end of the century, is already found in instruments made by Pierre
Donzelague in Lyons in 1711 (London, private collection) and 1716 (Musée Lyonnais des Arts
Décoratifs, Lyons). In Parisian harpsichords, however, the standard range from early in the
century until about 1760 was F′–e‴, but G′–e‴ was not uncommon. This is strange as the music
of the period almost never exceeds G′–d‴. The F′ was used in one piece each by Rameau and
François Couperin (ii) in their solo harpsichord works, but it was not in general use until the
1740s. Neither Couperin nor Rameau employed e‴ in their solo works. Dagincourt used it in
1733 (Pièces de clavecin), but it was not often found until the F′ was commonly written. The e‴
seems to have fulfilled a sense of order: the keyboards were balanced with one natural after a
group of sharps at each end. G′–e‴ instruments, such as a Louis Bellot of 1742 (Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York) and a Jean Goermans of 1748 (private collection, USA), continued to be
made almost to mid-century. Indeed, much of the repertory from the first half of the century is
playable on instruments with the old compass beginning on G′/B′, especially if there are a divided
E key and the c ‴ and d‴ that were often crowded into the existing cases of old instruments
undergoing ravalement. Perhaps the major advantage of chromatic basses beginning on F′ or G′
was not the availability of more accidentals in the bass but rather the more sonorous tone
resulting from larger soundboards and longer bass strings. Already in the first volume of François
Couperin's Pièces de clavecin (1713), several pieces exploit this rich low tessitura. By 1760 the
compass F′–f‴ had become standard in Parisian harpsichords. During the late 1770s and the
1780s a few harpsichords were made with the compass E′–f‴. The purpose of the added E′ key
is not known, but it may have been tuned to a lower note in some short-octave arrangement along
with the seldom-used F ′ and G ′ keys.
Nicholas Blanchet, who was admitted to the guild in 1689, founded the most important dynasty of
Parisian harpsichord makers, which included his son François-Etienne (i), grandson FrançoisEtienne
(ii) and Pascal Taskin, who worked for the last-named and married his widow. Eight
harpsichords by the Blanchets and seven by Taskin are known to survive. In the 1740s the
Blanchets’ connection with the court began, and shortly after the middle of the century their firm
became ‘facteur des clavessins du Roi’. During this time, besides their maintenance work for the
court, they became increasingly occupied with the rebuilding of Ruckers and Couchet
harpsichords into large five-octave French instruments. About as many of these rebuilds survive
as do harpsichords entirely made by Blanchet and Taskin. Two other families were notable: Jean
Goermans and his son Jacques (c1740–89; later Jacques Germain), and Henri Hemsch (1700–
69), his brother Guillaume (1709–74) and their nephew Jean-Henri Moers (1734–93). About nine
of the Goermans’ harpsichords and nine by the Hemsch family survive; four of Henri Hemsch's
date from the decade 1751–61, a remarkable survival rate. The majority of 18th-century French
harpsichord makers were of the Parisian school, but there was a distinct though similar school in
Lyons. 18th-century harpsichords from other parts of France are rare, and most of them are either
archaic or are the occasional work of an artisan of another craft such as organ building.
A great portion of the energies of 18th-century French harpsichord makers appears to have gone
into the massive rebuilding of older harpsichords, especially those of the Ruckers family. Since a
rebuilt Ruckers harpsichord was worth several times as much as a new instrument in 18thcentury
Paris, such a diversion of the makers’ efforts from building new instruments was clearly
justified on a financial basis. It led not only to the most elaborate sort of rebuilding, including the
conversion of narrow 45-note-compass single-manual instruments to five-octave doubles and the
building of new harpsichords around the soundboards of old virginals, but also to outright faking
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of new instruments to make them look like rebuilds. But as the rebuilding was intended to update
earlier instruments to current musical requirements and not to preserve their antique qualities,
the sound of a Ruckers or Couchet harpsichord rebuilt by Taskin represents late-18th-century
Paris rather than 17th-century Antwerp.
The Blanchets and Taskin were famous for their work in this vein, and they applied to it all the
ingenuity and craftsmanship found in the instruments they built in their own names, producing
neither crude enlargements in which extra notes were crammed into the bass (in effect sliding the
keyboard towards the treble, thereby disastrously shortening the scaling) nor such dubious
expedients as the jointing of extensions on to the wrest plank and belly rail. Rather, they used a
wide variety of slightly differing techniques, determined by the nature of the original instruments.
Of these, the most subtle and ingenious involved rebuilding the spine, in addition to the usual
extending of the bentside and bridges and replacement of the cheekpiece, wrest plank and belly
rail with new ones of appropriate length. The front of the original spine was cut down to the level of
the soundboard. A tapered layer of new wood of the same size would then be added on the
outside of the cut-down original spine; then a wholly new spine of the same height as the rest of
the case, and long enough to reach the front of the instrument, would be glued on to the outside of
the tapered piece. The result was simultaneously to provide more room at the front of the
instrument for additional bass keys and to rotate the entire body of the instrument with respect to
the strings. This rotation, in turn, had the effect of lengthening the scaling to compensate for the
shortening produced by the addition of the new notes in the bass. For all their rebuilds, the
Blanchets, Taskin and other reputable makers also supplied beautifully made new French-style
keyboards and actions.
Except for their size, the construction of early 18th-century French harpsichords was very similar to
that of Ruckers. The framing was a bit heavier, especially the upper struts, which were more
numerous. A horizontal brace was glued to the back edges of the upper belly rail in two Blanchet
harpsichords of 1730 (private collection, USA) and 1733 (Château de Thoiry). This brace or ‘T’
section, a normal feature of later Blanchet and Taskin harpsichords, enormously stiffened the
belly rail, and struts running from it to the bentside, along with gap spacers between the wrest
plank and belly rail, strengthened this critical area. In some instruments by other makers,
including Henri Hemsch, the upper struts are set on edge and butt against the liners rather than
lying flat under them. Case sides were sometimes of a softwood (spruce or fir) rather than poplar,
which was invariably used by the Ruckers. Bentsides, however, were usually of poplar, since
resinous softwoods are difficult to wet-bend. While Ruckers bentsides and those of most 17thcentury
French harpsichords are curved throughout their entire length, French bentsides early in
the 18th century assumed a characteristic shape with the curve concentrated in the treble and the
remainder, towards the tail, straight. Those of the 1730 and 1733 Blanchets are straight for
almost two thirds of their lengths. This shape continued in use in the Blanchet-Taskin workshop
and was also used by Henri Hemsch and others; completely curved bentsides occur only
occasionally later in the century. Bentsides were never made to incorporate the tail in an S-curve.
In the second half of the century, the framing became a bit heavier and more sophisticated, and
the sides were a little thicker, walls of 18 mm being not uncommon and spines even thicker, up to
about 24 mm. In Taskin’s harpsichords the framing, liners, ribbing and 4′ hitch-pin rail are
beautifully rounded.
The soundboard barring generally follows the Ruckers pattern but, especially in the first half of the
century, was not so standardized. The 1707 Dumont and 1733 Blanchet lack cut-off bars, and the
ribs perpendicular to the spine extend to the 4′ hitch-pin rail. The 1730 Blanchet has a normal cutoff
bar but, like the 1707 Dumont, it has two ribs crossing the 8′ section of the soundboard around
the midsection and tenor, and a third approaches the bass of the 8′ bridge from the 4′ hitch-pin
rail. Harpsichords by Henri Hemsch, probably 1736 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and by
Hemsch’s master, Antoine Vater, in 1738 (private collection, France), have ribs parallel to the
spine crossing the bridges. All known 18th-century French ribs were cut out to free the
soundboard where they pass under bridges. Cross-ribs are not found in the later Blanchet and
Taskin instruments and were only occasionally used by makers in the second half of the century,
as in a Jacques Germain harpsichord of 1785 (America's Shrine to Music Museum, Vermillion,
South Dakota) in which a rib crosses under the 8′ bridge in the tenor. Some makers, including
Vater and Henri Hemsch, curved their cut-off bars to be parallel to the 4′ bridge.
The keyboards and actions of 18th-century French harpsichords continue the design of the
previous century but are a little heavier, with wider jacks, a slightly wider key span (the three-
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octave measure typically 477 mm), and thicker key levers, especially in the lower manual.
Boxwood arcades replaced the carved trefoils on the key fronts, and the sharps, instead of being
solid bone, were composed of a thin bone slip glued to a black stained wooden base. The jackslides
and guides were still made of wood covered with punched-leather bearing surfaces, and
the accurately made jacks were slightly tapered in width and thickness, fitting the slide only when
at rest. These actions were light and quiet, and repeated very quickly. Apparently very few singlemanual
harpsichords were made; these were almost always disposed 2 × 8′. The two-manual
disposition of an 8′ and 4′ register on the lower manual, shove coupler, and an 8′ on the upper,
with the 4′ between the 8′s and the lower 8′ plucking the longer strings remained absolutely
standard until the third quarter of the century.
After the middle of the century several additions to the standard French two-manual disposition
began to appear. The buff stop, rare in the first half of the century, became almost universal.
During the late 1750s harpsichords began to be equipped with a variety of foot- or knee-operated
devices for producing crescendo effects and for changing registers without taking the hands from
the keyboard. The first of these, developed by the Dutch maker Andries Veltman (Weltman,
Wittman) in collaboration with a certain Dumontier, was advertised in Paris in 1758 and was
demonstrated the following year to the Royal Academy of Sciences. In addition to knee levers to
control the registers it was provided with a hammer action and glockenspiel. In the late 1760s an
innovation of more lasting significance was introduced, a fourth register having jacks fitted with
plectra of soft buff leather (peau de buffle) added behind the three registers of the normal twomanual
disposition as a special solo stop. The peau de buffle jacks pluck the same strings as
the normal, quilled, lower-manual 8′ jacks, which should be disengaged when the fourth register
is in use. Most writings of the period credit the invention of the peau de buffle register to Taskin in
1768, although J.-B. de La Borde (Essai sur la musique, Paris, 1780) ascribed the initial idea to
the prominent organist, harpsichordist and composer Claude-Bénigne Balbastre, who is known
to have had a harpsichord fitted with this device in 1770. A similar invention was claimed by a
certain de Laine, who in 1769 announced an instrument fitted with leather plectra and a pedal to
change the registers. Soft peau de buffle plectra tend to stroke the strings rather than pluck them.
Thus a certain amount of dynamic nuance is made possible by touch alone. Except, perhaps, for
the occasional three-register harpsichord provided with peau de buffle as a substitute for the
customary quill of the lower-manual 8′, peau de buffle was normally only used as a fourth register
in harpsichords also provided with knee levers to change the stops. As devised by Taskin in 1768
and found in most of the extant late 18th-century harpsichords made or rebuilt by Taskin or other
Parisian builders, five or six pommels, to be raised by the knees, are held in the front rail of the
harpsichord’s stand. From left to right these control: a decrescendo, which gradually removes the
4′, then the lower-manual quilled 8′, then the upper 8′, leaving the piano tone of the peau de buffle;
the 4′; the lower-manual quilled 8′; the shove coupler (in some instruments this pommel is
absent and the coupler is controlled by hand in the usual manner); the peau de buffle; and a
batten that raises all the peau de buffle jacks when they are not in use in order to keep the touch
as light as possible.
The peau de buffle and knee levers or pedals to change the stops came into being at about the
same time as the piano was being introduced to France from Germany and England. Grand
pianos by Johann Heinrich Silbermann of Strasbourg were known in Paris by 1759, and in 1763
Balbastre owned a clavecin à marteaux (grand piano) made by Blanchet. Another was in
Blanchet’s workshop at the time of his death in 1766. Although the repertory associated with the
early German-style grand pianos and the English square pianos which became very popular in
Paris in the late 1760s was in the Italian and German styles, the addition of knee levers and peau
de buffle to the beloved French harpsichord was manifestly an attempt, far more successful than
most such efforts, to graft on to it some of the qualities of the piano, which itself was incapable of
realizing works in the highly idiomatic style of the clavecinistes. Late 18th-century French
harpsichords with these devices possess all the musical qualities of earlier harpsichords, and
the peau de buffle provides the option of a voluptuous tone which is quite similar to that of pianos
by Cristofori and the Silbermanns.
The plan of the average 18th-century French harpsichord more nearly follows that of the chromatic
rather than the short-octave Ruckers transposer. This design had shorter tenor scaling to keep
the tailpiece from becoming too wide in a wider instrument of the same length. The French tonal
ideal around 1700 was that of Ruckers, but making larger instruments resulted in a grander and
smoother tone. Although the ‘presence’ and immediacy of a small instrument were lost, the
sound was no less transparent. As the century passed, the tone grew more complex and less
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English two-manual harpsichord
action, 18th century
direct; nevertheless even the late Taskins never lost the balance bewteen attack and sustaining
power that permits cleanness of articulation. The declamatory style of French keyboard music
from the 17th century to the Rococo period required this sensitivity to articulation, and their
harpsichords met the demand well. Indeed, although there is little evidence that French
harpsichords were exported to other countries during the 18th century, it has been recognized
during the 20th-century revival of the harpsichord that the classic five-octave French double
perhaps comes closest to the ideal of an all-purpose instrument, versatile enough to be a
satisfactory medium for the interpretation of harpsichord music of all countries and periods. Thus
modern harpsichords modelled after the work of Taskin and other 18th-century French makers
have been in widespread use since the last half of the 20th century.
Whether new or rebuilt, a French 18th-century harpsichord was a major piece of decorative
furniture. The soundboards were painted with flowers in a more sophisticated style than the
Flemish, the cases were painted or lacquered in any of a variety of fashionable styles and the
instruments were equipped with elaborate six-, seven- or eight-legged bases often carved and
gilded in one of the royal styles. Simpler instruments were painted in one or two colours, panelled
with gold bands and mouldings and fitted with less elaborate bases but still in one of the royal
styles. Despite the use of walnut and marquetry in 17th-century harpsichords, and the superb
quality of veneered furniture in 18th-century France, French harpsichords seem never to have
been veneered.
William R. Dowd/John Koster
(ii) England.
The standard 18th-century national type of harpsichord seems to have crystallized slightly earlier
in England than in France, namely in the work of Hermann Tabel (d 1738), a builder, trained in
Antwerp, who moved to London in about 1700. Both of the makers whose firms dominated
English harpsichord building in the 18th century, Burkat Shudi (1702–73) and Jacob Kirkman
(1710–92), worked in Tabel’s shop and both built instruments strikingly like the sole surviving
example of Tabel’s work, a double-manual harpsichord dated 1721 .
A typical Shudi or Kirkman double has a 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′ specification,
disposed so that one 8′ register, known as the dogleg, is available
from both manuals, while the lower manual has the second 8′ and
the 4′ register, and the upper manual has a lute register as an
alternative to the dogleg. In addition, a buff stop on a Shudi acts on
the lower-manual 8′ strings, and on a Kirkman on the dogleg 8′
strings (fig.3). Their cases are made of oak, and are veneered
mostly in walnut in early examples and mahogany in later ones. All are invariably cross-banded
with a wide range of stringings, and some, particularly those of Kirkman, have spendidly rich
marquetry in the keywell. The instrument is supported on a trestle stand with four legs, which vary
throughout the 18th century from turned George II to square Chippendale; occasional special
examples have rather ungraceful cabriole legs curving outwards from the level of the trestle’s
lower stretchers. The soundboards are not decorated with paintings, and Shudi soundboards do
not have a gilded metal rose; the barring and case bracing are rather like those of a Ruckers
harpsichord. Like the bottom, all the braces are pine. The lower ones are not as tall as in a
Ruckers instrument; there are only two transverse bottom braces in addition to the lower belly rail,
but these are supplemented by a diagonal brace running along the bottom from the intersection
of the rear brace and the bentside to the centre of the forward brace. In addition, there are two or
three longitudinal braces running upwards from the front bottom brace to the upper belly rail. The
upper-level braces are more numerous than on a Ruckers harpsichord, where there are three set
nearly parallel to one another and at a slightly oblique angle to the spine. In a Kirkman or Shudi
harpsichord there are four such braces which, however, are set vertically rather than flat, so that
they bear on the face of the liner rather than merely being nailed to its underside. These four are
supplemented by a fifth, heavier one, that passes from the bentside to the upper belly rail in the
crucial treble area. (For excellent illustrations of the inner construction of a Kirkman harpsichord
see van der Meer, C1991, p.146, and Koster, C1994, p.99.) The inner case construction of a
single-manual Kirkman or Shudi is identical to that of a double, and the specification of single-
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manual harpsichords by both makers is either 2 × 8′, or 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′.
Except in matters of decoration, these instruments changed little throughout the century, apart
from a shift in the plucking-points of Shudi harpsichords after 1770 that produces a rounder and
less incisive tone in the later instruments (a change in line with the occasional substitution of
leather for quill plectra in the lower-manual 8′ jacks), and the addition of the pedal-operated
mechanisms described below. The overall lengths of Kirkman’s harpsichords (and,
correspondingly, of their longest F′ string) varied over the years, being around 180·3 cm in 1745,
decreasing to around 172·7 cm in the early 1760s and increasing again to around 177·8 cm in the
1770s and 80s. The reason for these changes is not known.
Tabel’s five-octave F′G′–f‴ keyboard had lacked the F ′ (presumably for reasons of visual
symmetry), and Kirkman and Shudi, like other English builders, followed this practice until about
1780, when the F ′ was included as a matter of course.
A minor difference between Shudi and Kirkman harpsichords concerns the arrangement of the
stop-knobs in two-manual instruments. On Shudi double-manual harpsichords the three stopknobs
at the left side of the nameboard control are (from left to right) the lute stop, the 4′ and the
buff stop, whereas in a Kirkman the order is buff stop, lute stop and 4′; both have 8′ stops located
at the right side of the nameboard with the dogleg controlled by the left-hand knob and the lower
manual 8′ controlled by the right-hand knob. As a result of this arrangement, one can rapidly
engage whichever of the unison stops may temporarily have been disengaged simply by
squeezing the knobs together. Although Kirkman is known only once (1772) to have built an
instrument with a compass greater than five octaves (a double of F′–c‴), Shudi regularly made
instruments with a compass of C′–f‴, of which 12 dating from 1765 to 1782 have survived.
The tone of a Kirkman or Shudi harpsichord is enormously rich and powerful; whereas that of a
French harpsichord may be compared to the sound of a woodwind ensemble, the tone of these
developed English instruments, with their brilliant trebles and imposing basses, may be
compared to that of a brass band. The sound thus lacks the subtlety of a French instrument but
more than compensates by its volume and sensual impact. As is true of many of the
harpsichords made in the second half of the 18th century – that is, after the great age of
harpsichord composition – the sound of these instruments sometimes tends to call attention to
itself rather than merely serving as a vehicle for projecting the music, a quality that may in abstract
terms be viewed as a defect despite its splendour. (For further discussion of tone and voicing see
KIRKMAN.)
Beginning no later than the early 1760s, English harpsichords were customarily fitted with
crescendo devices. The so-called MACHINE STOP of Kirkman and Shudi disengages the 4′ register
and then the front 8′ register as a pedal is depressed (on double-manual instruments, since the
disengagement of the front 8′ register would silence the upper manual, it simultaneously
engages the lute stop); thus when the pedal is fully depressed the registration on the upper
manual of dogleg 8′ is replaced by lute stop, and that on the lower of dogleg 8′, lower-manual 8′
and 4′ by lower-manual 8′ alone. In both single- and double-manual instruments, the machine
stop can be disengaged when desired to permit normal hand-stop operation. Small variations on
this arrangement may be found in the harpsichords of Thomas Haxby and of Longman and
Broderip. By 1766, the machine stop was supplemented by a second crescendo device, the
‘nag's head SWELL’, which enabled the performer to open either a section of the harpsichord’s lid
(if not already raised) or the ‘Venetian swell’, a series of louvres covering the soundboard. The
two devices used in conjunction with one another produce a surprisingly wide and effective
crescendo, beginning with the pianissimo of the lower-manual 8′ alone with the lid or louvres
closed, followed by the successive addition of the front 8′ and the 4′ and finally the gradual
opening of lid or louvres to permit the fortissimo of the full harpsichord.
Edwin M. Ripin, Howard Schott/Charles Mould
(iii) Italy.
Most of the known 18th-century Italian harpsichord makers were active in Florence and among
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these BARTOLOMEO CRISTOFORI was pre-eminent. His few surviving harpsichords show a number
of refinements in design aimed at better structural or tonal performance. Those he influenced
included not only his assistant Giovanni Ferrini, but also makers who worked in other towns, such
as Giuseppe Solfanelli (active in Florence and Pisa) and Giuseppe Maria Goccini of Bologna.
Even in the 18th century C/E–c‴ was still a widely used compass (as also in Italian organs of the
same period); for the accompaniment of the human voice this compass was presumably
sufficient. However, the once common C/E–f‴ compass became practically obsolete. Of
compasses reaching below C, the majority started on G′A′ (i.e. without G ′). Those having a G′/B′
short octave were no more common than in the 17th century. More chromatic compasses
beginning on G′ were used than in the 17th century but were only slightly more common than G′/B′
compasses. Compasses starting on F′G′A′ became more popular than previously, being
produced in almost the same numbers as G′A′ compasses. Most keyboard compasses did not
exceed c‴, even when starting on F′, but a few reached f‴, or even g‴.
After 1700 the majority of dispositions were 2 × 8′, but four instruments have survived which had
three 8′ registers. Six 2 × 4′ harpsichords are also known. Although many 16th-century
instruments had only a single 8′ register, this disposition became a rarity after 1700. In contrast to
instruments from north of the Alps, a 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′ registration remained rare in Italy. A general lack
of interest in the possibility of registration changes is suggested both by the rarity of two-manual
Italian harpsichords and by the absence of stop levers in many 18th-century Italian harpsichords.
Although some jacks in surviving instruments now contain square slots for leather plectra it is
likely that some of these are later modifications; the preference at the time was for bird quill.
Some experimentation is recorded in the description of the CEMBALO ANGELICO, invented in Rome
in 1775 (see Russell, A1959, appendix 2), which enabled a range of different tone colours to be
produced.
It is easier to draw conclusions about 18th-century scalings than about those of the 16th and 17th
centuries. Documentary evidence and the design of scales combine to show that brass wire was
used in most designs, where a c″ of between about 25 cm and 28·5 cm is found (see Wraight,
H1997). Some instruments by Cristofori and others show the combined use of iron and brass
scales, with separate bridges, in order to overcome space restrictions. The scaling of both
harpsichords and virginals suggests that a range of 8′ pitch was used throughout Italy which
covered a whole tone, with c″ measuring 25 to 28·5 cm. Within this range of a tone in there were in
Florence three further divisions rather than two semitone sizes. It is probable that this whole-tone
range of pitches was in simultaneous use, although scales of 25 cm are first found around 1740.
Thus, there is no clear evidence from these instruments that pitch rose in the 18th century
compared with earlier times; rather, the range of pitches for which instruments were made
remained at a constant level from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The evidence of 18th-century
pitches is mainly from Florentine harpsichords; virtually none have been identified from Venice,
Milan or Rome. In 1704 Goccini modified a 1530 harpsichord by Alessandro Trasuntino from 1 ×
8′, 1 × 4′ disposition and C/E–f‴ compass to 2 × 8′ with G′/B′–c‴; another instrument, by Vito
Trasuntino (dated 1560; Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung, Berlin), was rebuilt with a shorter
scale. This gives the impression that the pitch was raised, but since brass was used instead of
iron the pitch was lowered by a minor whole tone (ratio 10:9).
Research on harpsichords of all countries has attempted to elucidate the ways in which
instruments were strung in order to understand better the makers' intentions and permit more
faithful restorations (O'Brien, A1981, and Gug, A1984). Comparison of the few known diameters of
old wire with archival and documentary sources and the identification of old wire bobbins shows
that Nuremberg wire was used in Italy in the 18th century. It has been discovered that a basic
principle of stringing using a system of gauges (with only slight variations) was employed mainly
by Cristofori and other Florentine makers, by which the top ten notes were strung with gauge 10
wire, the next nine with gauge 9, and so on down to gauge 2 (for details, see Wraight, H2000).
Denzil Wraight
(iv) Germany and other European countries.
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Compared to the number of surviving 18th-century harpsichords from Italy, France, England and
the Low Countries, there are progressively fewer from Germany, Scandinavia, Portugal and Spain,
and hence progressively less information is available concerning the character and development
of the instrument in these areas. This is specially regrettable since Germany and Spain in
particular produced so much harpsichord music of interest.
(a) Germany.
There were arguably four schools of harpsichord making in Germany during the 18th century, in
Hamburg, Berlin, Saxony and Thuringia. Hamburg was a major centre whose sphere of influence
extended to Stockholm in the north and Hanover in the south, and is the only school represented
by an appreciable number of surviving examples. Two harpsichords (one a reworking of an
instrument originally built by Johannes Ruckers in 1618) survive by Johann Christoph Fleischer
and three by his younger brother Carl Conrad Fleischer. There are six extant harpsichords signed
by Hieronymus Albrecht Hass, two by his son Johann Adolph Hass and three by Chistian Zell,
who married Carl Fleischer's widow.
Harpsichords of the Hamburg school vary greatly in size, compass and disposition, but are all
built in essentially the same manner. Coniferous wood is used for the case sides, the baseboard
and the lid, and beech for the wrest plank, nuts, bridges and jackrail. As with Flemish
harpsichords the case sides are glued and dowelled to the upper surface of the baseboard;
Flemish influence is also evident in the soundboard layout and in the bridge cross-section of
early Hass harpsichords which is similar to that of Ruckers harpsichords. Rather than a bentside
and an angled tail, however, Hamburg harpsichords are characterized by an S-shaped bentside,
made either of oak or lime. Full-depth braces cross the case from the bentside to the spine, with
no upper-level bracing.
The natural keys are veneered with ivory or tortoiseshell and the sharp blocks are of lime or beech
(often ebonized) covered with ebony, ivory or tortoiseshell. The natural fronts are decorated with
embossed paper, incised paper glued to a red backing, or small blocks of ebony or ivory in which
a semicircular moulding has been cut. Key levers of single-manual harpsichords and of the lower
manual of double-manual harpsichords are guided by wooden or whalebone slips riding in the
vertical slots of a rack. Upper-manual keys are guided either by vertical pins positioned between
the tails of the key levers or by vertical pins positioned in mortises cut in the centre of the key tails.
The three-octave span of the natural keys ranges from 49 to 50 cm. On the double-manual
harpsichords built by H.A. Hass in 1723 (Musikhistorisk Museum, Copenhagen) and 1734
(Brussels Conservatory) there are small padded blocks on the underside of the upper-manual
keys and on the upper surface of the lower-manual keys. The manuals are coupled together
either by pushing in the upper manual (1723) or by pulling out the lower one (1734). In the
harpsichord built by J.A. Hass around 1760 (Yale University), short doglegs are provided for the
upper-manual 8′ jacks; small padded blocks on the lower-manual keys are positioned under the
doglegs so that when the lower manual is pushed in the lower-manual keys lift the upper-manual
jacks without the upper-manual keys having to be moved.
Most Hamburg harpsichords have iron scales of about 36 cm, but a few instruments, including
the 1728 Zell (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg) and the 1740 Hass (Puyana
Collection, Paris) have scales of about 34 cm; these harpsichords may have been intended to
sound about a semitone higher than the longer-scaled instruments.
Although some Hamburg-built harpsichords have the classic 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′ disposition, five
instruments by H.A. Hass are exceptions. One made in 1726 (Leuvsta Bruk Manor House,
Sweden) has the typical 16th-century Italian disposition of 1 × 8′, 1 × 4′, while two others originally
had three choirs of 8′ strings. The Hass 1723 harpsichord is disposed 3 × 8′, 1 × 4′, with the 8′ nut
stepped such that there are two levels of 8′ strings: two sets are positioned on the upper section
of the nut with the third set positioned on the lower section and passing through the nut to the
tuning pins. A 1721 harpsichord by Hass (City Museum, Gothenburg) survives as a singlemanual
piano, but seems to have originally had two manuals and the unique disposition of 3 × 8′,
2 × 4′.
Various 18th-century German makers (including J.C. Fleischer, Michael Mietke, Harass,
Zacharias Hildebrandt, Gottfried and J.A. Silbermann and J.A. Stein) are now thought to have built
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harpsichords with a set of 16′ strings. No two of the three surviving Hass harpsichords with a 16′
register are exactly alike, but their 16′ strings are arranged in the same ingenious fashion. Inside
the case a low curving rim is attached to the deep frame members and follows the line that the
bentside of a normal instrument would take. This rim serves as a hitch-pin rail for the 8′ strings.
Beyond it and at a slightly higher level there is a completely separate soundboard for the 16′
bridge, and the 16′ strings are hitched to the pins driven into the lining of the bentside along the
far edge of this soundboard. As a result, the 16′ bridge does not have to be pierced to permit the 8′
strings to be hitched at the bentside, and the layout of the 8′ and 4′ strings, which still comprise
the basic core of the harpsichord, is undisturbed.
The 1734 double-manual harpsichord by H.A. Hass has the compass G′–d‴ and the disposition
1 × 16′, 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′, lute. The 1740 Hass, which is the only unquestionably genuine three-manual
historical harpsichord still in existence, has the compass F′G′–f‴ (i.e. lacking F ′), and the
disposition 1 × 16′, 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′, 1 × 2′, lute. The upper two manuals of this instrument provide a
lute stop on the upper manual, a dogleg 8′ register played by both the upper and the middle
manuals, and a 4′ and a second 8′ playable on the middle manual only. The doglegs reach down
to the middle manual, and there is no coupler between these two keyboards. The 16′ and the 2′
are confined to the lowest manual, which (like the keyboards of some organs) can be pushed
entirely into the case like a drawer for playing on only the 8′ and 4′ registers, but can be pulled
partly forward so as to play the 16′ and 2′ by themselves, or further forward to permit all the
registers except the lute stop to sound at once from the lowest manual.
The remaining Hass instrument with a 16′ stop has only two keyboards, but compensates by
having two rows of 2′ jacks (both playing the same strings), one on the upper manual and one on
the lower. Its date is not known for certain, but comparison with Hass clavichords suggests about
1760. As on the 1734 double, buff stops are provided for the lower-manual 8′ and the 16′, and the
lower-manual 2′ (like that on the 1740 triple) extends only from F′ to c″. This curtailment is
necessary because, even with the narrow jackslides used on these instruments, the gap
between the wrest plank and the belly rail required for the five slides (and thus the minimum
distance between the 2′ nut and the 2′ bridge) must be so wide that no string stretched across it
could be tuned appreciably higher than the c′′′′ equivalent to c″ at 2′ pitch. This explains why the
sixth slide carrying the jacks of the upper-manual 2′ on the instrument of about 1760 goes only to
b.
The outer case and lid of Hamburg instruments are always painted, sometimes with chinoiserie,
while the inside of the lid often bears a painting in oils, with subjects including (on instruments by
H.A. Hass) The Grand Concert in the Garden (1723) and The Trojan Horse (1734). The keywell
area above the keyboard is usually veneered in hardwoods and exotic materials. Most
soundboards are decorated with painted flowers, the near edge being reserved for the signature
and sometimes small groups of classical or pastoral figures. Only the harpsichords of the
Fleischer brothers have a soundboard rose, which is geometrical and multi-layered. The stand for
the H.A. Hass harpsichords of 1726, 1732 and 1734, as well as the 1728 Zell, appear to be
original, and consist of turned and carved legs between an upper and a lower stretcher.
Only two harpsichords survive from Hanover: a single-manual of 1738 by Christian Vater with the
compass G′/B′–e‴ (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg), and a claviorgan of 1712 by
Hermann Willenbrock with the compass CD–c‴ (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). Like the
Hamburg instruments, both have S-shaped bentsides; the keywell veneering of the Willenbrock is
reminiscent of the work of Zell. There are, however, various differences between these
instruments and those of Hamburg: the Vater, for example, has a brass scale of 27 cm, and both
instruments have ebony rather than ivory natural plates.
Harpsichord builders active in Berlin during the 18th century included Johann Hohlfeld (1711–71),
Johann Straube (1725–1802) and Johann Oesterlein (b 1728/9), who is represented by a single
surviving harpsichord dated 1792 (Berlin Museum). The Berlin school is, however, dominated by
the court instrument builder Michael Mietke, whom J.S. Bach visited in 1719 to take delivery of a
double-manual harpsichord for the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen. A single-manual harpsichord signed
by Mietke and dated 1710 survives (Hälsinglands Museum, Hudiksvall, Sweden). According to
Kilström (H1994) this instrument, constructed mostly from walnut, has the compass G′A′–c‴ and
the disposition 2 × 8′. Two further harpsichords (Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin) have been
attributed to Mietke and dated to before 1713: a single-manual white harpsichord disposed 2 × 8′,
whose compass was originally G′A′–c‴, and a double-manual black harpsichord disposed 2 × 8′,
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1 × 4′, originally with the compass F′G′A′–c‴ (the compasses of both were later extended to
F′G′–e‴). All the Mietke instruments have S-shaped bentsides and use box slides to guide the
jacks rather than upper and lower registers. The c″ scaling of the double-manual Mietke was
originally 29 cm which, when compared with the shorter 27·5 cm scale of the Hudiksvall Mietke,
would suggest that both instruments were designed to be strung in brass but were intended to
sound at two different pitches, about a semitone apart.
Surviving harpsichords from the Saxon school include a double-manual instrument by Jacob
Hartmann (Bach-Haus, Eisenach) and a double-manual instrument attributed to Gottfried Horn
(Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Dresden). There are five extant harpsichords signed by members
of the Gräbner family, and two vis-à-vis harpsichord-piano combination instruments by Johann
Andreas Stein. These instruments all differ significantly from those of the Hamburg school: the
cases, made of hardwood or veneered, are not painted and have angled tails, and the
soundboard barring includes transverse ribs running under the bridges. Although only one of the
Stein combination instruments now includes a 16′ stop, there is documentary evidence (see
Henkel, F1990) of a harpsichord by Gottfried Silbermann which was also disposed with a set of
16′ strings.
The possible existence of a Thuringian school of harpsichord building has been given weight by
Krickeberg's attribution (in Restle, ed., F1995) of an unsigned harpsichord (the so-called BACH
HARPSICHORD, Berlin Museum, no.316; see §5 below) to either Johann Heinrich Harass the elder
or Johann Matthias Harass of Gross-Breitenbach, on the basis of the instrument's similarity to a
double-manual harpsichord (Schloss Museum, Sondershausen) believed to have been signed
by Harass. Krickeberg and others have suggested that the Berlin instrument was designed to
include a set of strings at 16′ pitch.
Edwin M. Ripin, Howard Schott/Lance Whitehead
(b) Austria.
The few extant 18th-century Austrian harpsichords have cases mostly of solid walnut or walnut
veneer with a double-curved bentside and sloping cheeks (similar to the early South German and
Viennese pianos). The most important feature of instruments before about 1760, appearing on
eight surviving harpsichords and one clavichord, is the ‘Viennese bass octave’, with multiple
divided keys starting at F. Haydn must have had access to an instrument of this kind during his
early period (Walter, F1970). The earliest signed and dated Viennese harpsichord was made in
1747 by Johann Christoph Pantzner (d 1761). The short scaling of most Austrian harpsichords
indicates stringing throughout with brass wire and a high pitch (a′ = 450–470) which corresponds
with the Chorton pitch of most organs of the period. Besides several anonymous 18th-century
instruments, the only other signed Austrian harpsichords or spinets that survive are by Viennese
makers: Johann Leydecker, 1755 (Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz); Matthias Blum, 1778
(Schloss Greillenstein, Lower Austria); Gottfried Malleck, 1778 (Mestské múzeum, Bratislava);
Englebert Klingler, 1799 (Naródni múzeum, Prague). A spinet built in 1804 by Christoph Bock
(Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) is thought to be the last Austrian plucked keyboard
instrument built before the 20th-century revival.
Virtually nothing is known of any 18th-century harpsichord building in what are now the Czech
Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia or Slovenia, although the craft seems to have been practised
there from the 16th century to the 18th. A harpsichord made by the Pressburg organ builder
Glöckner is in the Slovak National Museum, Bratislava.
Alfons Huber
(c) Spain.
The S-shaped bentside began to appear in some Spanish harpsichords at the beginning of the
18th century, perhaps due to the influence of imports from Hamburg. Three examples showing
this style are a harpsichord, later converted into a piano, labelled as being made in Seville in
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1734, a photograph of a lost five-octave, single-manual harpsichord made, also in Seville, in 1754
by Francesco Pérez Mirabel (who also built the earliest surviving Spanish piano), and a
claviorgan, also converted into later into a piano, bearing the label of Tadeo Tornel of Murcia and
the date 1777. Mirabel's instruments, like several by other makers, were decorated with
chinoiserie. In contrast, three related instruments, one of which was built in Valladolid in 1728 by
Andrés Fernandez Santos, have angled tails. In the latter part of the century Juan del Mármol
made instruments combining harpsichord and piano actions. Perhaps the greatest Spanish
harpsichord maker of the period was Diego Fernández Caparrós (1703–75), who was maker and
repairer to the Spanish royal family from 1722 until his death. None of his instruments survives,
but the wills of Scarlatti's pupil Queen María Bárbara, Antonio Soler's patron Infante Gabriel, and
of the singer Farinelli give some idea of his work. For the Queen he made at least two 61-note
harpsichords in the Italian style, a smaller one, and a cembalo di registri: a five-register
instrument with button pedals for operating the wire-strung, gut-strung and flute-like registers,
some of which were divided. He also built instruments with a 63-note compass for Infante
Gabriel. Farinelli owned a Spanish transposing harpsichord probably by Fernández. According to
Burney, Farinelli's Spanish harpsichords were built in the Italian manner with a separate outer
case. Some of Queen María Bárbara's instruments were made of cedar and cypress with a white
poplar outer case, but Fernández also made walnut instruments apparently without a separate
case. Two three-manual harpsichords were advertized for sale in Madrid in the late 18th century.
The only surviving signed harpsichord of Catalonian origin is a single-manual 2 × 8′ instrument
with the surprisingly conservative compass of C/E–c‴, made in Barcelona in 1743 by Salvador
Bofill.
Beryl Kenyon de Pascual
(d) Denmark.
The only catalogued Danish 18th-century instruments of the harpsichord family that survive are a
small C–d‴ virginal from 1762 (Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen) by Christian Ferdinand Speer,
a Silesian émigré active in Copenhagen, and a one-manual harpsichord of 1770 (Falsters Minder
Museum, Nykøbing) by Moritz Georg Moshack, a Copenhagen maker. The Speer virginal has a
short c″ scale of only 17·5 cm and was probably designed to be strung in iron and to sound an
octave above normal pitch. The 1770 Moshack has an S-shaped bentside and case dimensions
so close to those of the 1764 Hass (Russell Collection, Edinburgh) that it seems likely that
Moshack either learnt his craft in Hamburg or copied an imported Hamburg instrument.
Edwin M. Ripin, Howard Schott/Lance Whitehead
(e) Sweden.
In Sweden, a number of instruments and some secondary evidence indicate that harpsichord
making flourished during the 18th century, especially after 1756, when the government banned
the import of musical instruments to encourage native builders. A one-manual five-octave
harpsichord (Musikmuseet, Stockholm) dated 1748 is signed by Philip Jakob Specken, who
learnt his craft in Dresden before moving to Stockholm. Niels (or Nicolas) Brelin, a clergyman, is
known to have built an upright harpsichord (clavicytherium) in 1741 with eight registration pedals.
A contemporary sketch printed in the proceedings of the Swedish Royal Academy shows that it
had a five-octave compass and that its disposition included a 4′ stop. Brelin is said to have made
two trips abroad to study instrument building, but where and with whom he worked is not known.
The harpsichord signed ‘Johannes Broman, Stockholm 1756’ (Musikmuseet, Stockholm) is a
five-octave two-manual instrument similar in construction to a Hamburg harpsichord (including an
S-shaped bentside). It is disposed 3 × 8′, 1 × 4′, lute, and designed, incredibly, to have iron strings
throughout the compass; it consequently measures 360 cm. The two-manual five-octave
instrument signed ‘Gottlieb Rosenau, Stockholm 1786’ (Musikhistorisk Museum, Copenhagen),
while also similar in style to contemporaneous Hamburg instruments, has strings which
foreshorten in the usual way and a standard case length of 276 cm.
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Edwin M. Ripin, Howard Schott/Lance Whitehead
(f) North Netherlands.
Few 18th-century harpsichords from the northern Netherlands are recorded as extant: two
instruments made in Amsterdam in the 1760s, a 1787 instrument from Leiden, and from
Roermond a curious survival of 17th-century style, dated 1734. The Roermond instrument
(Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp) is an unusual two-manual harpsichord with a virginal filling
out the space between the bentside and the extended cheekpiece. The harpsichord portion is
reminiscent of an earlier transposing double after alignment. The compass is certainly the
normal late 17th-century Flemish range, G′/B′–c‴, the lower manual plays sets of 8′ and 4′ jacks,
and the upper controls a dogleg 8′ and a second set of 4′ jacks playing on the same strings as
those of the lower-manual 4′. The virginal, with a keyboard to the left, has a compass of CD–c‴.
The maker, Johannes Josephus Coenen, was a priest and the organist of Roermond Cathedral,
and seems to have made instruments in his spare time.
In sharp contrast a modern, large two-manual instrument with a 16′ stop was advertised for sale
in Amsterdam just a year later by Rutgert Pleunis. His career as one of the most inventive
keyboard instrument builders of his time was centred from 1741 in London, where he was known
as Roger Plenius. Unfortunately no instrument of his survives.
A harpsichord now at Leipzig, unsigned but with the initials ‘L.V.’ in the rose, bears the date 1766
on the highest key (f‴) and its place of origin, Amsterdam, on the lowest (G′/B′). A one-manual
harpsichord of 1768, by C.F. Laeske of Amsterdam (private collection, New York) is disposed 2 ×
8′, 1 × 4′ and has the compass C–f‴. A harpsichord by Abraham Leenhouwer of Leiden
(Gemeentemuseum, The Hague), a standard two-manual instrument of five-octave compass
disposed 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′, is remarkable not only for its late date, 1787, but also for the archaic stopknobs,
which are extended register ends protruding through the cheekpiece. This feature, also
found in the Coenen, ‘L.V.’ and Laeske harpsichords, seems to have survived longer in the
northern Netherlands than anywhere else.
Edwin M. Ripin, Howard Schott/Lance Whitehead
(g) South Netherlands.
From the southern Netherlands a considerable number of instruments remain to substantiate the
written record. In the early 18th century new harpsichords began to be made in the form
characteristic of earlier instruments of the Ruckers type after they were enlarged in the late 17th
century. Two 8′ stops rather than a single unison register were the rule. Two-manual instruments
had either three sets of jacks (one each for the two 8′ and one 4′ choirs) or four, as in the earlier
transposing harpsichords. In the latter case, the fourth set would be used either as a second 4′
stop playing on the upper manual (as on the Coenen harpsichord of 1734), or for a cut-through
lute stop, plucking one of the unison choirs close to the nut. But quite a few simpler instruments
continued to be produced, even in the late 18th century. Albert Delin of Tournai, for instance,
seems to have done without a second manual or 4′ stop, although he was a builder of great skill
and refinement, judging from his surviving ten or so instruments dated 1750 to 1770. In addition
to making conventional harpsichords and spinets, Delin also produced clavicytheria that are
outstanding for both their mechanical excellence and their rich sound. Three examples survive
(Berlin Collection; Brussels Conservatory; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague).
Jérôme Mahieu of Brussels (d 1737) was probably active before 1732, the earliest date recorded
for him. He built harpsichords with both one and two manuals, generally with three registers (2 ×
8′, 1 × 4′) but occasionally with only two, in which case he preferred the older 1 × 8′, 1 × 4′
disposition to the more modern 2 × 8′. The compass was either of 58 notes (G′–e‴) or 61 (F′–f‴).
(The 1732 Mahieu instrument with an apparent compass of D′–d‴ reported in Paris in 1952 was
presumably altered by a 19th-century restoration from the original F′–f‴ range.) Also active during
the mid-18th century was Jacobus Van den Elsche of Antwerp. One instrument (Vleeshuis
Museum, Antwerp), dated 1763, survives from his workshop; apart from its exceptionally sturdy
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Flemish two-manual
harpsichord action, 18th century
construction it is a standard two-manual five-octave harpsichord disposed 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′. Another
instrument (formerly in Berlin; destroyed 1945) was ostensibly dated 1710, seven years before
Van den Elsche's entry into the Guild of St Luke, and signed to indicate that it was rebuilt in 1790
by Johann Heinemann of Antwerp. A one-manual harpsichord by Heinemann (Brussels) with a
C/E–d‴ compass, disposed 2 × 8′, is dated 1793; this would make it apparently the latest extant
Flemish harpsichord, but the short-octave keyboard is strangely archaic in view of the date.
Members of the Dulcken family were distinguished harpsichord
builders in the region during the 18th century. At least eight
harpsichords by Joannes Daniel Dulcken (bap. 1706; d 1757), who
worked mainly in Antwerp, are known (instruments made in
Brussels and bearing later dates are the work of his sons). His
harpsichords tend to have long scales, the single-manual
harpsichord of about 1740 (private collection, Edinburgh) having a c″
scale of nearly 39 cm. Consequently the cases are long, his two-manual instruments being some
260 cm. Occasionally he used a singular type of construction with both an inner and an outer
bentside. All his mature instruments have a five-octave compass, disposed 2 × 8′, 1 × 4′, often
with a cut-through lute stop on the upper manual. Dulcken preferred to use a dogleg jack for the
normal upper 8′ rather than a coupler (fig.4). But since the lute register and the lower 8′ usually
pluck the same choir, with the second unison strings sounding only when the dogleg 8′ is
engaged, no dialogue of lower 8′ and lute stop is normally possible and the upper manual is
limited to providing a softer sound contrasting with the tutti of the lower manual. Johannes Petrus
Bull, another German who settled in Antwerp, was apprenticed to J.D. Dulcken there. Four of his
instruments have survived, dated 1776 to 1789, all of five-octave compass and disposed 2 × 8′, 1
× 4′. Three are two-manual instruments. One of these, dated 1778, has most ingeniously
wrought, very wide upper-manual dogleg jacks, with two tongues facing in opposite directions.
These jacks can pluck either 8′ choir and thus a combination of 2 × 8′ is available on each
manual, since the dogleg and the lute stop can be combined on the upper keyboard. But the
lower 8′ jacks are fitted with peau de buffle plectra so that only the dogleg 8′ is available to give a
normal quilled 8′ sound on the lower manual. Thus, as with Dulcken, no dialogue of a quilled
lower 8′ and a lute stop is possible in the manner of the English double harpsichord. A later twomanual
instrument by Bull (1789) lacks the double tongues in the dogleg upper-manual jacks,
but it is so arranged that damper interference between the lower 8′ jacks and the dogleg upper 8′
prevents the use of the upper keyboard as an echo manual.
Edwin M. Ripin, Howard Schott/Lance Whitehead
(h) Switzerland.
Although in Switzerland some sparse records survive of harpsichord making as far back as the
late 15th century, the only surviving instruments identifiable as Swiss date from the 18th century
and come from the German-speaking area. There is no firm evidence that the craft ever took root
in the other regions. (A spinettino in the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum Zurich, known to have
been decorated in Stupan, Engadin, in 1722, is of uncertain origin and probably 17th-century.)
Swiss harpsichords of the 18th century were probably similar in construction to the models
produced in Strasbourg, particularly to those made in the Silbermann workshop. Peter Friedrich
Brosi, a native of Swabia, was apprenticed to Silbermann before moving to Basle where he set up
as an organ and harpsichord builder. A spinet signed by him (Schweizerisches Landesmuseum)
is somewhat archaic for its date (1755), with a compass of C–e‴, a distinctly 17th-century type of
dark walnut case and a black-stained stand of heavy turned legs connected by a stretcher. A
spinet of 1755 signed by his son, Johann Jacob Brosi, is closer in dimensions, compass (F′–f‴)
and appearance to the late German type of instrument. An instrument by the Zurich craftsman
Hans Conrad Schmuz, dated 1761, is in the Alstetten Museum. It is a single harpsichord of fiveoctave
compass with two 8′ registers; the rather plain walnut case and simple turned legs
suggest provincial origins. An ottavino by his elder brother, Leonhard Schmutz, was sold in Paris
in 1924 on the dispersal of the Savoye Collection.
Edwin M. Ripin, Howard Schott/Lance Whitehead
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