Towards An Optimal Instrument: Domenico Scarlatti and The New Wave of Iberian Harpsichord Making

Towards an Optimal Instrument: Domenico Scarlatti and the New Wave of Iberian
Harpsichord Making
Author(s): John Koster
Source: Early Music, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Nov., 2007), pp. 575-603
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30139521
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John Koster
Towards an optimal instrument: Domenico Scarlatti

and the new wave of Iberian harpsichord making
SECOND only to the works of Johann Sebastian xxxiv/1 2006, pp.95-110), has pointed to documents
Bach, the keyboard sonatas of Domenico about a certain harpsichord that the composer must
Scarlatti, alongside works of George Frideric have known. This instrument, with elaborate regis-
Handel, Frangois Couperin and Jean-Philippe Ram- trational resources controlled by ten pedals, could,
eau, formed the core repertory of the 20th-century like the pianos, be played 'expressively', that is, with
revival of the harpsichord.' Sizeable groups of shades of loud and soft. Drawing on some of the
Scarlatti sonatas were recorded on the harpsichord same evidence that Latcham considered, the Spanish
by such first- and second-generation pioneers harpsichordist Luisa Morales has recently issued an
of historically informed performance as Wanda impressive CD of sonatas by Scarlatti and his pupil
Landowska, Yella Pessl and Ralph Kirkpatrick. Antonio Soler, recorded on a typical late 18th-cen-
Thus, there is a certain irony that much of the dis- tury two-manual English instrument with a machine
cussion in recent decades about which instruments stop, that is, a pedal to control the registers.5
are historically appropriate for the performance of One should bear in mind the context of these
Scarlatti's keyboard music has centred around the revisionist trends, which come after a century dur-
proposition that this composer was 'the piano's first ing which knowledge and experience of historical
great advocate'.2 More than is usual in musicology, keyboard instruments have gradually accumulated,
this assertion, passionately articulated by David and attitudes towards the various forms of harp-
Sutherland in an article published in this jour- sichords and pianos have evolved. Early mod-
nal in 1995, has had practical results: since 1997 no ern harpsichords, most conspicuously the Pleyels
fewer than nine CD recordings have been released played and recorded by Landowska, were radically
of Scarlatti sonatas played on pianos made on three different from any of the instruments available to
continents by modern builders following more or Scarlatti or to any musician of the Renaissance,
less exactly the style of the instrument's inventor, Baroque or Classical eras. With few exceptions,
Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1732).3 Also, several harpsichords from the late 19th century to the 1950s
recordings have been issued of Scarlatti sonatas were made with cases and soundboards like those of
played on pianos made by Cristofori himself or by modern pianos.6 Moreover, as if to compensate for
his 18th-century followers.4 the whimpering tone that resulted from such stiff,
Another revisionist approach in Scarlatti per- heavy construction, the 'grand concert' models
formance practice, concerning the nature of his were provided with elaborate resources, including
harpsichords but not unrelated to the promo- 16' stops and pedals to change registrations while
tion of the early piano as a respectably 'authentic' playing. Although such devices were by no means
medium for his works is beginning to emerge. unknown in the 18th century, particularly during its
Just as Sutherland and others had drawn atten- second half, the early revivalists applied and used
tion to undisputable evidence of pianos in Scarlat- them out of all proportion to historical precedent.
ti's milieu, Michael Latcham, in 'Don Quixote and Frank Hubbard, a leader in the subsequent move-
Wanda Landowska: bells and Pleyels' (Early Music, ment towards making new harpsichords as they
Early Music, Vol. xxxv, No. 4 (c) The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. 575
doi: 10.1093/em/cam092, available online at www.em.oxfordjournals.org
were made in their historical heyday, dismissed victions or the means, Kirkpatrick went on in 1954
Pleyel as to record 60 Scarlatti sonatas on his two-manual
a large piano manufacturer who seems to have turned inward Challis harpsichord with 16' and pedals, which he
for inspiration, deriving his harpsichord designs as if the put to full use, even to the extent of effecting cre-
project were to develop a plucked piano. Undue empha-
scendos." Years later, admitting the 'unconscionable
sis was laid on the ability of the harpsichord to vary its tone
color, on the whole not a very central issue. These instru- and absurd use of 16' and 4" in these recordings, he
ments produced an enormous variety of sounds, all bad. expressed the ultimately unrealized wish 'some day
However, Pleyel was blessed by the genius of a young Polish ... to try the experiment of playing an all-Scarlatti
pianist named Wanda Landowska, who in a transcendent
programme on an instrument that has no more than
exercise of pure imagination found a way of using even the
two 8's'.12
Pleyel to make viable music. Thus, for nearly fifty years the
movement to revive the literature of the harpsichord was to For several decades, from the 1950os to the 199os,
be dominated by this perversity.7 the view of Kirkpatrick, as a leading performer
After the Second World War, harpsichord makers and scholar, was that the appropriate instrument
such as Hugh Gough, Hubbard and his business for Scarlatti was something like a common Italian
partner William Dowd, and Martin Skowroneck harpsichord with compass extended to five octaves
began to produce harpsichords constructed and or more, and this remained the received wisdom
scaled like those of the historical masters, with a among most specialists. That the sonatas were now
relatively small variety of sounds, all good (or at often played on two-manual harpsichords in the
least tolerable!), which were changed by hand-stops, French style was mostly a practical necessity. An
not pedals. By the 1960s, such historically informed entire recital featuring French or German works
harpsichords, favoured by some leading performers in addition to Scarlatti's could be played on one of
of the post-Landowska era, especially Ralph Kirk- these all-purpose harpsichords of the type which
patrick and Gustav Leonhardt, had eclipsed as seri- still dominates the concert scene. Although large
ous musical media the 'plucked pianos' of Pleyel, Italianate harpsichords suitable for Scarlatti's wide-
Neupert, John Challis and other manufacturers. compass sonatas were occasionally made,13 most
The first conscientious investigation of what key- performers who could afford a second or third
board instruments and which types of harpsichords instrument opted for small, sturdy, portable instru-
were actually available to Scarlatti was undertaken ments fit for playing continuo or, as the early music
by Kirkpatrick in a substantial chapter of his book movement grew in other directions, for fortepianos.
about the composer, published in 1953.8 Kirkpatrick Nevertheless, following the spirit if not the letter of
acknowledged that several Florentine pianos and Kirkpatrick's recommendations, registrations for
a harpsichord with 'five registers and four sets of Scarlatti played on French-style harpsichords usu-
strings', one of them 'apparently ... a sixteen-foot ally remained chaste. Stops were not changed dur-
register' and with the stops distributed over two ing a movement, sparing use was made of the 4' and
manuals (as he incorrectly presumed), were availa- buff-stops, and two-manual play was avoided.
ble to Scarlatti in Spain at the palaces of his patroness Flying in the face of these late 20th-century con-
and pupil, Queen Maria Barbara.9 Familiar, how- ventions of Scarlatti performance practice are the
ever, with historical harpsichords in museums and fresh suggestions that one might, after all, prefera-
aware of Hubbard and Dowd's work, he regarded as bly, or at least justifiably, play the sonatas on pianos
more generally appropriate for Scarlatti's works the or on harpsichords with pedals controlling elaborate
other, less-elaborate harpsichords which were also registrational resources. What is sometimes forgot-
described in the documents. He concluded that 'the ten should be emphasized: that the pianos and ped-
majority of the late Scarlatti sonatas were composed alled harpsichords present in Scarlatti's milieu were
for a sonorous harpsichord ... with one keyboard nothing like the Steinways and Pleyels on which
and two stops at eight-foot pitch'.'0 It is clear that he his works were revived in the early 2oth century.
regarded such an instrument as generally appropri- Cristofori's contemporaries described his pianos
ate for sonatas from all periods of Scarlatti's career. as 'soft and dull' in comparison with the 'silvery'
Nevertheless, lacking either the courage of his con- harpsichord.'4 Surviving instruments and accurate
576 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 2007
modern copies confirm that, as Denzil Wraight 'normal' harpsichords available to Scarlatti, the tra-
has concluded in his recent article in this journal, ditional quilled instruments with relatively mod-
Cristofori intended to make 'a sweet-sounding est resources. Before turning to these, however, we
instrument built for elegance of tone, not for should briefly consider the other forms. Since the
bright piercing volume'.15 Its tone qualities were far time of Kirkpatrick's speculation that the queen's
removed, too, from the much louder, brighter tones harpsichord with four sets of strings and five regis-
of the more familiar late 18th-century fortepianos. ters (no.2 in the inventory, see Appendix) had a 16'
As for the harpsichords available to Scarlatti and stop and two manuals and Raymond Russell's that
all other 18th-century players, they were all, with or it was 'not unlikely' that it had been imported from
without elaborate registrational resources or devices, Germany,16 it has been established that this harp-
made according to centuries-old traditions of scal- sichord was, in fact, constructed by the Spanish
ing, stringing and resonant soundboard construc- court's own maker, Diego Fernandez, and was
tion. Although details varied somewhat from maker one of the three keyboard instruments that Maria
to maker and from country to country, the general Barbara bequeathed to the famed castrato Farinelli,
principles of design held in common throughout who had long served the Spanish royal family.'7
Europe were as day to night in comparison with From descriptions made later in Bologna, where
those of Pleyel and other early modern harpsichord Farinelli took it in his retirement, the resources of
makers brought up as piano manufacturers. this harpsichord, which he named 'Correggio', are
The principal document concerning the stringed- known in some detail. Although it had ten ped-
keyboard instruments in Scarlatti's immediate circle als to change the stops, its complex disposition in
is the inventory of Queen Maria Barbara's estate in no meaningful way 'sensationally prefigures' the
1758 (summarized in the appendix below). In this resources of Landowska's Pleyel, as is stated in New
and other 18th-century sources, the word 'harpsi- Grove.`8 The most significant facts for present pur-
chord' or its equivalent in other languages-Span- poses are in the story of its creation, which Latcham
ish clavicordio or clave, Italian cembalo, French has placed between 1746 and 1756. This was reported
clavecin-could, as Latcham and others have by Farinelli's biographer, Giovanale Sacchi, in 1784,
pointed out, refer, with or without modifiers such as as follows (with our editorial addition of emphases
de pluma, di martelletti and de piano, to various dif- in italics and comments in brackets):
ferent forms, including plucking-action instruments By chance the queen in talking with Farinelli mentioned that
with few or many stops, with one or more keyboards, she [i.e. not her teacher, Scarlatti] would have liked to have a
with quill or leather plectra, or with stops control- harpsichord with more varied tones, and asked him if he had
ever seen such a one. He replied that he had not [i.e. that such
led by hands, knees or feet or not at all; it could also
an instrument was unknown in his milieu, more or less iden-
refer to hammer-action instruments or to ones with
tical to Scarlatti's]. But then, leaving the queen without saying
combined quill and hammer actions. The various anything further, he consulted [the court harpsichord maker,
forms, most of which were among Maria Barbara's Diego] Fernandez, whose talent he knew, and after they had
designed the work together and executed it, he arranged for it
instruments, coexisted throughout the 18th century.
to be found as a surprise by the queen in her apartments.19
Any one type or another might have been used, on
different occasions, by the same player for the same Scarlatti therefore had nothing to do with the con-
purpose-solo pieces, continuo or obbligato accom- ception of the Correggio.
paniment, or whatever. Nevertheless, it is likely that It has been something of an embarrassment to
each individual had his or her preferences to play promoters of the piano as a preferred medium for
certain sections of the repertory on particular instru- Scarlatti's sonatas that two of the queen's Florentine
ments. In any case, there can be no doubt that Scar- pianos (nos.4 and 5 in the inventory, see Appen-
latti must on at least some occasions have played his dix), presumably made by Cristofori or his pupil
sonatas on harpsichords with two 8' stops. Giovanni Ferrini, had already been converted to
The recent focus on instruments with elaborate harpsichords by 1758. Stewart Pollens has noted that
registrational possibilities or with hammer actions the 'conversions suggest either that the escapement
has drawn attention away from what one might call mechanisms were too complex for local makers to
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 2007 577
regulate or repair or that there was greater need or one of which came from Flanders, were described
preference for the conventional harpsichord'.20 The as having three choirs. Although one of the others
local makers, however, were surely able to maintain (no.io) was specifically noted as having two choirs,
the three unconverted pianos in the queen's posses- this information is lacking in the inventory entries
sion; the court maker, Diego Fernandez, was capa- for the remaining two (nos.3 and 12). Since, how-
ble of constructing the elaborate mechanism of the ever, the original invoice for nos.1o and 12 describes
queen's quilled harpsichord with five registers and the latter as 'of the same material and form' as the
ten pedals, durable enough to survive shipment former,24 their dispositions were presumably iden-
to Bologna, where Charles Burney saw it in good tical. Moreoever, instrument no.3 was recorded as
condition in 1770; and local makers in Seville and having two choirs when it was later inventoried in
Lisbon were capable of making excellent pianos with Farinelli's estate, and these were presumably two 8'
Cristofori-style actions.21 Further, experience with stops, as in the converted pianos.25 The likelihood
historical and modern pianos in the Florentine style is that the compiler of the inventory of the queen's
shows that the actions are quite stable, as are the harpsichords regarded this disposition as normal
cases and soundboards even under the instruments' and usually bothered only to record the exceptions.
heavy string tension. The latter observation contra- This interpretation draws some support from an
dicts Sutherland's suggestion that the pianos were advertisement for a harpsichord from Hamburg
converted to more lightly strung harpsichords when offered for sale in Madrid in 1789. Its five stops were
their structures failed.22 To his suggestion that the listed as dos de clave ('two of harpsichord', i.e. 2 x
converted instruments might have been made with 8'), uno de espineta (4'), uno de arpa (buff) y uno
earlier, deficient forms of Cristofori's action or case de contrabajo (16').26 Thus, five, nearly half, of the
construction, which necessitated their rebuilding as queen's twelve keyboard instruments would have
harpsichords when they became perceived as defi- been 'normal' harpsichords with two 8' registers.
cient, it should be noted that Iberian, German and The parallel appearances of Florentine pianos and
French makers, when they made pianos with Floren- of Scarlatti at about the same time in a sequence of
tine-style actions, are not known ever to have copied places beginning in Florence and thence to Rome,
the complex double-wall construction of Cristo- Lisbon, Seville and Madrid has been taken to indi-
fori's late instruments but made cases with tradi- cate that Scarlatti was involved in the instrument's
tional harpsichord construction which nevertheless early diffusion.27 Even if this was not quite literally
have endured for two and a half centuries. Also, it the case, the circumstances suggest that the same
should have been possible without undue difficulty patrons who favoured the piano also sought Scar-
to update the actions of the queen's Florentine latti's services. Most prominent among these in
pianos, had they been made with an unperfected Portugal were Dom Antonio de Braganga, dedica-
form of Cristofori's invention, rather than to replace tee of Lodovico Giustini's piano sonatas published
them with harpsichord jacks just to keep them play- in Florence in 1732; his elder brother, King Joio V,
able. We are left to conclude that the conversions recorded as having purchased pianos from Cristo-
were commanded because two additional harpsi- fori;28 and the king's daughter, Maria Barbara, later
chords were more useful to the queen and her musi- Queen of Spain. Presumably the triangle of sympa-
cians than her fourth and fifth pianos.23 Further, if, thy was completed by some affection by Scarlatti for
as is most probable, the two conversions consisted the piano, for it is unlikely that he would have been
of substituting jacks for hammers in the gap between fundamentally at odds with the musical tastes of his
the wrestplank and soundboard, rather than some employers, who in the case of Dom Antonio and
more elaborate process involving alterations to the his niece were also his pupils. Yet Scarlatti's appar-
soundboards and cases, then the instruments would ent status as 'the piano's first great advocate' does
have ended up with the plain 2 x 8' disposition. not preclude the possibility that he was also Italy's
Of the queen's quilled harpsichords other than last great exponent of the harpsichord. For, parallel
the one by Fern~ndez with four choirs of strings and to the set of circumstances involving Scarlatti and
ten pedals, three (nos.6, 7 and 8 in the inventory), Florentine pianos, a set of circumstances involving
him and Florentine harpsichords can also be dis-
cerned. It is evident that the Florentine harpsichords
brought to Portugal and Spain by Scarlatti and his
patrons had an effect on keyboard-instrument mak-
ing in those countries at least as profound as the
effect of the imported Florentine pianos.
With all the attention turned to Cristofori's
invention of the piano around the instrument's
3ooth anniversary, it has been easy to overlook the
fact that this was not his only important accom-
plishment: he also made splendid quilled harpsi-
chords.29 Indeed, he seems to have played a pivotal
role in rejuvenating Italian harpsichord making. At
the risk of some oversimplification the situation can
be summarized briefly. The two great Italian 16th-
century centres of harpsichord making were Venice
and Naples.30 The Venetian school faded away by
the early 17th century, while the Neapolitans contin-
ued to work in a very conservative manner until the
end of the century, by which time this school, too,
had dwindled in importance. While there were some
very good makers scattered throughout Italy (for
example, Stefano Bolcioni, active in Florence from
the 1620s to 1640s), the major centre towards the
middle of the 17th century (other than Naples, about
to decline) was Rome, where a number of forward-
looking makers including Girolamo Zenti, Giacomo
Ridolfi, Giuseppe Boni, Giovanni Battista Giusti and
Giuseppe Mondini worked or learned their craft.31
Instruments by these makers, who usually retained
the 2 x 8' disposition normal in Italian harpsichord
making since the early 17th century, begin to show
features later seen in Cristofori's work: the lack of
rose-holes in the soundboard; soundboard wood
grain angled out of parallel with the length of the
case; extended chromatic compasses in the bass
(rather than short octaves), and, associated with this,
long cases resulting from the extension of Pythago-
rean scaling (i.e. with string lengths doubling for
each lower octave) further into the bass. Most of
these features, and two others that became stand-
ard features of Cristofori's work-the tail angle of
close to 90 degrees and the separate bass bridge-are
present in the impressive harpsichord usually lost 1 Harpsichord from Michele Todini's Galleria Armonica,
within the elaborate case made for it as the 'Golden
Rome, about 1670 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
Harpsichord' (now in the Metropolitan Museum of York); plan with reconstruction of the original compass,
Art, New York), part of Michele Todini's Galleria bridge, and nut; the line below the rose indicates the direc-
Armonica in Rome in the 1670s (illus.1).32 Domenico tion of the soundboard grain (drawing by the author)
Scarlatti must have come to know such instruments
while in Rome in the first decade of the 1700s. The
Rome-centred Giuseppe Mondini is the only mak-
er's name associated with any of the 14 harpsichords
owned in Rome by Cardinal Ottoboni, sponsor of
the famous contest between Scarlatti and Handel.33
Several inventories from 1640 to 1669 indicate
that Naples was the principal source of the rela-
tively few harpsichords played at the Medici court
in Florence.34 Bartolomeo Cristofori, a native of
Padua, came to work for Ferdinando de' Medici in
1688, and the inventory compiled in 1700 reveals a
radically transformed situation: there were 17 harp-
sichords, of which six were by the Roman makers
Zenti, Mondini and Boni; five, much rebuilt and
updated, were by 16th-century Venetian makers; and
three were by Cristofori himself.35 A harpsichord
with ebony walls (illus.2), still existing in Florence,
has been identified as one of the Cristofori harpsi-
chords from its detailed description in the inven-
tory.36 This, except for the luxurious use of ebony,
has the conventional Italian construction with thin
case walls surrounded by mouldings. Later, Cristo-
fori and other Florentine makers constructed their
instruments with thick walls unadorned by mould-
ings, a style quite novel in Italy (illus.3).37 Still, most
of the harpsichords of the Cristofori school featured
the usual 2 X 8' disposition. Scarlatti would have
had the opportunity to meet Cristofori and to play
his instruments when he visited Florence in 1702
and 1705. If Cristofori's newly invented piano, also
present in the inventory of 1700 under the name
arpicimbalo, made an impression on the dazzling
young virtuoso, so must this maker's harpsichords.
For, as we shall propose, Scarlatti and his patrons
must have brought harpsichords by Cristofori or his
Florentine pupils to Portugal and Spain, where they
had a profound influence on local makers.
In the 1950s, when Kirkpatrick wrote his book
about Scarlatti and Raymond Russell his pathbreak-
ing study, The harpsichord and clavichord (1959), very
little was known of harpsichord making on the Ibe-
rian peninsula apart from two or three Portuguese
instruments and what could be gleaned in Spain 2 Harpsichord by Bartolomeo Cristofori, Florence,
from a few inventories or the turgid descriptions ofbetween 1688 and 1700 (Florence, Collezione del Con-
claviorganos and clavicimbalos in Pablo Nassarre's servatorio Cherubini, Galleria dell'Accademia; photo by
Escuela Musica (Zaragoza, 1724).38 Since the 1980s, Marco Rabatti and Sergio Domingie); the compass was
however, the situation has improved considerably, originally GG (without GGO) to c"'
3 Harpsichord attributed to Bartolomeo Cristofori, Florence, about 1700-20 (Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, cat. no.1332; photo by Christopher Dempsey); the painted decoration is not original
in Portugal principally through the work of Gerhard tion about Spanish and Portuguese instruments
Doderer39 and in Spain through a flurry of archival reflect their treatment in histories of the harpsi-
research and discovery of instruments, most nota- chord, which commonly treat Spain and Portugal
bly by Cristina Bordas and Beryl Kenyon de Pascual. side by side but not together. Usually, Portugal is
Opportunities for presenting the new information discussed in a subsidiary section following the prin-
about Spanish instruments have been provided since cipal treatment of Spain.41 Harpsichord making in
2000 by the symposia organized by Luisa Morales as the two countries can, however, profitably be con-
part of the annual Festival Internacional de Mfisica sidered as a single 'Iberian' school, though of course
de Tecla Espafiola 'Diego Fernandez' (FIMTE) with certain regional traditions analogous to those
with proceedings published under her editorship.40 within Italian harpsichord making. The plausibility
Knowledge has grown so fast that the relevant sec- of a unified view is suggested by the circumstances
tions of the revised article 'Harpsichord' in the cur- that harpsichord making was often associated with
rent edition of New Grove (2001), and in Edward L. organ building and that organ building in Portugal
Kottick's survey, A history of the harpsichord (2003), was closely connected with that in Spain. Such dis-
are already considerably out of date. tinctive features as horizontal reed-stops are found
At this point it is worthwhile to step back from in both countries. A common tradition is also evi-
all the fact-gathering and take a broad overview of dent in clavichord making: instruments were made
Iberian harpsichord making from a pan-European in both countries but seldom if ever elsewhere with
perspective. The separate efforts to gather informa- a characteristic pattern of pairwise fretting in which
the E and B keys are unfretted.42 Portugal, in an jacks are of the northern European type, with bris-
overall view of Iberian harpsichord making, should tle springs, and are guided by separate thin upper
not be regarded as a province of Spain, for the Por- and lower guides. (Italian jacks have thicker bodies
tuguese contribution, at least as seen among sur- with brass leaf springs and are usually guided by a
viving instruments, equalled or even surpassed the box guide.) Harpsichords made in Seville usually
Spanish. Especially since information about Iberian had an S-shaped bent side incorporating the tail.46
harpsichord making as a whole is still rather sparse, This feature was widespread in northern Europe,
the evidence from Lisbon is crucial in our attempt not just in Germany but also in England and 17th-
to sketch an overall picture, which would barely be century France.47 It is also occasionally found in
discernible if we had to rely only on evidence from instruments from other regions of Spain, for exam-
the Spanish centres of harpsichord making. An ple, one probably originating in the province of
integrated approach is all the more important if Salamanca (illus.6).48
our focus is on Scarlatti's interaction with harpsi- The growing influx of Italian musicians to Spain
chord making, for his connections with Portugal, and Portugal might have begun to have some impact
the country of his patroness Maria Barbara's birth, on harpsichord making in certain places even before
were as strong as his more easily remembered con- Scarlatti's arrival in Lisbon in 1719. An instrument
nections with Spain. It was no accident that Scar- like one by Salvador Bofill, Barcelona, 1743 (in the
latti dedicated the only authorized publication of Museo de Arte Sacro, Bilbao), is unique among
his sonatas, the Essercizi per gravicembalo (London, known Iberian harpsichords in following traditional
1738) to King Jo~o V of Portugal. Italian design and construction rather closely.49
Because no authentic Spanish or Portuguese More often, Iberian makers, like cosmetic surgeons
harpsichord from before the 18th century has yet altering a person's appearance but not his or her
been discovered, the nature of the Iberian tradi- DNA, applied some superficial aspects of the Italian
tion as it was practised in the 16th and 17th centu- fashion to instruments constructed in their tradi-
ries can be established only indirectly.43 I attempt to tional northern-affiliated manner. Sometimes there
do this in detail in another article about the origins was only a hint of the Italian style, as, for example,
and affinities of early Iberian harpsichord mak- with the scrolled jackrail holders in a harpsichord
ing.44 Here I will merely point to a few examples by Zeferino Fernandez, Valladolid, 1750 (in the
of the northern European, sometimes particularly museum of the Fundaci6n Joaquin Diaz, Uruefia,
Flemish, orientation of the Iberian instruments. Valladolid), which is otherwise quite like the Bueno
The earliest securely dated Spanish harpsichord harpsichord of 1712.
known so far, made by a certain Joseph Bueno A fuller imitation of the Italian style is found in
in Valladolid in 1712 (in the museum of the Fun- a small harpsichord (in the Musikinstrumenten-
daci6n Joaquin Diaz, Uruefia, Valladolid; illus.4),45 Museum, Berlin) attributable on the basis of its Por-
rather resembles a standard Ruckers single-manual tuguese provenance and a partially legible signature
harpsichord in its layout and its two-choir 8' + 4' to Manuel Angelo Villa, known as a maker of harp-
disposition with a buff-stop for the 8'. Like most sichords and other instruments from an advertise-
northern European harpsichords, it was scaled for ment printed in Lisbon in 1745.50 This instrument at
iron stringing in the treble, with foreshortening to octave pitch looks very much like an Italian instru-
a brass scale lower in the compass. The 8' bridge, ment of false-inner-outer construction, in which
like Ruckers 8' bridges, was sawed to its curve, and the appearance of a thin-cased instrument within
the cross-sections of the bridges and nuts are simi- a separate outer case is simulated by cypress veneer
lar to those of the Ruckers (illus.5). (Italian bridges, and mouldings (illus.7). Nevertheless, while the nut
in contrast, were bent to shape and had a moulding and bridge are moulded in the Italian manner, the
cut into their upper edge.) The nuts, like those of nut, like those in the Bueno harpsichord, is bowed
the harpsichords of the Ruckers and other northern towards the jacks, and at the bass end of the bridge
European makers, are bowed towards the jacks (not there is a small reverse curve formed by sawing (not
towards the player, as was usual in Italy). Bueno's the straight mitred-on section usual in Italy). More
4 Harpsichord by Joseph Bueno, Valladolid, 1712 (Fundaci6n Joaquin Diaz, Uruefia, Valladolid; photo by the author)
fundamentally, the bottom board was applied to the Nothing of the Italian influence in these particu-
bottom edges of the walls, i.e. in the most common lar harpsichords would have made them particularly
northern European construction (in Italy the- walls suitable for the performance of Scarlatti's works. It is
were always applied around the bottom), and the difficult to imagine that the 2 x 4' disposition of the
style of internal framing, consisting of several full- Villa harpsichord would have remained pleasing in
depth braces reduced in height away from the bent this repertory for long, and the outdated short-octave
side and spine, was also common in the north.51 C/E to c"' compass of the Bofill harpsichord would
Tellingly, in a construction that seems to have been have been inadequate for all but a few of Scarlatti's
common from Castile to Lisbon, tenons extend sonatas. Neither Scarlatti nor his royal patrons would
from the ends of the wrestplank through mortises have troubled to import to the Iberian peninsula such
cut in the case walls. small, old-fashioned Italian instruments as would
Ruckers Bueno Calisto Antunes Sodi
5 Cross-sections of bridges (left to right) by Andreas R

(Portugal, 1780), Manuel Antunes (Lisbon, 1767) and V
and Ferrini); the bar is to mm long (all the instrumen
SD; drawing by the author)
was the great Lisbon

have inspired these Portuguese or earthquake
Spanish of 1755. A large
imitati
portion of the
of such limited usefulness. harpsichords and
Rather, pianos in Portugal
they would h
must have
brought first to Portugal, thenbeen destroyed
to Spain,along with the city. As
harpsicho
the Portuguese capital was
as up-to-date as their Florentine rebuilt and the
pianos. national
These ha
sichords were in all likelihood obtained from the
economy prospered anew under the leadership of
same makers, Cristofori and his pupils. the prime minister, the Marques de Pombal, the
No doubt, the imported Florentine harpsichords local makers, having already absorbed the Floren-
served Scarlatti and his patrons well for some time. tine fashion, were well able to supply the demand for
Eventually, however, they would have required new new harpsichords and pianos. A fair number of these
instruments. One such occasion would have been have survived: seven harpsichords dated from 1758
when Maria Barbara relocated to Spain upon her to 1789 and three pianos from 1763 to 1777.52 In addi-
marriage in 1729. If she took harpsichords away from tion, closely resembling these are several unsigned,
her father's court at Lisbon, replacements would undated instruments, three harpsichords and two
have been needed there; or if she took none, she must pianos, some of which might have been made before
have obtained new ones for herself. Certainly one of 1755. All of the harpsichords have the standard 2 x
her new pianos, made by Giovanni Ferrini in 1730, 8' disposition, sometimes with a buff-stop affecting
was imported, but for other instruments she might one choir.
have anticipated what she is known to have done in The question of Florentine influence on Por-
the 1740s and 1750s, when she obtained several instru- tuguese harpsichord making cannot fully be con-
ments from Diego Fernandez, maker to the Span- sidered without reference to the pianos produced
ish court since 1722. Even in the early years of the within the same workshops. The Portuguese piano
influx of Florentine instruments to the royal courts, actions are all of the type developed by Cristo-
perhaps even before 1720 in Lisbon, less affluent fori and were obviously modelled directly after
patrons and players would have sought harpsichords imported Florentine instruments.53 They were
and pianos made by local craftsmen in imitation of not, however, slavish copies. Manuel Antunes,
the imports owned by their social superiors. Thus, applying in 1760 for a privilege for the exclusive
the Florentine style of harpsichord making would right for ten years to make and import Cravos de
have been absorbed into the Iberian tradition. If, as Martellos (harpsichords with hammers), claimed
discussed below, by the 1720S Scarlatti was already to have introduced improvements, which seem to
conceiving sonatas to exploit the extended treble concern modifications to the standard action in
compass of Portuguese keyboards, his royal patrons order to reduce noise and increase the rapidity of
might themselves have obtained instruments from execution.54 It seems likely that Antunes was refer-
local makers in order to play what was unplayable on ring to his escapement jack, which, in the surviv-
their standard Florentine keyboards. ing Antunes piano of 1767 (in the National Music
Perhaps the single greatest cause for the whole- Museum, Vermillion, SD; illus.9b), is mounted
sale making of new instruments in the current style on top of the key lever rather than in a mortise cut
through the key lever, as in Cristofori and Ferrini's
pianos.55 Antunes's smaller, lighter jacks, moving
in a smaller slot than in Florentine pianos, might
indeed have been quieter and more responsive to
the player's touch. While other Portuguese56 mak-
ers retained the original Florentine jacks working
in mortised key levers, they, like Antunes, divided
their hammers into groups of ten or eleven on an
axle wire, rather than all on the same axis. This
facilitates the removal of an individual hammer for
adjustment when, for example, it becomes loose
and rattles.
The harpsichords and pianos made by Manuel
Antunes and his fellows in Lisbon correspond rather
closely in scaling, layout and the overall shape of
their long, square-tailed cases to what Cristofori and
his fellow makers had done in Florence (illus.8 and
9). There is no significant difference between the
scaling of Florentine harpsichords and pianos, and
the Portuguese instruments of both types follow the
same principle of setting string lengths suitable for
brass wire throughout the compass, with a Pythago-
rean progression deep into the bass (illus.lo). How-
ever, the Portuguese makers slightly shifted some
elements of the layout. In a typical Portuguese harp-
sichord, as compared with a Cristofori harpsichord,
for example, the treble ends of the nut, the registers,
the bridge and the bent side are further away from
the front edge of the wrestplank (compare illus.8a
and 9a). A rather more notable difference is found
between the Florentine and Portuguese pianos
(compare illus.8b and 9b). In the Florentine pianos,
the wrestplank is usually the same width from bass to
treble; the row of hammer heads, the row of damp-
ers, and the front edge of the soundboard are only
slightly oblique, nearly perpendicular to the spine.
The layout of the Portuguese pianos is like that of
the classic Florentine and Portuguese harpsichords,
in which the wrestplank is wider in the bass, such
that the rows of jacks, the gap and the front edge of
the soundboard are notably oblique. This, perhaps,
indicates the primacy of the harpsichord in the Por-
6 Harpsichord by an unknown Spanish maker, probably tuguese makers' thinking, as do the statistics of sur-
Salamanca province, first half of the 18th century (private
vival, in which the number of harpsichords is double
collection, USA; photograph by John Phillips) the number of pianos. The plans of the Joaquim Jos.
Antunes harpsichord of 1758 and the piano made by
his elder brother Manuel in 1767 are quite similar,
with almost congruent bridge curves and nearly
7 Harpsichord attributed to Manuel Angelo Villa, Lisbon, first half of the 18th century (reproduced with permission)
(Berlin, Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Kat.-Nr.4)
identical outlines (illus.11). The circumstances sug- the soundboard.61 Whatever their interior construc-
gest that each workshop had a standard harpsichord tion, all of the Florentine instruments were made
plan that with minor changes57 could be used for the in the usual Italian manner, with the walls applied
occasional piano. around the bottom board, which was made as a sin-
The three Cristofori pianos of 1720, 1722 and gle piece with grain running lengthwise.
1726,58 his harpsichords of 1722 and 1726,59 and the In general, the construction of the Portuguese
Ferrini combined harpsichord-piano of 174660 were pianos and harpsichords conformed to the north-
made with a complex double-wall construction in ern European affiliations of the Iberian tradition.
which the hitchpin rail receiving the force of the In continuing to make their usual thick-walled
strings is attached to the strong outer bent side, while cases, the Portuguese makers could easily simulate
the soundboard is attached to a lighter inner bent the overall appearance of the Florentine cases. That
side. There was no attempt (except in the Ferrini of they did not attempt to copy the Florentine inter-
1746) to simulate, by artful use of veneer and mould- nal structure can only partially be explained by the
ings, the appearance of a traditional Italian thin- unavailability of x-rays or endoscopes with which
cased instrument inside an outer case. Thus, these the double-wall construction could be discerned. It
plain instruments, which also lack the typical Italian should, at least, have been possible to see something
adornment of scrolled jackrail holders, somewhat of the framing and soundboard ribbing through
resemble the plain thick-walled instruments made in the soundholes that Cristofori and his pupils
northern Europe. Of a similar appearance are several bored through their belly rails, yet the Portuguese
other harpsichords of the Florentine school which framed and ribbed their instruments quite differ-
were made without the separate inner bent side for ently. Although for their pianos, also occasionally
(a) (b)
8 Plans of instruments by Bartolomeo Cristofori, Florence, 1722: (a) harpsichord (Grassi Museum, Leipzig); (b) piano
(Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, Rome) (both drawn by the author after plans in Schwarz, 2002)
(a)
9
9 Pla
draw
Lisbo
mm
2000
1500
1000
500
0
C c c c c
10 Graph of the str

Portuguese instrum
1726 (Grassi Museu
in blue, the piano b
curve is substantial
although it is sligh
ing (c"= 273 mm; C
designed for a some
strongly foreshorted
sichord of 1607 (N
shown in yellow
for harpsichord
undercut to free
cially resembling
low most of the o
the Florentine
11 co
Outline,
materials,
Josespruce
Antun
the Florentine
by the po
aut
they erer
never, and
so v
far
planks like those
photo of th
1726, nor the alternative of proto-agraffes at the nut separate thin upper- and lower-jack guides and he
made by Ferrini.62 The Portuguese bottom boards introduced certain innovations in jack design (slots
are in two sections (that under the keyboard with closed on top; springs at the front of the tongues),
its grain perpendicular to the spine) applied to the his jack bodies remained rather thick, up to 5 mm.
bottom edge of the walls. The wrestplanks and other Rather more elegant are the Portuguese jacks
pieces are tenoned through the cases. While Floren- (illus.12), which are similar to French jacks, though
tine bridges were moulded in a distinctive elabora- sometimes with brass springs rather than the bristle
tion of the usual Italian form, the Portuguese bridges typically used in the north.
(illus.5) usually have a Ruckers-like cross-section, The Portuguese deviations from the Florentine
though sometimes with a convex back edge, and style were doubtless done not out of ignorance or
were sometimes sawed to their curve in the treble. laziness but out of conviction and long experience
At the bass end there is a small reverse curve, not the in an established workshop tradition. Although
straight section which the Florentine makers either the dated examples were all made after 1755, simi-
mitred to the main bridge (in the usual Italian man- lar instruments, perhaps including some of the
ner) or, as in most of Cristofori's instruments of the undated examples, had likely been made in Lisbon
1720s, attached separately, with space between.63 In
general, the heavier, stiffer Portuguese bridges might
have resulted in a brighter, longer-sustained tone
than the Florentine bridges, which, sometimes bent
with the help of vertical sawcuts halfway through,
could be less stiff than the usual Italian bridges.
The same tendency toward greater refinement
already noted in comparing Portuguese and Floren-
tine piano actions is observable in their harpsichord
actions. The key levers of Florentine pianos and
harpsichords were usually made of chestnut, which
is rather dense and coarse in texture. Softwood,
either spruce or pine, found in the Bueno harpsi-
chord and others from Valladolid as well as in the
octave harpsichord by Manuel Angelo Villa, seems
to have been the traditional material for this purpose
in Iberian harpsichord making. The Antunes broth-
ers and their fellow Florentine-influenced makers in
Lisbon adhered to using spruce,64 which, being less
dense than chestnut, would favour a lighter, more
sensitive touch. Also, in most Portuguese harpsi-
chords the keys are usually guided in a more refined
manner than in Florentine and other Italian harp-
sichords, in which the slots in the rear battern are
plain sawcuts.65 The Portuguese slots, like those of
the Ruckers and French makers, are triangular, such
that the pin or wooden slip extending from the end
of the key bears only against the sides of the narrow
portion of the slot at the front surface of the batten.
Moreover, this side of batten is faced by wood with
grain running vertically, so that the bearing surfaces
of the slots are especially smooth. Although Cristo-
fori deviated from the Italian tradition by making 12 Jacks of the Calisto harpsichord (photo by the author)
since the 1720s, when Scarlatti was present. Whether Portugal or his early years in Spain.71 Presumably he
he approved of the local makers' tweaking of the conceived them for and played them on Portuguese
Florentine style is unknown, but there is the possi- instruments, some of which he or Maria Barbara
bility that he suggested some of the changes himself would have taken to Spain, where they continued
or voiced a desire for certain improvements which to be useful for some time. Whether he himself sug-
the makers found the technical means to satisfy. gested the upward extension of the compass or he
These questions about Scarlatti's engagement just exploited what the Portuguese makers were
with harpsichord making in Lisbon can be answered already doing is an unanswerable chicken-or-egg
in part by considering the compasses of his works. question. In any event, the circumstances suggest
The grim arithmetic of counting the ranges of the a fruitful symbiotic relationship between Scarlatti
sonatas and matching them to the compasses of and the Portuguese makers, out of which came a
instruments the composer might have played has significant portion of his work and the distinctive
provided a pastime for Scarlatti specialists from Portuguese style of harpsichords and pianos, with
Kirkpatrick onwards. However, like their present- their fusion of Iberian and Florentine elements.
day counterparts, performers in the 18th century Scarlatti must have had similar beneficial rela-
surely accommodated the written texts to fit the tionships with harpsichord makers in Spain, but
greater or lesser compass of the instrument at hand. the updated style is more difficult to discern among
In any case, much of Scarlatti's own playing would extant Spanish instruments than among the Por-
have been improvised. Although compass might tuguese. This is the result both of accidents of sur-
therefore be less of a problem than it seems in indi- vival and of the non-centralized nature of the craft
vidual cases, the general patterns that appear in the in Spain, where makers in some regions (Valladolid,
sonatas are instructive in a general way. for example) maintained their old ways. Harpsi-
The sonatas of Scarlatti's Essercizi fall within the chord making in Portugal was centred in Lisbon,
two most common compasses of Cristofori's instru- where there was a cohesive group of craftsmen who,
ments, C to c"' (23 sonatas) and GG (without GGO) moreover, were introduced to the Florentine style
to c"' (the other seven).66 Although this collection a decade before it came to Spain. Unlike the Lisbon
was published nearly two decades after Scarlatti's earthquake, the historical events that must have
arrival in Lisbon, it might not accurately reflect his caused the destruction of many Spanish harpsi-
oeuvre to date: so as to favour the Italian market, chords (the prolonged struggle against Napoleonic
Scarlatti probably selected works to fit the keyboards occupation in the early 19th century and the civil war
there.67 In John Henry van der Meer's accounting, in the 20th) occurred long after there was any need
134 of Scarlatti's sonatas require a compass of C to to replace them as useful musical instruments.
d'".68 These would have been unplayable on most Scarlatti's and Maria Barbara's first four years in
of the known surviving Cristofori harpsichords Spain, from 1729 to 1733, were centred in Seville. A
and pianos, which in their original states usually harpsichord by an unknown Sevillian maker in 1734,
extended only up to c"''.69 The C to d"' compass with its S-curved bent side, an apparent compass of
found in the harpsichord by Manuel Angelo Villa, BB to c"', and long treble scaling suitable for string-
discussed above, and in a fair number of Portu- ing in iron (c" of 359 mm), shows no real trace of
guese instruments from the second half of the 18th Florentine influence.72 Only a photograph has sur-
century, however, seems already to have been quite vived of a later Sevillian harpsichord, made by Fran-
common there as early as the 1720S. As van der cisco Perez Mirabal in 1754.73 This single-manual
Meer has noted, virtually the entire oeuvre of Car- instrument with S-curved bent side also appears
los Seixas, who was born in Coimbra in 1704, and as uninfluenced by Florentine models. Two pianos
Scarlatti's close associate, served as court organist in attributable to Mirabal (one in a private collection
Lisbon from 1720 until his death in 1742, falls within in Madrid, the other in the Museo de Bellas Artes
this range.70 Van der Meer and Gerhard Doderer in Seville) have actions and wide undercut hitch-
have suggested that Scarlatti would have com- pin rails clearly derived from those of the Cristo-
posed his sonatas with this range during his time in fori school.74 They are both triple-strung, with two
short-scaled choirs designed, as in Florence, for brass harpsichord making as a whole. Nevertheless, there
stringing, while the peculiar third choir, passing over remains a void at the principal centre of interest,
a second nut, is longer, evidently intended for the Scarlatti's environs, where we, like Kirkpatrick, can
iron stringing which, to judge from the anonymous only attempt to extract information from docu-
harpsichord of 1734, was the local norm. The basses ments. Of these, the most relevant concern Diego
of all three choirs are significantly shorter than those Fernandez (1703-75), who maintained and made
of the Florentine tradition. This foreshortening, in harpsichords for the Spanish royal family from 1722
conjunction with the pianos' S-shaped bent sides, until his death.78 None of his instruments is known
results in an appearance that is decidedly unlike to survive. Although Diego Fernandez, coming
that of the Florentine and Portuguese instruments. from Andalusia, would not have been related to the
Although Scarlatti might well have disapproved of Valladolid harpsichord makers Andres Fernandez
Mirabal's decision not to adopt more characteris- Santos and Zeferino Fernandez, he undoubtedly
tics of the Florentine style, the compasses of the lost was trained in the same prevailing Iberian tradi-
harpsichord and his two existing pianos correspond tions of harpsichord making. These he presumably
nicely with significant groups of the composer's followed in the earlier part of his career. He would
works: the harpsichord's FF to f " for 43 sonatas; the have been working for the Spanish court for the bet-
pianos' GG to d"' and GG to g"', respectively, for ter part of a decade before encountering Scarlatti,
173 and 55 sonatas.75 Maria Barbara, and their Florentine or Florentine-
Among Spanish harpsichords known to date, the influenced Portuguese instruments in 1729 or per-
one closest to the Florentine style, at least superfi- haps, if he did not accompany the court during its
cially, is a single-manual, 2 x 8' instrument found in four-year sojourn in Andalusia, not until its return
Roda de Isibena (Huesca).76 This instrument, about to Madrid in 1733. Although there is no known
which only minimal information is yet available, record directly linking Fernandez to Scarlatti, the
is made in a very plain case with moderately thick obvious favour extended to the maker by the com-
walls. The tail angle is relatively blunt, and there is poser's close associates and pupils surely reflects his
no rose in the soundboard. Its compass of 52 notes own approval. As already noted, Farinelli turned to
was plausibly the apparent BB to d"' of its present Fernandez to make the special 'Correggio' harpsi-
replacement keyboard. A few details of some other chord. Shortly after the accession of Maria Barbara's
Spanish harpsichords might have been derived from husband to the Spanish throne as Fernando VI,
instruments of Florentine or related Italian schools. Diego Fernandez's reappointment as harpsichord
These include the lack of roses in the soundboards maker to the court was confirmed, and he received
of the anonymous Sevillian harpsichord of 1734 and a substantial raise in salary in 1755. He made several
the harpsichord from Salamanca (illus.6). In the lat- harpsichords for the queen in addition to Farinel-
ter, the grain of the soundboard is at an angle with li's Correggio. Later he made instruments for her
the spine, as occasionally seen in harpsichords by nephew, Prince Gabriel, long-time pupil of Antonio
Cristofori and other Florentine makers.77 Like Ital- Soler, Scarlatti's disciple and copyist of the princi-
ian harpsichords, it is scaled for brass strings, with pal sources of his works.79 It is inconceivable that
a c" length of 271 mm. The scalings of these Span- Fernandez could have prospered if he did not have
ish harpsichords, however, are all significantly Scarlatti's enthusiastic approval.
foreshortened in the bass, and none is as long as on The inventory of Maria Barbara's instruments lists
comparable instruments by Cristofori. The Roda no makers' names, only that four of the pianos (two
de Isaibena harpsichord is 2100 mm long; the 1734 of which had been converted into harpsichords)
Sevillian, which has an iron-scaled treble, 2050 mm; were made in Florence and that one of the harpsi-
the Salamancan, 2140 mm, while the 1722 Cristofori chords was Flemish. It is highly likely, however, that,
harpsichord is 2400oo mm long. as was certainly the case with the Correggio (no.2 in
With the dozen or so recently discovered harp- the inventory), most or all of the others were made
sichords, we are in a much better position than by Fernandez, who had been the court maker for 36
Kirkpatrick was in the 195os to survey Spanish years. Two of the anonymous harpsichords, nos.xo
and 12, correspond so closely to Fernindez's invoice northern schools. Although there is no known sur-
for making two new instruments in 1757 that they viving Spanish harpsichord with a walnut case, this
must be the same. Another, no.3, later bequeathed wood was used for the two mid-18th-century pianos
to Farinelli, corresponds so closely to nos.lo and attributed to Mirabal of Seville and the combined
12, that it, too, must have been made by Fernandez. piano-harpsichord-organ by Tadeus Tornel, Mur-
This is corroborated by Charles Burney, who having cia, 1777 (in the Museo Arqueol6gico, Murcia).83
seen instrument no.3 in Bologna, mentions that it FernAndez, then, evidently made instruments of sev-
had been made in Spain. eral grades according to the wealth of the client or
The Correggio, no.2 of the queen's instruments, the uses for which the instruments were intended.
was described in the inventory as de nogal, that is, From lowest to highest, these would be:
with walls and other prominent parts 'of walnut'. instruments in the prevailing tradition with softwood (pine,
In 1775 Fernandez made for Prince Gabriel another spruce or fir) cases and spruce or fir soundboards
walnut harpsichord, this with a cypress soundboard instruments with walnut cases and spruce or fir soundboards
and a 63-note compass (presumably FF to g"'). Sev- instruments with walnut cases and cypress soundboards; at
eral second-hand walnut harpsichords by him or his about the same level, instruments with cedar cases and spruce
or fir soundboards
nephew and successor Juliin Fernandez were adver-
tised in the Madrid Diario, the daily newspaper: instruments with cedar cases and cypress soundboards, kept
in separate outer cases
A harpsichord by the celebrated D. Julian Fernandez with a
larger compass [FF to g"', presumablyso], than that of forte In addition, some of Fernandez's instruments were
pianos of walnut ... [12 April 1788]
called claves cortos ('short harpsichords'): the walnut
A short harpsichord by ... D. Diego Fernandez, is of walnut,
harpsichord in the advertisement of 21 August 1788,
has four octaves and two more notes [presumably C to d"'],
to which has been added a stop of hammers by which [it has] quoted above; and 'a harpsichord by D. Diego [one]
its piano, and the one of quills ... [21 August 1788] of the short [ones] with a full compass and among the
a harpsichord of walnut ... its maker D. Diego and its com- best that he made' (17 December 1792), listed again
pass from GG to d"' ... [13 April 1799]81 the following week as 'a magnificent harpsichord of
It is therefore not implausible that, in addition to full compass and short, by D. Diego'.84 When Prince
the Correggio, Maria Barbara's other two walnut Gabriel's harpsichords were sold after his death,
harpsichords, nos.6 and 8, with 58- and 56-note there was, next to a clave grande ('large harpsichord')
compasses, were also made by Fernindez. One of by Fernandez, corresponding to the walnut instru-
them was probably the harpsichord that he made ment he made in 1775, a second harpsichord 'by the
for the queen in 1749.82 The invoice for only 2,100 same maker', also of full compass (FF to g"'), which
reales in comparison with the 4,800 charged for the was only two varas long, that is, 1686 mm.85 This was
two five-octave harpsichords made in 1757 suggests probably the 'small harpsichord' (clave chico) pur-
that this instrument was smaller and made of more chased from Fernandez in 1765.86 Even allowing that
common materials than the cedar and cypress of the the measurement was only approximate and might
later ones. One can surmise that the material of the
actually have been closer to two-and-a-half varas,
soundboard was specified in invoices and inven- about two metres, this is quite short for an instru-
tories only when it was cypress. That is, the usual ment extending down to FF. The scaling must have
spruce or fir of normal Spanish soundboards was left been significantly foreshortened in the bass, as in
unremarked, as were the similar softwoods used for the several surviving Spanish harpsichords approxi-
secondary parts of instruments with walnut cases or, mately two metres long, with keyboards extending
more often, for entire cases. The cases of the surviv- down to apparent BB, presumably intended to be
ing Spanish harpsichords were generally of softwood tuned to GG. Clave corto (or chico) therefore seems
(pine, spruce or fir). Since, however, walnut is found to have been the recognized term for harpsichords of
in 17th- and early 18th-century French, German and a distinctive foreshortened model, that is, in the tra-
English harpsichords, it should almost be expected ditional Spanish style.87 Claves grandes would have
that it had long been in occasional use by Span- been those scaled like Florentine harpsichords, with
ish makers working in their tradition related to the very little foreshortening.
Fernandez was evidently willing to make both
claves grandes and claves cortos with cases and
soundboards of various materials, cheap, more
expensive, or de luxe. Nevertheless, among Maria
Barbara's six harpsichords certainly or plausibly
made by him (nos.2, 3, 6, 8, 10 and 12) there seems
to be a correlation between materials and style. The
three with walnut cases and soundboards presum-
ably of spruce or fir (nos.2, 6 and 8) apparently
included the 4' choir which was a traditional part
of the musical resources of Spanish harpsichords. I
suspect that the stop in the Correggio harpsichord
(no.2) called 'cembalo in imitation of the flute' was
contrived by plucking the normal 8' cembalo strings
nearer to their centres, as in Ruckers virginals of the
muselar type, which were undoubedly known in
Spain. If so, the bass strings must have been signifi-
cantly foreshortened so that the jacks plucking the
strings at points approaching 50 per cent of their
lengths could be raised by key levers not impracti-
cably long. As for the three instruments with cedar
walls and cypress soundboards (nos.3, 10, and 12),
these, according to Burney's later description of
no.3, were 'of the Italian model, all the wood is
cedar, except the bellies [of cypress], and they are
put into a second case'.88 Doubtless, as has already
been argued, they had the standard Italian 2 x 8'
disposition.
It is tempting to speculate further about the
nature of Fernindez's Italianate harpsichords. We
should not expect that they, any more than the Por-
tuguese instruments, were slavish copies of Floren-
tine models. Although, as Burney attests, they were
made with actual outer cases, the inner instruments
might not have been constructed in the familiar
manner of Italian harpsichords with thin walls sur-
rounded by mouldings. Presumably they were
derived from the same plain, ostensibly thick-walled
instruments that had influenced the Portuguese
makers. At least two of Cristofori's instruments in
this style, a harpsichord and a piano, both of 1726
(in the Grassi Museum ffir Musikinstrumente der
Universitit Leipzig), were provided, when new,
13 Harpsichord by an unknown Florentine maker (Grassi
with decorated outer cases,8s and the descriptions
of Maria Barbara's four Florentine instruments Museum, Leipzig, no.89; photo from Henkel, 1979, repro-
duced with permission)
allow the possibility that these, too, had true outer
cases. The existing Portuguese instruments, painted
on their exteriors and provided with fitted trestles,
were clearly meant to stand alone, but these would
not have been the instruments, lost in 1755, that were
made for Portuguese royalty. Strangely, none of the
outer cases of Maria Barbara's three Italianate harp-
sichords by Fernandez were described as decorated
or even painted. Perhaps they served more as storage
boxes, which could have been made more present-
able by covers like the two of gold-fringed crimson
damask and red morocco leather made for Prince
Gabriel's Fernandez harpsichord of 1775.90
The inventory of 1758 and other documents indi-
cate that Fernandez made the actual instruments'
cases of zedro ('cedar' in Burney's English). 'Cedar'
in Spanish and in English, both then and now, is an
ambiguous term which can refer to many different
woods botanically quite distant from each other.
The major possibilities in 18th-century Spain were
three. Least likely was Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlan-
tica), a true cedar, which might have been imported
from North Africa. Some species of juniper grow
large enough to provide wood, 'red cedar', suit-
able for harpsichord walls. Conceivably, Fernandez
could have made instruments from the native
Spanish Juniperus thurifera, but more plausibly
from the somewhat larger trees of species grow-
ing in Spain's New World possessions, for exam-
ple, J. deppeana from Mexico. The third and most
likely interpretation of zedro, however, is Cedrela
odorata, commonly called 'cigar-box' or 'Spanish
cedar', from the West Indies, or the closely related
C. mexicana. Technically a hardwood, Cedrela is in
the same family, Meliaceae, as mahogany (Swiet-
enia mahagoni) and is rather similar to it, though
lighter in colour, less dense and somewhat coarser
in texture because of its larger pores. A sort of
Rosetta Stone for the identity of Fernindez's zedro
is provided by bills that he drew up in 1743 and
1744 for rebuilding two of the Duchess of Osuna's
harpsichords: he made new keyboards with levers 14 Harpsichord by Vincenzio Sodi, Florence, 1782
of cedro.91 That this was, in fact, Cedrela is indi-
(National Music Museum, Vermillion, cat. no.9825; Arne
cated by the use of this wood for key levers inB.the
and Jeanne F. Larson Fund and gift of Conrad Seaman,
square pianos made only a few decades later in
Pittsburgh, 2000; photo by Simon Spicer)
Seville by Juan del Mirmol, a pupil of Francisco
Perez Mirabal.92 In its mechanical characteris- were in Spanish harpsichords and pianos, but it
tics, Cedrela is a somewhat more yielding wood would have been wise, as we already suspect that
than many others used in harpsichord making. Fernandez did, to make Cedrela case walls substan-
This would not have been a problem with key tially thicker than the typical 4 or 5 mm of normal
levers stopped by a front rail, as they typically
Italian harpsichords with outer cases.
15 Harpsichord by Jose Calisto, Portugal (probably Lisbon), 1780 (National Music Museum, Vermillion, cat. no.6204;
Rawlins Fund, 1999; photo by Bill Willroth, Sr.)
Plans for a plausible reconstruction of a five- ti's advice and approval could be drawn after one
octave, GG to g"', 2 X 8' harpsichord as made by of several large instruments by Cristofori's pupils
Diego Fernandez for Maria Barbara with Scarlat- or grand pupils. Possible models would include
an anonymous harpsichord with compass GG to
f" (no.89 in the Grassi Museum, Leipzig, illus.13),
which could easily be extended up to g"', or one
by Vincenzio Sodi, Florence, 1782 (in the National
Music Museum, Vermillion; illus.14). The compass
of the latter is FF to f", but the very short scale
(c" is 245 mm) could stand to be lengthened by a
whole tone by substituting a GG to g"' keyboard.
Even, however, if one could obtain the woods for
the royal model de luxe (Cedrela odorata is consid-
ered a threatened species in some countries), the
problem with such reconstructions is their degree
of conjecture. Some makers might prefer to repro-
duce a 'Scarlatti' harpsichord directly after an actual
harpsichord. Although there are a number of Span-
ish pianos with the GG to g"' compass, it is found
in no surviving Spanish harpsichord, except the
combined instrument made by Tadeus Tornel in
1777, which Michael Latcham has aptly character-
ized as fundamentally a piano provided with a row
of jacks.93
As already noted, Scarlatti maintained his con-
nections with Portugal. That these continued to
the end of his life is indicated not only by refer-
ences to Scarlatti and his sonatas in the corre-
spondence of King Jodo's secretary, Alexandre de
Gusmdo, as late as 1747 and 1751 but also by the
existence in Portugal of the superb 'Lisbon' man-
uscript of 61 sonatas, including one unicum.94
(Many other such manuscripts must have been
destroyed in 1755.) This source includes several
sonatas with the full GG to g"' compass and oth-
ers (with K numbers in the 4oos) considered to
be fairly late works. More generally, a continu-
ing relationship between Spain and Portugal in
the making and use of keyboard instruments is
indicated by the appearance in both countries of
the characteristic G-orientated five-octave com-
pass, on which Scarlatti's entire oeuvre can be
played if the GG or GGO key is tuned to FF for
the few sonatas requiring it.95 Therefore, there is
every reason to believe that the surviving Portu-
guese harpsichords with the GG to g"' compass
were related to the Spanish instruments with
16 Plan of the Calisto harpsichord (photo by Bill Willroth,
this compass that Scarlatti played. Indeed, they
Sr.)
are probably closer to the lost instruments of
Diego Fernmindez, or at least more assuredly close,
than any pastiche one could cobble together from
existing Florentine harpsichords and Spanish the 18th-century and present-day contexts of nov-
documents. elty outlined above, one should note the obvious:
The five-octave Portuguese harpsichords, even that both registers have traditional quill plectra,
without regard to their relationship to Scarlatti, are not any of the various hard or soft leathers which
superb both as musical instruments and as works in that period were sometimes used to elicit dis-
of craftsmanship. Of the five now known, two, by tinctive tone qualities. Moreover, because the back
Jose Calisto, probably Lisbon, 1780 (in the National register is fixed in place and only the front register
Music Museum, Vermillion; illus.15 and 16) and by can be engaged or disengaged by a stop knob pro-
Joaquim Jos6 Antunes, Lisbon, 1785 (in the collec- truding through the nameboard at the right, there
tion of Richard Burnett at Finchcocks, Goudhurst, are only two settings: both 8' stops or the back 8'
Kent96) are in an excellent state of preservation; alone. There is, however, a buff-stop, controlled by
three others, by Mathias Bostem, Lisbon, 1786 a left-hand knob, affecting the back 8' register. The
(Museu da M6sica, Lisbon, no.648), by the same inclusion of a buff-stop, for example, in the Bueno
harpsichord of 1712, seems to have been traditional
maker in 1789 (Museu da Mtlsica, Lisbon, no.833),97
and by an unknown maker (in the Smithsonian in Iberian harpsichord making. The resources of
Institution, Washington, DC; cat. no.315,749), have the Calisto harpsichord are no fluke, since the same
unfortunately been shortened, the two by Bostem arrangement of stops and means to move them is
also converted into pianos. There is no need here found in a harpsichord (with the remarkable com-
to describe further the technical features of their
pass of FF to a"' and treble scaling suitable for
design and construction, which (except for the irons strings) by Manuel (together with Joaquim
Smithsonian instrument) have been described in Jose?) Antunes, Lisbon, 1789 (Museu da Mfisica,
detail elsewhere.98 One should note, however, that Lisbon, no.373).'1-
these harpsichords, with their spruce cases and Some modern players of Domenico Scarlat-
soundboards, typical materials in the Iberian tradi- ti's sonatas will choose Florentine pianos or will,
tion, present fewer obstacles to conscientious repro- like Maria Barbara, seek out the novelty of harp-
duction than do instruments made of Cedrela or sichords with many stops and pedals. There is
cypress.99 nothing wrong in this, either from the standpoint
The Calisto harpsichord retains its original of historically informed performance practice or
action and stop mechanism. These provide evi- from that of aesthetics and taste. Nevertheless, the
dence of the registrational desires of 18th-century plain 2 x 8' option, which some performers and lis-
musicians who chose 2 x 8' instruments for play- teners would regard as the most reasonable from
ing the virtuoso Scarlatti-infused Iberian reper- both standpoints, has hardly yet been adequately
tory requiring the full five-octave compass. Given explored.10o
Appendix
The inventory of Maria Barbara's instruments has been published repeatedly in Spanish and English translation and has repeatedly
been analysed, most recently by Michael Latcham.'02 The following is a summary of the inventory supplemented with information
from other documents (within parentheses)103 and on informed supposition [within brackets].
1. A Florentine piano (made by Giovanni Ferrini in 1730); 'all the interior of cypress; the case of black poplar [Populus
nigra] given the colour of palosanto' [a dark red or reddish-brown tropical wood;104 probably, like the Ferrini combined
harpsichord/piano of 1746, this instrument was of false-inner-outer construction with poplar walls and interior veneer,
mouldings, soundboard, etc. of cypress]; keys of boxwood 4s and ebony #s; compass 56 notes (bequeathed to Farinelli,
who named it 'Raphael').
2. A [single-manual] harpsichord (designed according to Farinelli's ideas and made by Diego Fernandez [between 1746 and
1756]); of walnut [with a spruce or fir soundboard]; four choirs (of brass, iron and gut); five registers (archlute [16'
brass]105; harp [8'] gut; cembalo [8' brass], octave [4' iron], and 'cembalo in imitation of the flute' [presumably the 8'
brass strings plucked near their midpoints] and ten pedals to change the stops, of which the harp and octave could be
engaged separately in treble and bass); keys of ebony xs and mother of pearl #s; compass 56 notes [GG to d"'];
(bequeathed to Farinelli, who named it 'Correggio').
3. A [single-manual] harpsichord [probably made by Diego Fernandez, but not one of those made in 1757]; interior
(separate instrument) with cedar [walls] and cypress [soundboard], with a white poplar [Populus alba] (outer) case; (two
registers) [2 x 8']; keys of ebony ts and mother of pearl #s; compass 61 notes [GG to g"']; (bequeathed to Farinelli, who
named it 'Guido' [Reni]).
4. A [single-manual] harpsichord, formerly a piano, made in Florence; interior [veneer, mouldings, soundboard, etc.] of
cypress; exterior [walls of poplar] painted green; [2 x 8']; keys [remade by Fernandez] of ebony ts and bone #s; compass
56 notes [GG to d"'?].
5. A [single-manual] harpsichord, formerly a piano, made in Florence; similar to the preceding; green exterior; [2 x 8'];
keys [remade by Fernandez] of ebony Is and bone #s; compass 50 notes [BB to c"'?].
6. A [single-manual] harpsichord [probably made by Diego Fernandez; perhaps the one for which he presented an invoice
in 1749, if not no.8 below] of walnut [with a spruce or fir soundboard]; 3 choirs [2 x 8', 4']; keys of ebony ts and bone #s;
compass 58 notes [GG to e"'? 106]
7. A [single-manual?] Flemish harpsichord; dark lacquer; [poplar walls; spruce soundboard]; 3 choirs [2 x 8', 4']; keys of
ebony fs and bone #s; compass not given.107
8. A [single-manual] harpsichord [probably made by Diego Fernandez; perhaps the one for which he presented an invoice
in 1749, if not no.6 above] of walnut [with a spruce or fir soundboard]; 3 choirs [2 x 8', 4']; keys of ebony ts and bone #s;
compass 56 notes [GG to d"'].
9. A Florentine piano; cypress [soundboard and interior veneer, etc.]; [exterior walls of poplar] painted encarnado [flesh-
pink or blood-red]; keys of boxwood ts and ebony Os; compass 49 notes [C to c"'].
10. A [single-manual] harpsichord [made by Diego Fernandez in 1757]; interior [separate instrument] with cedar [walls] and
cypress [soundboard], with a white poplar [outer] case; two choirs [2 x 8']; keys of ebony ts, mother of pearl #s, (and
bone [inlay or fronts?]); compass 61 notes [GG to g"'].
11. A piano [Florentine or made by Diego Fernandez in the Florentine style?]; cypress [soundboard and interior
veneer, etc.]; [exterior walls of poplar] painted green; keys of boxwood ts and ebony #s; compass 54 notes [GG to
c"'?].
12 A [single-manual] harpsichord [made by Diego Fernandez in 1757]; interior [separate instrument] with cedar [walls] and
cypress [soundboard], with a white poplar [outer] case; (two choirs) [2 x 8']; keys of ebony zs, mother of pearl #s,
(and bone [inlay or fronts?]); compass 61 notes [GG to g"'].
John Koster received the A.B. cum laude in Music from Harvard College in 1971 and was for many
years a professional harpsichord maker in the Boston area. After holding an Andrew W. Mellon Senior
Fellowship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1990o-91, he assumed his present posi-
tion as Professor of Music and Conservator at the National Music Museum, The University of South
Dakota. His book, Keyboard musical instruments in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1994), the
first comprehensive catalogue of its kind in English, was awarded the Bessaraboff Prize of the American
Musical Instrument Society, and his numerous articles have appeared in the Galpin Society Journal,
Musique-Images-Instruments, and other leading organological publications. John.Koster@usd.edu.
I am most grateful for a grant from the instrument by Tornel in Murcia, for 2 D. Sutherland, 'Domenico Scarlatti
Galpin Society for research in Spain; to sending me pre-publication copies of his and the Florentine piano', Early Music,
Joaquin Diaz for his extraordinary articles, and for providing very helpful xxiii (1995), pp.244 and 252.
hospitality in Uruefia and to Grant comments on a draft of this article. 3 See the list compiled by
O'Brien for arranging this visit; to Eszter
1 This can be judged from such Denzil Wraight at www.
Fontana (Leipzig), Gabriele Rossi-
evidence as the size of entries for these denzilwraight.com/crisdisc.htm
Rognoni (Florence), and Christopher
composers in the index of L. Palmer, (accessed 25 April 2007).
Dempsey (Ann Arbor) for most
Harpsichord in America: a twentieth- 4 Ibid. Among these, for example, is
expeditiously providing photos and
permissions; to John Phillips and the century revival (Bloomington and Edward Parmentier's recording of
present owner of the harpsichord from Indianapolis, 1989), and a discography sonatas K28 and 227 on a piano by
Salamanca; to Laurence Libin, formerly compiled by Hugh Gough in 1940 as Manuel Antunes, Lisbon, 1767 (in the
of the Metropolitan Museum, New York; an appendix for D. H. Boalch's National Music Museum, Vermillion,
to Gerhard Doderer for arranging access unpublished 'Guide to the study of SD), on the CD, The Portuguese piano
to instruments in Portugal; and to early keyboard instruments' (typescript (Wildboar, Berkeley, CA, 1999: WLBR
Michael Latcham for showing me the in my possession). 9401).
5 Soler and Scarlatti in London, released 'Diego Fernindez-harpsichord-maker29 These are described in H. Henkel,
by FIMTE (Garrucha, Almeria, Spain) to the Spanish royal family from 1722 Kielinstrumente; Musikinstrumenten-
in 2006. The harpsichord is by Joseph Museum der Karl-Marx- Universitilt
to 1775-and his nephew Julian
Kirckman, London, 1798 (in the Fernandez', Galpin Society Journal, Leipzig [now the Grassi Museum],
National Music Museum, Vermillion, xxxviii (1985), p.40; M. Latcham, 'Don Katalog, Band 2 (Leipzig, 1979), nos.84
SD). Quixote', p.102; and his 'Four and 85, and in his 'Bartolomeo
6 Such modern harpsichords are eighteenth-century cembali' and 'The Cristofori as harpsichord maker', in
described in W. J. Zuckermann, The twelve clavicordios owned by Queen The historical harpsichord iii, ed. H.
modern harpsichord: twentieth-century Maria Barbara of Spain and the seven Schott (Stuyvesant, NY, 1992), pp.1-58;
cembali owned by Carlo Broschi, in D. Sutherland, 'The Florentine
instruments and their makers (New
known as Farinelli: facts and school of cembalo-making centered in
York, 1969); in M. Elste, 'Nostalgische
Musikmaschinen: Cembali im 20. speculation', both in Five centuries of the works of Bartolomeo Cristofori',
Jahrhundert', in Kielklaviere: Cembali,Spanish keyboard music (Festival Early Keyboard Journal, xvi-xvii
Internacional de MUisica de Tecla (1998-9), pp.7-75; and in K. Schwarz,
Spinette Virginale, ed. D. Droysen-
Espariola [hereafter FIMTE] Bartolomeo Cristofori: Hammerfliigel
Reber (Berlin, 1991), pp.239-77, and
H. Rase, 'Renaissance des Cembalos: Symposium proceedings, 2002-3), ed. und Cembali im Vergleich, Scripta
Artium ii (Halle an der Saale, 2002).
Beschreibung der Instrumente, Teil II',L. Morales (Almeria: Instituto de
Much valuable information about
in Kielklaviere, pp.278-334; and by Estudios Almerienses, in press).
H. Schott and M. Elste in New Grove Cristofori's harpsichords and others
18 In a section of the Domenico
attributed to him or to his circle is in
II, 'Harpsichord', j5 i and ii. Scarlatti entry written by Roberto
D. Wraight, 'The stringing of Italian
7 F. Hubbard, 'Reconstructing the Pagano, New Grove II, xxii, p.403. The
keyboard instruments c.15oo-c.1650'
harpsichord', in The historical thinking behind this seems to have
(diss., The Queen's University of
harpsichord i, ed. H. Schott (New York,come about as if by a false syllogism Belfast, 1996/7).
1984), p.8. like 'chairs have four legs; my cat has
four legs; therefore my cat is a chair'. 30 See J. Koster, 'The early Neapolitan
8 R. Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti school of harpsichord making',
(Princeton, 1953). 19 As translated in Kirkpatrick, forthcoming in the proceedings of the
Domenico Scarlatti, p.176. FIMTE Symposium 2006.
9 Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti,
pp.178-80. 20 Pollens, The early pianoforte, p.12o. 31 The most reliable sources for the
21 Latcham comes to a similar identities of makers working in Rome
to Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti,
p.180. conclusion in 'Twelve clavicordios'. are Frederick Hammond, 'Some notes
on Giovanni Battista Boni da Cortona,
11 Columbia Masterworks, four-LP set 22 Sutherland, 'Domenico Scarlatti and
Girolamo Zenti, and others', Galpin
SL-221. the Florentine piano', p.250.
Society Journal, xl (1987), PP-37-47, and
12 R. Kirkpatrick, 'Fifty years of 23 Latcham suggests in 'Twelve P. Barbieri, 'Cembalaro, organaro,
clavicordios' that the additional
harpsichord playing', Early Music, xi chitarraro e fabbricatore di corde
(1983), pp.38-9. harpsichords were needed for armoniche nella Polyanthea technica di
Farinelli's elaborate opera productions.Pinaroli (1718-32), con notizie sui liutai
13 See, for example, the instrument by
Carl Fudge, Boston, 1968, illustrated in 24 See B. Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego e cembalari operanti a Roma',
Zuckermann, The modern harpsichord, FernAndez Caparr6s y sus instru- Recercare, i (1989), pp.123-209.
p.120. mentos', in Claves y pianos espafioles:32 The harpsichord (Metropolitan
14 See Scipione Maffei's famous interpretaci6n y repertorio hasta 1830; Museum acc. no.89.4.2929) is described
Actas del I y II Symposium Interna- in S. Pollens, 'Michele Todini's golden
account of Cristofori's pianos,
cional 'Diego Fernandez' de Musica harpsichord: an examination of the
published in 1711; quoted in S. Pollens,
de Tecla Espahola, Vera-Mojdcar, machine of Galatea and Polyphemus',
The early pianoforte (Cambridge, 1995),
2000-2001, ed. L. Morales (Almeria, Metropolitan Museum Journal, xxv
PP.57 and 239.
2003), pp.101-6, at p.1o6. (1990), pp.33-47. He does not, however,
15 D. Wraight, 'Recent approaches in
25 A transcription of the inventory is mention the presumably original
understanding Cristofori's pianos',
Early Music, xxxiv (2006), p.642. in S. Cappelletto, La Voce perduta: vita separate bass bridge. Although it was
di Farinelli evirato cantore (Turin, removed when the compass was
16 R. Russell, The harpsichord and 1995), pp.209-10. extended and the position of the main
clavichord: an introductory study bridge was altered during the 18th
(London, 1959), p.117. 26 See Kenyon de Pascual,
century, marks from it are visible on
'Harpsichords, clavichords and similarthe soundboard.
17 See B. Kenyon de Pascual, instruments', p.81, item 58.
'Harpsichords, clavichords and similar 33 An inventory is transcribed in
instruments in Madrid in the second 27 See Sutherland, 'Domenico ScarlattiA. Cametti, 'I Cembali del Cardinale
half of the eighteenth century',
and the Florentine piano'.
Ottoboni', Musica d'Oggi, viii/12
Research Chronicle (Royal Musical 28 See Pollens, The early pianoforte, (December 1926), pp.339-41; see also
Association), xviii (1982), p.69, and p.55. Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti, p.360.
34 See F. Hammond, 'Musical Symposium im Rahmen der 26. Tage 51 See, for example, Hubbard, Three
instruments at the Medici court in the Alter Musik in Herne 2ool, ed. centuries of harpsichord making, pl.19,
mid-seventeenth century', in Studien C. Ahrens and G. Klinke (Munich and fig.'.
zur italienisch-deutschen Salzburg, 2003), PP-139-54; and Doderer 52 The known Portuguese
Musikgeschichte, x--Analecta and van der Meer, Cordofones de tecla instruments are described in Doderer
Musicologica xv, ed. F. Lipmann et al. portugueses do s&colo xviii, p.338. and van der Meer, Cordofones de tecla
(Cologne, 1975), pp.202-19. 43 The instruments described in portugueses do s&colo xviii. In addition,
35 See V. Gai, Gli strumenti musicali A. E. Beurmann, 'Iberian discoveries: there is a harpsichord, probably from
dell corte Medicea e il Museo del six Spanish 17th-century harpsichords', the 1780s, in the Smithsonian
Conservatorio 'Luigi Cherubini' di Early Music, xxvii (1999), pp.183-208, Institution, Washington, DC, cat.
Firenze (Florence, 1969), pp.6-13. In are no longer regarded as authentic. no.315,749, listed as 'spurious /
addition there was a harpsichord by an See also J. Koster, 'A contemporary England? / 19th century?' in C. Adams
unnamed Florentine maker and two by example of harpsichord forgery', Early Hoover, ed., A checklist of keyboard
makers whose locations are not known. Music, xxviii (2000), pp.91-7. instruments at the Smithsonian
36 See J. H. van der Meer, 'Das 44 This is in preparation for Institution (Washington, 2/1975), p.50.
Florentiner "Ebenholzcembalo", eine publication in the Galpin Society I am grateful to Gary Sturm for
Arbeit von Bartolomeo Cristofori', in Journal. providing me with photos of this
instrument. Also of likely Portuguese
Festschrift fir Gerhard Bott zum 60.
45 See R. Marijuan and B. Kenyon de origin is a piano, often regarded as
Geburtstag, ed. U. Schneider Pascual, 'A newly-discovered
(Darmstadt, 1987), pp.227-35; Schwarz, Spanish, described in B. Kenyon de
harpsichord from a Spanish convent',
Bartolomeo Cristofori; and F. Falletti,
Pascual and D. Law, 'Another early
Galpin Society Journal, lv (2002), pp.
R. Meucci and G. Rossi Rognoni, La Iberian grand piano', Galpin Society
43-4; and J. Koster, 'A newly-discovered
musica e i suoi strumenti: La Collezione Journal, xxxxviii (1995), pp.68-93 (see
harpsichord inscription', Galpin Society
Granducale del Conservatorio Cherubini also Russell, The harpsichord and
Journal, lx (2007), pp.236-7.
(Florence, 2001), pp.195-9. clavichord, pl.1o2a; and Morales, ed.,
46 For example, an instrument of 1734 FIMTE 2003, PP-54-7). The typically
37 The harpsichord in illus.3 is (in a private collection in England), Portuguese stand consisting of trestles
attributed to Cristofori in Wraight, described in B. Kenyon de Pascual and with upside-down heart-shaped
'The stringing of Italian keyboard C. Nobbs, 'Sevilla: un importante cutouts, however, has not been found
instruments', ii, p.115. See also centro espafiol de construcci6n de with Spanish instruments, and some
Sutherland, 'The Florentine school of claves y pianos de mediados del siglo Portuguese furniture is decorated
cembalo-making', where it is attributed XVIII', Revista de Musicologia, xx with chinoiserie similar to that on this
to Ferrini.
(1997), pp.849-55; see also Morales, ed., instrument.
38 Part of Nassarre's text about FIMTE 2003, pp.24-5.
53 Instruments of Cristofori and his
harpsichords is given in English 47 See, for example, a harpsichord by pupil Ferrini are described in Pollens,
translation in F. Hubbard, Three Nicolas Dufour, Paris, 1683, in the The early pianoforte. See also L.-F.
centuries of harpsichord making National Music Museum, Vermillion, Tagliavini and J. H. van der Meer,
(Cambridge, MA, 1965), pp.336-8. SD (cat. no.5943). Clavicembali e spinette dal XVI al XIX
39 See G. Doderer and J. H. van der 48 This instrument, formerly in the secolo, Collezione L.F. Tagliavini
Meer, Cordofones de tecla Portugueses collection of Rafael Puyana, is said to (Bologna, 1986); L.-F. Tagliavini,
do secolo xviii: clavi6rdios, cravos, have been found at Carmel de Las 'Giovanni Ferrini and his harpsichord
pianofortes e espinetas/Portuguese string Batuecas, a town situated in the region"a penne e a martelletti"', Early Music,
keyboard instruments of the 18th called 'Las Hurdes', between Salamancaxix (1991), pp-398-4o8; and Schwarz,
century: clavichords, harpsichord, and the Portuguese border. ApparentlyBartolomeo Cristofori.
fortepianos and spinets (Lisbon, 2005). this instrument had been there since
54 The original text is in E. Vieira,
40 Morales, ed., FIMTE 2003 and its origin. I am most grateful to John Diccionario biographico de musicos
subsequent volumes in press. Phillips for technical information and portuguezes (Lisbon, 1900oo), i, pp.38-9;
41 See, for example, Russell, The photographs of this instrument. also in English translation in Pollens,
harpsichord and clavichord, pp.115-i8, 49 It is described in C. Bordas, 'El The early pianoforte, pp.138-40; and in
and E. L. Kottick, A history of the clave de Salvador Bofill (1743) y su both the original and English in
harpsichord (Bloomington and entorno en la construcci6n espafiola', Doderer and van der Meer, Cordofones
Indianapolis, 2003), chap.12. Revista de Musicologia, xx (1997), de tecla portugueses do s&colo xviii,
pp.857-66; see also Morales, ed., pp.18-19 and 318-19.
42 See E. M. Ripin, 'A reassessment of
the fretted clavichord', Galpin Society FIMTE 2003, pp.26-7. 55 The Antunes piano is described in
Journal, xxiii (1970), PP.44-5; B. 5o See Droysen-Reber, ed., Kielklaviere,Pollens, The early pianoforte, pp.137-56;
Kenyon de Pascual, '8th-i9th century pp.155-9; and Doderer and van der J. Koster, 'Three grand pianos in the
Spanish clavichords with fretting Meer, Cordofones de tecla portugueses Florentine tradition', Musique-Images-
variants', in Fundament aller Clavirten do sicolo xviii, pp.259-60, 324 and Instruments, iv (1999), pp.94-1o3; and
Instrumenten: Das Clavichord; 391-4. Doderer and van der Meer, Cordofones
de tecla portugueses do secolo xviii, been derived from this model. Even so, compass C to d"', which construction
pp.299-302 and 467-72. their hammer-head rows are marks indicate is original. The
56 For purposes of this discussion, significantly more oblique than in the keyboard, however, has been reworked,
1720 Cristofori. That Maria Barbara with most of its key levers of softwood.
makers of foreign origin working in
Portugal (e.g. the German-born Carlos acquired a Ferrini piano made in 1730 Was it made with the special compass
Mathias Bostem and Henrique van suggests a continuing relationship C to d"' for export to Portugal, where
Casteel, born in Tournai) will be between Portuguese royalty and the the Florentine chestnut key levers were
Florentine makers, in which case the replaced? Also, the harpsichord in
considered to be Portuguese.
makers in Lisbon would have known illus.3 was evidently made with the
57 Presumably to obtain a shorter compass GG to d"'.
pianos like Cristofori's of 1722 and
scaling for a slightly higher pitch, 1726.
Antunes placed the piano nut closer to 70 Van der Meer, 'The keyboard string
63 The piano described in Kenyon de instruments at the disposal of
the bridge and moved the bass end of
Pascual and Law, 'Another early Domenico Scarlatti', p.142.
the gap between the wrestplank and
soundboard in the same direction to Iberian grand piano', which I think 71 Van der Meer, 'The keyboard
maintain a suitable striking point. more likely Portuguese than Spanish, string instruments at the disposal of
Since, however, pianos inherently perhaps the earliest Iberian piano, has Domenico Scarlatti', pp.142-4; Gerhard
require a close striking point in the a separate bass bridge similar to Doderer, in the preface to his facsimile
Cristofori's. edition of Domenico Scarlatti, Libro di
treble, he moved the treble end of the
gap closer to the nut than in the 64 Of the five undoubted Portuguese tocate per cembalo (Lisbon, Instituto
harpsichord plan. pianos, only the one by Bostem, 1777, Portugues do Patrim6nio Cultural,
has chestnut key levers, as does the one call no.F.C.R. 194.1; Lisbon, 1991),
58 In, respectively, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, the Museo described in Kenyon de Pascual and
p.42.
degli Strumenti Musicali, Rome, and Law, 'Another early Iberian grand 72 See in Kenyon de Pascual and
the Grassi Museum, Leipzig. piano'. Nobbs, 'Sevilla', and Morales, ed.,
FIMTE 2003, pp.24-5.
59 Both in the Grassi Museum, Leipzig. 65 I am most grateful to Markus Brosig
of the Grassi Museum, Leipzig, for 73 See B. Kenyon de Pascual,
60 In the Tagliavini collection, 'Francisco Perez Mirabal's
confirming that Cristofori made this
Bologna.
type of slot in his harpsichords. harpsichords and the early Spanish
61 Among these are the harpsichord in piano', Early Music, xv (1987), p.504,
66 K6, 7, 9, 20, 24, 26 and 27. Only K26
illus.3; one with the spurious extends down to GG. and Morales, ed., FIMTE 2003, P-47.
inscription Francesco Nobili in Roma
67 He might also cleverly have selected 74 See Kenyon de Pascual, 'Francisco
fec. 1695 (in the Neumeyer-Junghanns-
works to fit the compass BB to c"', Perez Mirabal's harpsichords'; Pollens,
Tracey collection in Bad Krozingen,
Germany), attributed to Cristofori's which was evidently quite common in The early pianoforte, chap.5; and
workshop in Wraight, 'The stringing Spanish harpsichords (including the Morales, ed., FIMTE 2003, PP.48-53.
Salamancan instrument in illus.6; an 75 These are the totals of the columns
of Italian keyboard instruments', ii,
pp.115-16; an anonymous instrument, anonymous instrument, probably in van der Meer, 'The keyboard string
Castilian, described in Morales, ed., instruments at the disposal of
no.89 in the Grassi Museum, Leipzig,
tentatively attributed to Cristofori or FIMTE 2003, PP.42-3; the anonymous Domenico Scarlatti', p.157.
Ferrini by Wraight, 'The stringing of Sevillian harpsichord of 1734; and the 76 See C. Bordas, 'Les instruments "
Zeferino Fernandez of 1750). The bass clavier: clavicordio, monacordio et
Italian keyboard instruments', ii, p.114;
the anonymous harpsichord (privately of this compass, which was rare in piano', in Instruments de musique
owned in Canada) described in Italy but relatively common in
espaghfols du XVIe au XIXe siecle
D. P. Jensen, 'A Florentine northern Europe in the second half of (exhibition catalogue) (Brussels, 1985),
harpsichord: revealing a transitional the 17th century, is usually interpreted
p.lo7, and Morales, ed., FIMTE 2003,
technology', Early Music, xxvi (1998), as a short octave, with apparent BB PP-44-5.
tuned to GG, Co to AA, and D# to BB
pp.70-85; and the instruments of 77 Angled soundboard grain is found
Vincenzio Sodi, such as the or BB b. As a purely practical matter,
however, if it were tuned in the harpsichords in illus.2 and 3,
harpsichord in illus.14. both attributed to Cristofori. The
chromatically, with the option of
62 There is some possibility that the former, described in the Medici
lowering the BB key to AA, these
first Florentine pianos in Lisbon were instruments could accommodate all inventory of 1700, is an early work.
like the Cristofori piano of 1720 in but two of the Essercizi. Wraight has suggested that Cristofori
which the wrestplank is of the normal, angled his soundboards to help resist
non-inverted construction. Also, it is 68 J. H. van der Meer, 'The keyboard the tension of the strings on the bent
wider in the bass, and the row of string instruments at the disposal of side and stopped doing so when he
hammer heads is somewhat oblique to Domenico Scarlatti', Galpin Society developed the double-wall
the spine. The Portuguese pianos, with Journal, 1(1997), p.157. construction, in which the soundboard
their non-inverted wrestplanks and 69 The Florentine harpsichord could be made more resonant. Thus,
oblique hammer-head rows might have described in Jensen 1998, does have the
the instrument in illus.3 would have
been made before the double-wall 87 As a possible alternative to this secolo xviii, pp.280- 4, 290-2, 429-33
instruments of the 1720S. That interpretation, it is suggested in and 437-41.
Florentine makers did not entirely Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego Fernandez', 98 See especially Doderer and van der
forget about angling the soundboard is p.40, that claves cortos might have been
Meer, Cordofones de tecla portugueses
shown by Vincenzio Sodi's resumption 8' spinets. It would hardly have been do secolo xviii.
of the practice, for example, in his possible, however, to add a set of
harpsichord of 1782 (illus.14) and in a hammers to a spinet while retaining its 99 I pass over the veneers of
piano of 1789, described in Koster, jacks, as was done to the Fernandez endangered or threatened species of
'Three grand pianos', pp.11o-16. clave corto advertised on 21 August Dalbergia (rosewood and tulipwood)
1788. used merely decoratively in some of
78 What is known of Fernandez is these instruments.
reported in Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego 88 Charles Burney, The present state of
Fernandez', and 'Diego Fernandez ioo The instrument is described in
music in France and Italy (London,
Caparr6s y sus instrumentos', and in 2/1773), p.212. Doderer and van der Meer, Cordofones
her 'Queen Maria Barbara's de tecla portugueses do secolo xviii,
89 See D. Sutherland, 'Bartolomeo
harpsichords', Galpin Society Journal, pp.285-9 and 433-7; see also Russell,
Cristofori's paired cembalos of 1726',
xxxix (1986), pp.125-8. The harpsichord and clavichord, pl.lol.
Journal of the American Musical The back register is not actually fixed
79 See J. M. Cuesta and B. Kenyon de Instrument Society, xxvi (2000),
Pascual, 'El Infante Don Gabriel in place but can be moved for purposes
pp.5-56. The cases are also discussed in of tuning or voicing only by pushing
(1752-1788), gran aficionado a la
essays by Rainer Behrends, Irmela knobs at its ends under the jack rail.
misica', Revista de Musicologia, xi/3 Breidenstein and Klaus Gernhardt in
(1988), pp.767-806, and B. Kenyon de Schwarz, Bartolomeo Cristofori. iol Two fine CD recordings of Scarlatti
Pascual, 'Infante Gabriel de Borb6n y sonatas played on particularly
Sajonia (1752-1788) and his musical 90o Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego appropriate historical harpsichords
instruments', Musique-Images- Fernandez', p.39. with the 2 x 8' disposition have been
Instruments, ix (2007), pp.8-27. 91 Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego made by Colin Tilney on the
80 The typical piano compass of the Fernandez', P.43. Florentine harpsichord described in
period was GG to g"', found, for Jensen 1998 (Dorian DOR-90103,
92 That the key levers of del Marmol
example, in the Mirabal piano in the released in 1988) and by Cremilde
piano of 1788 in the National Music
Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville, and in Museum are of Cedrela has been
Rosado Fernandes on the Joaquim Jose
most of the square pianos made by Antunes harpsichord of 1758 (Jorsom
determined by microscopic
Mirabal's pupil, Juan del Mirmol, for Audio Visual, Lisbon, J-CD 0102,
examination.
example one of 1788 in the National released in 1991).
Music Museum, Vermillion, SD, and 93 Private communication.
102 See Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti,
several others described in Morales, 94 See Doderer's facsimile edition, chap.9 and p.361; Russell, The
ed., FIMTE 2003, pp.58-63. Libro di tocate per cembal, in the harpsichord and clavichord, p.185;
81 Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego introduction to which Gusmdo's Sutherland, 'Domenico Scarlatti and
Fernandez', pp.45-6 (items 4, correspondence is quoted on p.26. the Florentine piano', p.249; and
6 and 19). Latcham, 'Twelve clavicordios'.
95 The tuning to GGO is suggested in
82 See Kenyon de Pascual, 'Queen van der Meer, 'The keyboard string 103 Principally Burney's account and
Maria Barbara's harpsichords', p.125, instruments at the disposal of the inventory of Farinelli's estate.
and 'Diego Fernandez Caparr6s y sus Domenico Scarlatti', p.151, who notes, 104 Palosanto was not (pace Russell and
instrumentos', p.1o4. p.149, that Scarlatti never prescribed
Sutherland) a dark-green colour. In
83 See Morales, ed., FIMTE 2003, FF#. Kottick, A history of the
present-day Spanish it refers to various
pp.28-9. harpsichord , p.239, might be
tropical hardwoods (see http://es.
technically correct in noting that
84 Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego wikipedia.org/wiki/Palosanto; accessed
Scarlatti 'never called for GG)', but, in
Fernandez', p.45 (item 14). 28 May 2007), especially of the genus
fact, AA b is found in K13o and 462. AsGuaiacum, e.g. the extremely dense,
85 Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego reported by van der Meer in a letter in
Fernandez', P.44; Cuesta and Kenyon dark-brown G. officinale, more
Galpin Society Journal, liii (2000),
de Pascual, 'El Infante Don Gabriel commonly known as lignum vitae.
PP-346-7, Roberto Pagano has pointed
(1752-1788)', pp.781 and 800; and Note that Diego Fernandez's invoice
out that the sources of K387, 394 and
Kenyon de Pascual, 'Infante Gabriel de for a clavichord made in 1761 refers to
469 notate as GG what must sound as
Borb6n y Sajonia', pp.11-12 and 22. its keyboard of Palo-santo and bone
FF, thus indicating that the GG-key
According to the Enciclopedia universal was to be retuned a tone lower.
(see Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego
ilustrada (Barcelona, 1907-), xli, p.13o7, Fernandez', p.44).
the vara in Madrid was 0.843 m. 96 See R. Burnett, Company of pianos
105 I question Latcham's conclusion
(Goudhurst, Kent, 2004), p.27.
86 Kenyon de Pascual, 'Diego that this choir was at 8' pitch. Its
Fernandez', p.36, and 'Queen Maria 97 See Doderer and van der Meer, name, arcileuto, surely implies a deep
Barbara's harpsichords', p.126. Cordofones de tecla portugueses do bass tone quality.

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5 Cross-sections of bridges (left to right) by Andreas R

was the great Lisbon

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