Et vos doigts sur les Espinettes,
Pour dire Saintes Chansonettes.
With this written testimony we have fortunately the testimony of the instruments themselves, Italian oblong spinets (Spinetta a Tavola), or those graceful pentangular instruments, without covers attached, which are so much prized for their external beauty. The oldest bearing a date is in the Conservatoire at Paris, by Francesco di Portalupis, Verona, 1523. [App. p.795 "In the Bologna Exhibition, 1888, Historical Section, was shown a spinet bearing the inscription 'Alessandro Pasi Modenese,' and a date, 1490. It was exhibited by Count L. Manzoni. It is a true Italian spinet in a bad state of repair. The date, which has been verified, does not invalidate the evidence adduced from Scaliger and Banchieri concerning the introduction of the spinet, but it places it farther back and before Scaliger, who was born in 1484, could have observed it. This Bologna Loan Collection contained, as well as the earliest dated spinet, the latest dated harpsichord (1802, Clementi) known to the writer."] The next by Antoni Patavini, 1550, is at Brussels. [App. p.796 "Miss Marie Decca owns a Rosso spinet dated 1550, and there is another by the same maker (signed Annibalis Mediolanesis) dated 1569, recently in the possession of Heir H. Kohl, Hamburg, who obtained it from the palace of the San Severino family, at Crema, in Lombardy. These spinets are usually made entirely of one wood, the soundboard as well as the case. The wood appears to be a kind of cedar, from its odour when planed or cut, at least in some instances that have come under the writer's notice."] We have at S. Kensington two by Annibal Rosso of Milan, 1555 and 1577, and one by Marcus Jadra (Marco dai Cembali; or dalle Spinette) 1568. Signor Kraus has, at Florence, two 16th-century spinets, one of which is signed and dated, Benedictus Florianus, 1571; and at the Hôtel Cluny, Paris, there is one by the Venetian Baffo, date 1570, whose harpsichord (clavicembalo) at S. Kensington is dated 1574.[1]
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For the pentangular or heptangular model it is probable that we are indebted to Annibal Rosso, whose instrument of 1555 is engraved in the preceding illustration. Mr. Carl Engel has reprinted in the S. Kensington Catalogue (1874, p. 273) a passage from 'La Nobilita di
Milano' (1595), which he thus renders:—'Hannibal Rosso was worthy of praise, since he was the first to modernise clavichords into the shape in which we now see them,' etc. The context clearly shows that by 'clavichord' spinet was meant, clavicordo being used in a general sense equivalent to the German Clavier. If the modernising was not the adoption of the beautiful forms shown in the splendid examples at South Kensington—that by Rosso, of 1577, having been bought at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 for £1200 on account of the 1928 precious stones set into the case—it may possibly have been the wingform, with the wrestpins above the keys in front, which must have come into fashion about that time, and was known in Italy as the Spinetta Traversa; in England as the Stuart, Jacobean, or Queen Anne spinet, or Couched Harp. There is a very fine Spinetta Traversa, emblazoned with the arms of the Medici and Compagni families, in the Kraus Museum (1878, no. 193). Prætorius illustrates the Italian spinet by this special form, speaks ( Organographia,' Wolfenbüttel, 1619) of larger and smaller spinets, and states that in the Netherlands and England the larger was known as the Virginal. The smaller ones he describes as 'the small triangular spinets which were placed for performance upon the larger instruments, and were tuned an octave higher.' Of this small instrument there are specimens in nearly all museums; the Italian name for it being 'Ottavina' (also 'Spinetta di Serenata'). We find them fixed in the bent sides of the long harpsichords, in two remarkable specimens; one of which, by Hans Ruckers,[2] is preserved in the Kunst-und-Gewerbe Museum, Berlin (there is a painting of
- ↑ Since the article Harpsichord was written, an Italian clavicembalo has been acquired for South Kensington, that is now the oldest keyed instrument in existence, with a date. It is a single keyboard harpsichord with two strings to each key; the compass nearly 4 octaves, from E to D. The natural keys are of boxwood. The inscription is 'Aspicite ut trahitur suavi Modulamine Vocis. Quicquid habent aer sidera terra fretrum. Hieronymus Bononiensis Faciebat Eomae mdxxi.' The outer case of this instrument is of stamped leather. It was bought of a 'brocanteur' in Paris for 120l. We know of no other instrument by Geronimo of Bologna. Another harpsichord nearly as old has been seen by the writer this year (1882) in Messrs. Chappell's warehouse. It is a long instrument in an outer painted case. The belly and marking off are evidently not original, but the keyboard of boxwood with black sharps has not been meddled with. There are 3½ octaves from F to C; the lowest F♯ and G♯ are omitted. The maker's inscription, nearly illegible, records that the instrument was made by a Florentine at Pisa, in 1526.
- ↑ This rare Hans Ruckers harpsichord was seen by the writer subsequent to the compilation of the catalogue appended to the article Ruckers. As others have also been found, the following particulars of them complete the above-mentioned list to 1882. [See also Virginalls.]
Hans Ruckers the Elder
Form. Date. Dimensions. General Description. Present Owner. Source of information. ft. in. ft. in. Bent side harpsichord with octave spinet in one. 1594 5 11 by 2 6 2 keyboards; the front one 4 oct., C—C; the side one 3½ Oct., E—A, without the highest G♯; 3 stops in original position at the right-hand side; white naturals. Rose No. 1; and Rose to octave spinet an arabesque. Painting inside top showing a similar combined instrument. Inscribed Hans Ruckers me fecit Antwerpia. Gewerbe Museum, Berlin. A. J. Hipkins. Hans Ruckers the Younger. Bent side. 1629 7 4 by 8 0 2 keyboards; 58 keys. G—F; black naturals. Rose No. 4. M. Gerard de Prins, Louvain. F. P. de Prins, Limerick. Andries Ruckers the Elder.
Bent side. … 6 1 by 2 10½ 1 keyboard; 4 oct., C—C; without lowest C#; white naturals. Rose No. 6; painting of a hunt. M. G. de Prins. F. P. de Prins. Bent side. 1646 7 5 by 3 0 2 keyboards, each 5 oct.; black naturals. Rose No. 6. Inscribed Andrea Ruckers me fecit Antverpiae. M. Paul Endel, Paris. P. Endel.
