By Robert Brooke A Paean to The ItalianHarpsichord An inside look at why the Italian harpsichord is perfect for what it was designed to do IN HIS MAGNIFICENT 1965 work Three ceding ages, people heard what was for Centuries Of Harpsichord Making, in the them contemporary music almost exclusively. Burney could dismiss the music of opening words of his chapter on the Italian harpsichord, Frank Hubbard provides the following quotation from 18th- ages because he hadn t heard much of it, the great Italian composers of earlier century music historian Charles Burney: and that little he had heard was not But to say the truth, I have neither met played with much interest or understanding. In our day however, we have, with a great player on the harpsichord, nor an original composer for it throughout Italy. There is no accounting for this tion, the entire panoply of Western through the blessing of sound reproduc- but by the little use which is made of music at our fingertips and have become that instrument there, except to accompany the voice. It is at present so competent performance. accustomed to its fully professional and much neglected both by the maker Now that the demand for performances of early music on antique or repro- and player that it is difficult to say whether the instruments themselves, or duction instruments has brought the their performers are worst. Hubbard closes this same wonderfully descriptive chapter thus: These frag- The ubiquitous Italian single ile and slender harpsichords may have manual harpsichord and its been scorned by Burney and largely cousin, the Italian virginal, were neglected by modern makers who have the household harpsichords generally sought a model for their products among the north European styles, at least the early part of the from the 16th century through yet it must be remembered that the ubiquitous Italian instruments were probably 18th century throughout a the commonest of all harpsichords. large part of western Europe Every Renaissance or Baroque composer and the British Isles. must have been familiar with their possibilities and limitations. [I]t is likely that harpsichord back from obscurity, it is, the more purist among players will although not quite the household instrument it was in its heyday, at least no quickly discover that a great deal of keyboard music will seem more interesting longer a curiosity. And, as noted above, in the dry and transparent voice of the we have been able to accustom ourselves Italian harpsichord than when intoned to the music of preceding centuries as at by the more sonorous but less lucid no time before in history. The result is north European instruments. that the nearest thing we have to a The contrast between these two quotations serves to illustrate the great difposition and range allow the playing of household harpsichord is one whose disference in the requirements imposed on the entire harpsichord repertoire. The the harpsichord in Burney s time and in harpsichord of choice has heretofore our own. In Burney s time and in all pre- been the reproduction 18th-century Franco-Flemish two-manual harpsichord. Since it is after all a harpsichord, it is also put to the service of music earlier than that of the 18th century, often with results that do not quite do justice to the music. Enter the Italian harpsichord. It is very likely that the ubiquitous Italian single manual harpsichord and its cousin, the Italian virginal, were the household harpsichords from the 16th century through at least the early part of the 18th century throughout a large part of western Europe and the British Isles. They were made in the thousands in many cities in Italy with only moderate variation in style and construction, and they could be made quickly and were relatively inexpensive. It is the Italian harpsichord upon which much 16th- and 17thcentury harpsichord music could have been expected to have been played. Stringing and scaling The Italian harpsichord differs from its north European brethren in many respects, both musically and structurally. The most important difference is the scale of its stringing. By scale is meant the length of each string relative to its pitch. If one considers a Franco-Flemish harpsichord tuned to A-415 Hz, the sounding portion of the string for the C above middle C will be between 13.5'' and 14'' long. The length of the sounding portion of the string for the same pitch on an Italian harpsichord will lie between 9.5'' and 11''. Since string length theoretically doubles for each octave below a given pitch (called a Pythagorean scale), the longer scale of the Franco-Flemish harpsichord 32 Spring 2011 Early Music America
must forsake Pythagorean scaling sooner than the Italian harpsichord or the strings will soon become inordinately long. The northern instrument can carry Pythagorean scaling only down to about middle C, while the Italian instrument can carry Pythagorean scaling down an octave lower, to tenor C. This might not seem particularly important, but in order to sound well, strings, which are steadily shortened into the tenor and bass, must be made thicker. The thicker strings do indeed sound well, but they also change the nature of the harpsichord s voice as the pitch gets lower. The Italian harpsichord, by comparison, retains the nature of its voice relatively unchanged all the way into the deepest bass. This is not to say that either is better, only that they are different. This evenness of tone throughout the compass of an Italian harpsichord is also served by the short scale, which allows the instrument to be strung entirely in brass. Anyone familiar with the now ubiquitous Franco-Flemish harpsichord knows that the lowest notes are strung in brass, and that at about tenor C, the stringing must change to iron, since brass will break as the scale gets longer. The cutover from brass to iron is not particularly noticeable at tenor C because the sound of the highest brass string tensioned just shy of breaking and the note above in iron, relatively slack for iron s strength, are relatively similar. However, the character of the tone as one listens to passages in the longerscaled mid-range and treble is quite different from the sound of the shorter scaled brass in the tenor and bass. There are other points of comparison musically between the two types. The Italian instrument strives to keep the plucking point at as near the same percentage of the string length as possible throughout the compass. This is what causes the gap and jack rail to cross the instrument at an angle, farther from the player in the bass, nearer the player in the treble. The Franco-Flemish example has the jack rail crossing straight at right angles to the spine. This results in the gradual reduction of the plucking point percentage from the treble to the bass and is one of the causes of the very reedy, overtone-rich quality of the tenor How an Italian Harpsichord Is Built: A Bracing Account in Photos Bottom braces are glued to the bottom. The lower belly rail is glued to the bottom and the upper belly rail glued to the top of the lower belly rail. Wrest plank support blocks are glued along the sides of the instrument and extending back to the lower belly rail. The Italian harpsichord starts with its bottom, which is cut to the exact shape the instrument is to take before other parts are added. The entire bracing structure is built upon the bottom. Knees are glued to the bottom at intervals to support the liners and to help support the case sides. The finished wrest plank is glued to the support blocks. Early Music America Spring 2011 33
The liners are glued to the tops of the knees and the spine liner and cheek liner butted to the upper belly rail. Upper braces are glued from the bentside liner leading down and across the instrument to the bottom near the spine. The internal structure is now complete, and looks harpsichordish but, oddly, without case sides. 34 Spring 2011 Early Music America
strings in the northern instrument. This quality is entirely lacking in the Italian harpsichord. The bridge of the typical Italian harpsichord is very light compared to that of a Franco-Flemish instrument. It remains narrow throughout its length and lower in height than the bridge of a northern harpsichord. The amount of taper from bass to treble in the Italian bridge is very slight and sometimes there is no taper at all. With relatively low mass, it loses velocity rapidly after a string is sounded, resulting in rather quicker tone decay than a northern harpsichord with its heavier bridge. Added to this is the fact that the soundboards of Italian harpsichords are somewhat thicker, without being thinned much toward the edges. This causes the absorption of some of the string s energy and contributes to the more rapid decay of the sound of the string. Design comparisons There are several characteristics of northern construction that contribute to the richness and volume of the low tenor and bass notes. The soundboard is thinned from the area under the bridge to the edge, which makes it especially compliant in the bass and tenor. The soundboard grain runs nearly parallel to the bridge in this area, which also adds to the compliance. Furthermore, though the greater height of the northern bridge would tend to burden the soundboard from the tension of the strings and nullify the beneficial effects of this compliance, northern instruments have raised hitchpin rails to relieve the bridge of the burden of the string tension. Often the hitchpin rails are near or at the same height as the bridge, which is the primary reason for the bridge back-pinning seen on northern instruments. The back pins serve to keep each string in intimate contact with the bridge in spite of there being little down-bearing to speak of. The other significant contributor to the tonal difference in tenor and bass between the Italian and the northern harpsichord is box volume. Italian instruments contain considerably less volume of air in the space enclosed by the soundboard, case sides, and belly rail. The result is little amplification of bass notes by volume resonance. One does not hear the boom associated with the bass of a good northern instrument. The best analog to explain how volume resonance affects the strength of bass notes is the tuned bass reflex speaker cabinet, a commonplace structure in modern sound reproducing equipment. By arranging the natural resonance of the air within the enclosure to approximate the resonance frequency of the bass strings, the sound of the bass notes of a northern instrument is emphasized and amplified. Except for some fairly rare two-manual oddities, the Italian harpsichord has only a single manual and the typical case height is relatively low. The Italian builder was doubtless satisfied to keep his case only deep enough to provide room enough below the wrest plank for the action and removal of the single keyboard and room enough above the wrest plank to allow for the height of the string band, the rise of the jacks, and the support of a jack rail above them. This easily permits a case height of only 7'', though somewhat larger instruments have also survived. This accounts for the smaller enclosed volume under the soundboard of an Italian harpsichord. By contrast, a Franco-Flemish two-manual instrument will typically have a case height of 11'' or more. When one also considers the narrower compass of the Italian harpsichord, usually four octaves C to c''', compared to the five octaves of an 18th-century French instrument, the difference in box volume is very large. The result is that the low tenor and bass sound of the northern harpsichord is astonishingly sonorous and resonant, while that of an Italian harpsichord, while strong and very clean, is rather the extension of the tonal model of the whole compass into the bass than an entirely different tone quality. Like the psaltery from which it probably evolved, the Italian harpsichord is a very thin-cased instrument, containing only the additional bracing necessary to resist the tension of the many more strings. The tradition of building very lightweight instruments dictated that tensions be kept low. This mandated short scales. It is also worth noting that the strings of an Italian harpsichord are often thinner for the same pitch than those of a Franco-Flemish instrument. This allows all the parts of an Italian harpsichord the bottom, case sides, belly rails, internal bracing to be smaller and lighter than the equivalent parts of the northern instrument by further reducing the tension imposed upon the structure. Even including the weight of the necessarily heavy wrest plank, a wellmade Italian harpsichord weighs little more than a bass viol. Construction details It may be of interest to note the difference in the manner of constructing the case of an Italian harpsichord and that of any northern instrument. When a heavy-cased northern harpsichord is built, the spine and cheek are shaped, and the wrest plank, nameboard, and both belly rails are glued into mortises cut about halfway through the thickness of those members. The case sides of northern instruments range from 5 /8'' to ¾'' thick, so the mortises can be fairly deep. The tail and bentside, the latter having been previously curved by steambending, are shaped and joined to the ends of the spine and cheek and to each other. Bottom braces are then glued into mortises pre-cut to receive them in the bentside and spine. At this point, the bottom can be glued on. Liners that support the soundboard are now glued in position, resting on top of the previously installed bottom braces. Then upper braces are installed, crossing above the bottom braces and running approximately perpendicular to the bentside. Voilà, a finished harpsichord case. (From this point on, the finishing of both a French and an Italian harpsichord will pursue similar paths.) The Italian harpsichord, however, starts with its bottom, which is cut to the exact shape the instrument is to take before other parts are added. The entire bracing structure is built upon the bottom. Knees are glued to the bottom at intervals to support the liners and to help support the case sides. Bottom braces are glued to the bottom. The lower belly rail is glued to the bottom, the upper belly rail glued to the top of the lower belly rail. Wrest plank support blocks are glued along the sides of the Early Music America Spring 2011 35
The case sides are then appliquéd to the finished structure. The case sides are usually slab-sawn Italian cypress and only 5/32 thick. Each case piece, spine, tail, bentside, and cheek are dealt with separately, with spine and cheek scrollwork and miters being prepared before the piece is glued to the structure. As each piece is glued in place, it is clamped to its liner and nailed to the bottom. The only exotic part of the process is gluing on the bentside, which is not pre-bent but simply sprung into place, its very thinness (sometimes even thinner than 5/32 ) allowing it to be pressed into the necessary curve with relative ease. The nameboard is left for later, as it is not glued in but simply slid into a slot just in front of the wrest plank. instrument and extending back to the lower belly rail. The finished wrest plank is glued to the support blocks. The liners are glued to the tops of the knees, and the spine liner and cheek liner butted to the upper belly rail. Upper braces are glued from the bentside liner leading down and across the instrument to the bottom near the spine. The internal structure is now complete and looks harpsichordish but, oddly, without case sides. The case sides are then appliquéd to the finished structure. The case sides are usually slab-sawn Italian cypress and only 5 /32'' thick. Cedar and maple have also been used, though all are equally thin. Each case piece, spine, tail, bentside, and cheek are dealt with separately, with spine and cheek scrollwork and miters being prepared before the piece is glued to the structure. As each piece is glued in place, it is clamped to its liner and nailed to the bottom. The only exotic part of the process is gluing on the bentside, which is not pre-bent but simply sprung into place, its very thinness (sometimes thinner than 5 /32'') allowing it to be pressed into the necessary curve with relative ease. The nameboard is left for later as it is not glued in but simply slid into a slot just in front of the wrest plank. Again, a finished harpsichord case. The keyboard The last difference to be dealt with here that is caused by the unique architecture of an Italian harpsichord is the difference in action, or touch. The difference is significant. In the Italian instrument, the distance from the front of the keyboard to the rear of the keys upon which the jacks rest is very short, shorter even than the shortest upper manual keyboard of a French two-manual instrument. This is caused by the relatively short fronts of the keys and the significantly narrower wrest plank. An Italian wrest plank has only a single, relatively low nut and two choirs of strings, whose tuning pins are rather close together. A typical Italian wrest plank is only 7'' in width in the bass and sometimes even narrower than that. A large French double may have a wrest plank well over 9'' in width. Thus, the keys of an Italian harpsichord are very short. The result of this shortness means that the heavier fronts of the keys, wider and with dense woods being used as key tops, constitute a larger percentage of a key s total weight. It becomes more difficult to balance the keys of an Italian harpsichord so that the keys, without the weight of the jacks, drop back to their rest positions as they should. The Italian builders addressed this problem by placing the balance rails of their keyboards farther forward toward the player, which creates a disadvantage in the leverage available to the player in raising the weight of the jacks and in overcoming the resistance of the pluck. Italian keyboards therefore feel plucky and have a very shallow key dip when compared to the action of any good French instrument. This can be disconcerting to a player accustomed to the touch of a French double, where there will be a little more free motion before meeting the resistance of the bending plectrum and where the balance pins are more nearly at the center of the keys. A modern builder can minimize these differences by moving the balance rail closer to the middle of the keys. This will almost certainly require the addition of a bit of lead weight to the rear of the balance point of some of the keys, a practice usually to be avoided where 36 Spring 2011 Early Music America
possible. Such a change will certainly increase the key dip slightly and provide for somewhat less pluckiness in the action, which may be of more value to the player than the slightly increased mass of the key. The other significant difference between the two traditions is octave span the distance from the left edge of a C key, for example, and the left edge of a C key an octave higher. There is certainly some variation in the octave span of French harpsichords, but they tend to have spans around 6 ¼''. The Italian instruments may have significantly larger octave spans, up to 6 5 /8'', though spans as small as 6 ¼'' are also to be found. Fortunately, it is also within the skills of the modern builder to provide a more amiable keyboard width if a large octave span is uncomfortably wide. The Italian voice The voice of the fragile Italian harpsichord is quite different from that of the Franco-Flemish harpsichord with which the modern musical community is more familiar. Each note, taken on its own, is sweet but rather plain. As the notes of the entire compass are played in sequence, there is little besides pitch to distinguish the transition from treble to bass. The sound of a note decays somewhat more quickly. The overall effect is that the voice is less lyrical, more articulate, and less dependent upon tessitura for its effect. By contrast, the voice of a good northern harpsichord is much more complex. The bass has a booming quality, the tenor an overtone-rich reedy quality, the mid-range a singing melodious quality, and the high treble an almost bell-like clarity. The northern instrument is more analogous to a mixed choir or orchestra while an Italian harpsichord can be likened to a recorder or viol consort in the sameness of its speech. At first blush, one would assume that the more opulent voice of the northern harpsichord is certainly to be preferred. However, one only need hear the music of Byrd, Frescobaldi, or Gibbons, for example, first played on a French harpsichord and then on an Italian harpsichord, to realize that somehow the sweet, rather plain but articulate speech of the Italian instrument makes the music come alive. Likewise, upon hearing the music of the Couperins or Rameau played on an Italian harpsichord, one realizes that something important to the French music is missing. The smaller Italian harpsichord is without doubt limited in the solo repertoire to which it can do justice. Compass alone tends to deprive it of music which descends below bass C or above c'''. However, if one accepts these limitations, one can keep one s Italian harpsichord tuned in meantone temperament, which is an additional boon to the music of the 16th and 17th centuries. We are not aware of how depraved our ears have become in this modern era of equal temperament until we become accustomed to hearing the earlier repertoire played with nearly just intonation. The brilliance and sparkle of this music played on a good Italian harpsichord tuned in meantone temperament is unmatched by any other vehicle. It would be a disservice not to mention how well the Italian harpsichord serves as a continuo instrument, particularly when larger orchestral forces are involved. A good French harpsichord is an acceptable continuo instrument in smaller chamber works, where it is often in dialogue or given an occasional solo The Visual Aspect voice. However, the suavity of its voice and its relative lack of articulation when compared to an Italian harpsichord allow it to be entirely smothered by larger forces. It is always a disappointment to see an imposing French double situated in the midst of a fair-sized instrumental group and then, in the concert, never to hear its voice except as an inchoate rustle in the background. By contrast, an Italian harpsichord, highly articulate and with the somewhat more aggressive tone of its brass strings, always makes itself heard. We must remember that all of the music in which the harpsichord is utilized as a continuo instrument was written for smaller spaces than those in which our concerts occur today. The harpsichord is not equal to the task of filling large concert halls or large church buildings as effectively as a piano, organ, or any of the modern versions of orchestral instruments. Nevertheless, the Italian harpsichord makes the best compromise as a continuo instrument in providing audibly the rhythmic support for the orchestra and the fleshing out of the harmonies sometimes only implicit in the music. Vivat! Robert Brooke started building harpsichords in 1967 in the Washington, DC, area. He now lives in Bradenton, FL, specializing in Italian harpsichords (rbrooke@tampabay.rr.com). It is interesting to speculate what influence the visual aspect of the Italian harpsichord had on its descendants in northern Europe. A finished Italian harpsichord consists of a bare, unpainted cypress case, visually enhanced with fine moldings, but otherwise undecorated. For protection from dust and accident, these fragile instruments came to be placed in custommade, lidded outer cases that were themselves highly decorated in whatever was the taste of the time. In the Italy of the 16th and 17th centuries, the result was often quite flamboyant, not to say gaudy. The appearance of an Italian harpsichord inside its outer case is still represented today in the gilded moldings one normally sees inside the top of antique or reproduction Franco-Flemish harpsichords. These moldings were doubtless based on the appearance of the cap-molding at the top of an Italian inner instrument lying next to the un-molded top of its outer case, an appearance that would have been a common sight to any northern harpsichord maker, whose outer cases were, in fact, the instrument. Early Music America Spring 2011 37