Galleazzo: Praeludium from Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (3.6 Mb)
Frescobaldi: Toccata Nona (Bk. I) (7.6 Mb)
(Recorded and performed by Owen Daly)
SMALL ITALIAN HARPSICHORD
|
In 2003 I built the first of a series of four-octave "false inner-outer" Italian harpsichords using layout procedures common in 17th-century Italian practice. The goal was to make an instrument with few frills, yet no compromises in musical values or action. In the following years, I have finished four more of these instruments, and two are due to be completed by the fall of 2008. What was first envisioned as a modest, affordable and easily-moved "practical" continuo instrument has offered unexpected sophistication and versatility. |
Each one is a little different from the others, but the differences are minor, some of them simple accommodations for an owner's needs (pitch levels, transposers; that sort of thing). Cases are of true-fir or poplar, painted on the outside, with inner veneers simulating a light-cased Italian harpsichord nestled in its outer case. Compass is typically C-d''', and some of these have three-way transposers. Keyboards are of chestnut or beech, with boxwood-covered naturals, and dark-stained, ebony-topped sharps. Soundboards are of true fir (spp. abies) or Italian spruce. All have wooden jacks and are strung in brass. |
Here is a little gallery with pictures and short recordings of several harpsichords from this project. |
| |
|
Galleazzo: Praeludium from Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (3.6 Mb) Frescobaldi: Toccata Nona (Bk. I) (7.6 Mb) (Recorded and performed by Owen Daly) |
 |
 |
Douglas Leedy: (Performed by Margret Gries; Recorded by Owen Daly) Frescobaldi: From Aria detta la Romanesca (5.6 Mb) (Performed and Recorded by Owen Daly) |
 |
 |
Seixas: Sonata (2.9 Mb) (Performed and Recorded by Owen Daly) Hoffmeister: from Concerto in D-Major for Harpsichord and Viola (10 Mb) (Renate Falkner: Baroque Viola |