Part 3

The listing gives additional information about each example. String lengths of instruments having two registers are for the shorter of the two pitch C strings.

Information has been secured on two Italian virginals which were not included in the tabulation. Their measurements are completely at variance with the pattern consistently set by the other 33 examples studied. One, made by Giovanni Domenico in 1556, is in the Skinner collection; it has a pitch C string 14-1/16" in length and an apparent compass of C/E to c´´´. The other, with the same apparent compass and a 7-1/2" pitch C string, is at Yale University. Whether these instruments are exceptional in terms of the pitch to which they were tuned, the tension which was applied to the strings, or the thickness and weight of the strings themselves, has not been determined.

The average of the pitch C lengths of the transposing instruments in the list is 12.78"; that of the nontransposing group is 10.45". This suggests a separation between the two groups of about a major third since the first average is roughly 5/4 of the second. However, the fact that the separation of the two averages is not great enough to positively indicate a perfect fourth--the first average would have to be 4/3 of the second to do so--does not disprove the theory of transposition by a fourth. In the first place, a considerable variety of pitches is no doubt represented in both groups since a universal pitch standard did not exist in the 16th and 17th centuries. Also, a margin of error of only a semitone is as good as could be expected considering the small number of examples on which the averages are based.

A further possible justification for the relationship of the two averages is found in Praetorius' discussion of the pitch standards with which he was familiar. He states that choir pitch was a major second lower than chamber pitch and that tertiam minorem was a minor third lower than chamber pitch. Praetorius says of tertiam minorem:

But in Italy and in various Catholic choirs in Germany, the said lower pitch is much in use. For some Italians, not unjustly, take no pleasure in high singing, and maintain it is not beautiful, and the words cannot be properly understood, and it sounds like crowing, yelling, singing at the top of one's voice....

Possibly some of the nontransposing instruments were tuned to choir pitch and others to tertiam minorem, while the transposing instruments were set a fourth lower than choir pitch.

Three of the instruments listed are ottavinas, small instruments tuned an octave higher than usual. Ottavinas correspond to a four-foot register. Mersenne mentions that they existed in two sizes, one a fifth above the usual pitch and the other an octave above. The three ottavinas included in the table are considered to be of the size sounding an octave above the usual pitch because they have C/E to c´´´ ranges and pitch C string lengths about half the average length of the other instruments in the nontransposing group. Although no examples were found for inclusion in this study, it is probable that some ottavinas a fifth above the usual pitch--and therefore an octave higher than the transposing instruments in our listing--survive. Such instruments would be expected to have apparent ranges of C/E to f´´´ and pitch C strings between 5-3/4" and 6-3/4" in length.

DATA ON THE 33 INSTRUMENTS STUDIED

KEY:

A.: Date B.: Pitch C length (in inches) C.: Apparent compass D.: Type E.: Registers F.: Maker G.: Present location

A. B. C. D. E. F. G.

TRANSPOSING INSTRUMENTS

1540 11-11/16 C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Vi ... ies Metropolitan virginal Museum of Art 1569 13-1/4 C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Annibale Juilliard virginal Rossi School of Music 1602 13-1/4 C/E-f´´´ Rectangular 8´ Ioannes Smithsonian virginal Baptista Institution Bononien 1610 13-1/2 C/E-f´´´´ Polygonal 8´ Pasquino Harding virginal Querci Museum, Chicago 1613 11-1/2 C/E-f´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Pasquino Smithsonian Querci Institution 1617 13-3/4 C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Giovanni Yale virginal Battista University, Boni New Haven, Conn. 1620 13-9/16 C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Francesco Rhode Island virginal Poggio School of Design, Providence 11-15/16 C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Anonymous Skinner virginal Collection, Holyoke, Mass. 12-15/16 C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Anonymous Smithsonian virginal Institution 13" C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Anonymous Boston Museum virginal of Fine Arts 11-1/2 C-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Anonymous Folger virginal Library, Washington, D.C. 12-3/4 C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Anonymous Cincinnati virginal Art Museum 13-5/8 C/E-f´´´ Polygonal 8´ Anonymous Smithsonian virginal Institution

NONTRANSPOSING INSTRUMENTS

1548 11 C/E-c´´´ Polygonal 8´ Domenicus Metropolitan virginal Pesaurensis Museum of Art 1554 10-1/2 C/E-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Padre Vassar Stoppacio College, Poughkeepsie, New York 1585 11-1/2 C/E-a´´ Ottavina 4´ Franciscus Metropolitan Bonafinis Museum of Art 1602 10-1/2 C/E-c´´´ Harpsichord Christoforus Stearns Rigunini Collection, Ann Arbor, Mich. 1615 9-3/4 C/E-a´´ Ottavina 4´ Pasquino Metropolitan Querci Museum of Art 1625 10-1/8 C/E-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´ Valerius Skinner Peres Collection, Holyoke, Mass. 1633 11-3/8 C/E-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Horatius Smithsonian Albana Institution 1645 11 C/E-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Horatius Vizcaya, Albana Miami, Fla. 1654 10-1/4 C/E-f´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Anonymous Smithsonian Institution 1658 11-1/8 C-f´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Hieronymus Metropolitan de Zentis Museum of Art 1665 10 C/E-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Giacomo Smithsonian Ridolfi Institution 1666 10-15/16 A{1}-f´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Hieronymus Metropolitan de Zentis Museum of Art 1682 10-7/8 C/E-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Giacomo Rhode Island Ridolfi School of Design, Providence 1683 8 C/E-c´´´ Polygonal 8´ B. Obici Harding virginal Museum, Chicago 1690 10-13/16 C/E-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´ Giovanni Smithsonian Andrea Institution Menegoni 1693 10-5/16 G{1}-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´ Anonymous Smithsonian Institution 1694 9-7/8 C-c´´´ Harpsichord 8´8´4´ Nicolaus Smithsonian (minus C#) de Quoco Institution 9-3/4 C/E-a´´ Clavicytherium 8´8´ Anonymous Smithsonian Institution 10-3/8 C/E-c´´´ Clavicytherium 4´ Anonymous Boston Museum (Ottavina) of Fine Arts 11 C/E-c´´´ Polygonal 8´ Anonymous Smithsonian virginal Institution

This length is approximate. It is double the length of the shortest string on the instrument.

In order to arrive at a meaningful average value for the string lengths of the nontransposing group, it was necessary to double the measured lengths of the pitch C strings of the three instruments tuned an octave higher.

-------+----------+--------- Figure | Negative | Catalog | Number | Number -------+----------+--------- 1 | 56322 | 326,905 2 | 46792 | 303,544 3 | 49355A | 303,544 4 | 49355B | 303,544 5 | 49356A | 303,544 6 | 49356 | 303,544 7 | 49356D | 332,173 8 | 49356D | 332,173 9 | 49357A | 332,173 10 | 49357 | 332,173 11 | 49355C | 332,173 12 | 46795 | 303,545 -------+----------+---------

GPO: 1970 O--380-228

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. Price 25 cents.

FOOTNOTES:

Michael Praetorius, Theatrum Instrumentorum, Wolfenbüttel, 1620, pl. 14.

Ibid., pl. 6.

Querinus van Blankenburg, Elementa Musica, The Hague, 1739.

Translation by Arthur Mendel in "Devices for Transposition in the Organ before 1600," Acta Musicologica, 1949, p. 33.

Sibyl Marcuse, "Transposing Keyboards on Extant Flemish Harpsichords," Musical Quarterly, July 1952.

Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum, Wolfenbüttel, 1614-1620, vol. 2 (Organographia), chapter 2.

Translation by Arthur Mendel in "Pitch in the 16th and early 17th Centuries, Part II," Musical Quarterly, April 1948.