C O N S U L T A T I O N S
carried out by
Grant O’Brien
Free-lance Consultations:
Because
I am now retired from my employment with the University of
Edinburgh as Curator/Director of the Russell Collection and as Reader in the Faculty of Music, I
now fill out much
of my time carrying out free-lance
restorations and consultations. In the past I have been engaged both by
museums and by public and private bodies to carry out restorations of early
keyboard instruments for them and to give advice about restoration and
environmental control in museums and in private collections.
Submitted reports and consultations carried
out over a period of the past few years:
1991 Reports to the
Ringve Museum, Norway
Investigative Analyses.
Unfretted Clavichord by I.C. Gerlach, Hamburg, 1756. Ringve Museum, Trondheim. Inventory No. RMT 74/15
Catalogue Description.
Anonymous Italian Bentside Spinet.
Undated c.1650-1700. Ringve
Museum, Trondheim. Inventory No. RMT
67/116.
Restoration Report.
Anonymous Italian Bentside Spinet.
Undated c.1650-1700. Ringve
Museum, Trondheim. Inventory No. RMT
67/116.
Catalogue Description.
Unfretted Clavichord by I.C. Gerlach, Hamburg, 1756. Ringve Museum, Trondheim, Inventory No. RMT
74/15.
1992 Interim reports on instruments in the
Ringve Museum,
Norway:
Interim report on the Upright Harp Piano signed
"Dietz Paris/Brussel" RMT Nº
390
Interim report on the English Square Piano signed
"New Patent Clementi & Co- Cheapside, London" RMT Nº 230
Interim report on the Fretted Clavichord signed
"Johann Christoph Fleischer Hamburg 1728" RMT 385
Interim report on the Double-manual French Harpsichord
attributed to Antoine Watters (Vater?) 1737
RMT Nº 372
Interim report on the Viennese Grand Piano signed
"Conrad Graf K K Hof Klaviermacher[sic] in Wien Wieden N 182" RMT Nº 66/17
Interim report on the Norwegian Upright Piano signed
"Nº 14 Brødrene Hals Kristiania"
RMT Nº 77/7
Interim report on the Double-manual English Harpsichord
signed "Jacobus Kirckman Londini Fecit 1767" RMT Nº 79/12
Interim report on the Small Piano known as the
"Mozart Piano" RMT Nº 67/124
Interim report on the 5-Octave Clavichord attributed to
Hartwich Müller, Copenhagen RMT Nº 383
Interim report on the French Square Piano signed (in
part) "MÉDAILLE D’HONNEUR Expon Universelle de 1855 IGNACE
PLEYEL & COMPIE. Paris"
RMT Nº 72-27
Interim report on the Grand Piano signed "Jean André
Stein faiseur d’Orgues [e] des Clavecins, Organiste à l’Eglise des Minor[ites]
à Augsbourg [17]83" RMT Nº 771
Interim report on the English Grand Piano signed
"Robertus Stodart Londini Fecit 1786 Wardour Street Soho" RMT Nº 73/34
Interim report on the 6-Octave Anonymous Viennese Grand
Piano RMT Nº 228
Interim report on the 6½-Octave Grand Piano signed
"Friedrich Wieszniewski à DANZIG"
RMT Nº 774
General Recommendations for consideration following my
visit to the Ringve Museum May, 1992,
Unpublished report held by the Ringve Museum, Trondheim, Norway (Edinburgh,
June, 1992).
1992 Reports to the
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan,
Italy:
Investigative report on the 1544 Antegnati virginal
Preliminary report on the Undated Square Piano by Johann
Bohak
Preliminary report on the Virginal by G.
Borghetti, Brescia, 1844
Investigative report on the 1667 virginal by Onofrio
Guarracino
Investigative report on the 1765 Burkat Shudi harpsichord
Preliminary report on the Anonymous Spinet dated 1707
Investigative report on the ‘Spinetta’ of Verdi
Some special problems in the conservation and restoration
of keyboard musical instruments.
General notes on the condition of the instruments,
conditions in the museum, and the eventual conservation and restoration of the
instruments.
1995 Reports to the
Museo Correr, Venice, Italy
Salterio nella forma di un’arpa.
Cembalo italiano anonimo ad una tastiera dalla Ca’
Rezzonico.
Spinetta poligonale Franciscus Patavinus, 1552.
Fortepiano verticale, stile impero: “Ditanaklasis”. Mathias Müller, c.1805
1997 Report to the
Ufficio Tecnico, Salerno, Italy
Detailed Report.
Single-Manual Italian Harpsichord Attributed to Ignazio Mucciardi,
Naples, c.1770. Possibly once the
property of Sant’Alfonso. Property of
the Padri Redentoristi, Convento di Pagani, Salerno.
1997 Report to the
Accademia Pianistica, Imola, Italy
Pre-Restoration Report and Certification Of
Authenticity. Single-manual Italian
Harpsichord, Francesco Fabbri, Roma, c.1630, Collection of Maestro Franco
Scala, Imola
1998 Reports to Robert Brown, Oberndorf, Austria
The stringing of the Jacob Bertsche fortepiano, Vienna,
c.1815. Collection of Dr Andreas
Beurmann, Hamburg.
Investigative Analysis of the present stringing of the
Tangentenflügel by C.F. Schmahl, Regensburg, c.1795, for the Technisches
Museum, Vienna.
The stringing of the Jacob Bertsche fortepiano, Vienna,
c.1815. Collection of Dr Andreas
Beurmann, Hamburg. The
stringing of the Franz Münzenberger Fortepiano, Vienna, c.1810. Private collection, Oberndorf, Austria.
1999 Reports to the
Accademia Bartolomeo Cristofori,
Florence.
Notes regarding the design and properties of the jacks
made for the J.A. Stein vis-à-vis piano/harpsichord, Accademia Filarmonica,
Castelvecchio, Verona.
1999 Reports carried out for the restorer
Guido Bizzi, Caidate di Summirago, Italy
Stringing Calculations.
Anonymous Italian polygonal virginal.
Private ownership, Paris.
Pre-restoration Report.
Italian single-manual harpsichord signed ‘Bartholomaeus Stefanini’,
?Lucca?, 1714.
1999 Reports carried out for
Alan Rubin,
Pelham Galleries, London
Report And Analysis.
A Flemish/French double-manual harpsichord by Couchet c.1646 / Blanchet
c.1730. Collection Of Alan Rubin,
London.
1999 Report and restoration carried out for the
Museo Santa
Giulia, Brescia, Italy
The cleaning and consolidation carried out on the case
and soundboard of the polygonal virginal by Gianfrancesco Antegnati, Brescia,
1554, on loan from the Ateneo, via Tosi, Brescia to the Museo Santa Giulia,
Brescia.
2000 Interim Report carried out for the
Palace of
Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh
The history, authenticity and condition of the ‘1636
Iohannes Rucker’ double-manual harpsichord.
Property of HM Queen Elizabeth II, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh
2000 Report and restoration carried out for the
Accademia Pianistica, Imola, Italy
Final Report.
Single-manual Italian harpsichord attributed to Francesco Fabbri, Rome,
c.1630. Collection of Maestro Franco
Scala, Accademia Pianistica, Imola.
Restoration Report.
Single-manual Italian harpsichord attributed to Francesco Fabbri, Rome,
c.1630. Collection of Maestro Franco
Scala, Accademia Pianistica, Imola.
2000 Report to Barbara and Wolf Wolf, São Paulo, Brazil
Initial Report.
Flemish double-manual harpsichord with a Ioannes Ruckers rose, Antwerp,
c.1620.
Now private property, London
(see
description on this site).
For more details about the Franco-Flemish harpsichord click on the image below:
This harpsichord was sold on 19 October, 2006.
2000 Report carried out for Michele Visaggi, Terlizzi,
Bari
Information Report.
Single-manual Neapolitan harpsichord with an inscription attributing it to
Gaetano Carotenuto, ?1619?. Collection
of Michele Visaggi, Terlizzi, Bari.
2000 Report carried out for Dr Richard Luckett, Cambridge
Data Sheets.
Anonymous Spanish single-manual harpsichord [Pérez Mirabal], Seville,
1734. Collection of Dr Richard Luckett,
Cambridge.
2000 Report carried out for Harold Lester, London
Data Sheets.
Portuguese Piano. Anonymous
[Antunes?], c.1750, Lisbon, Portugal.
Collection of Harold Lester, London.
2000 Report carried out for the
Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge
Data Sheets.
Italian single-manual harpsichord.
Anonymous, Naples, c.1680.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Catalogue No M. 1-1933.
2001 Reports carried out for the
Galleria dell’Accademia
delle Belle Arte, Florence, Italy
Report. Italian
single-manual harpsichord “Cembalo d’ebano”.
School of Bartolomeo Cristofori.
Galleria dell’Accademia delle Belle Arte, Florence.
Preliminary Report.
‘Spinetta di forma ovale’, Bartolomeo Cristofori, Florence, 1690. Bardini Collection, Florence.
Report. Italian
polygonal virginal. Benedetto Floriani,
Venice, 1568. Museo del Conservatorio
di Musica ‘Benedetto Marcello’ and the Galleria dell’Accademia delle belle
Arte, Florence.
Report. Anonymous
Italian polygonal virginal made in Trentino-Alto Adige possibly by Antonio
Berneri. Galleria dell’Accademia delle
Belle Arte, Florence.
2002 Reports to Barbara and Wolf Wolf, São Paulo, Brazil
Final Report.
Franco-Flemish Double-manual Harpsichord with a Ioannes Ruckers Rose,
C.1610, Private property, London
(see
the description on this site).
Restoration Proposal.
Franco-Flemish Double-manual Harpsichord with a Ioannes Ruckers Rose,
C.1610, Private property, London.
2003 Reports to Signora Fernanda Giulini, Briosco, Italy
Initial Report and Revised Report, Analysis of the early states as a harpsichord, Anonymous Franco-Flemish harpsichord converted into a fortepiano, Collection of Fernanda Giulini, Milan
Initial Report, Italian single-manual harpsichord, Attributed to Onofrio Guarracino, Naples, c.1670, Collection of Fernanda Giulini, Milan
