M O D E R N H A R P S I C H O R D S I N
T H E N E A P O L I T A N S T Y L E
N O W A L L
S O L D
These harpsichord were built by
GRANT O’BRIEN & GRAZIANO BANDINI
The last of the four harpsichords built in the Neapolitan tradition has now been sold. Details of the last harpsichord to be sold can be seen by clicking on the following images:
Click on these images for larger views
Specifications
This is an integral-construction harpsichord in the style of Onofrio Guarracino who worked in Naples in the second half of the 17th century. The compass C to d3 chromatic with a bass octave and with a disposition of 2x8', transposing to either 415Hz or 440Hz. All parts of the instruments are completely hand made including the keyboard, jacks, tuning pins, bridge and hitch pins, lock, key, hinges, registers and register levers. (See some images of these features). The length of the string sounding pitch c2 is 284mm (13 Neapolitan once) with strings of yellow brass and red brass wire. The scalings are Pythagorean, doubling in length with each octave drop in pitch right down to bottom C. The instrument is supplied with gilt bronze ‘Parthenope’ register levers, and with a stunning soundboard rosette (see below) in parchment, cypress and with two rings in pear. The naturals are in ebony decorated with white inlay and the decorated sharps are in ebony and bone. The jacks are made from service wood and the soundboard is made from 25-year old air-dried spruce from the Forest of Paneveggio in the Italian Dolomites. The wrestplank and the nuts and bridges are all in Italian walnut. Quilling is in white delrin. The sumptuous decoration is by Stefano Pessione from Rome. This particular instrument is supplied only with a simple stand (as in photographs) but with a choice of either a simple or an elaborate music desk.
The basic instrument comes supplied complete with simple stand, simple music desk, tuning key, tuning fork, retouching paints, and spare strings and quills and these are all included in the basic price.
Grant O’Brien and Graziano Bandini are now beginning the construction of 5 more harpsichords in the Neapolitan style. All five of these will use fir (abies alba) for the soundboards instead of spruce (picea excelsa) in keeping with the Neapolitan tradition and, indeed, the tradition of most harpsichords made in Italy. One of the new harpsichords will be identical in size and compass to the four already built and now all sold. The other four will be larger with a compass from F1 to g3. They will all have soundboard of fir (abete bianco in Italian). We are both greatly looking forward to making a comparison of the difference in the instruments with the fir soundboards compared to those made using spruce.
Some Italian single-manual harpsichords that we have made in the Neapolitan style including this one, and further details can be seen at: Neapolitan-style instruments for sale.
Grant O’Brien and Graziano Bandini will, of course, take commissions for the construction of harpsichords and virginals in the Flemish, Italian and French styles.
For further details about prices, delivery times, etc see:
