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Copy of a Ruckers ‘spinett’ virginal
Made in
Edinburgh by Grant O’Brien in 1981
Details of the original instrument
This virginal copy is based on
an original instrument made and signed by Ioannes Ruckers, Antwerp, c.1599 in
the Castello Sforzesco, Milan (Castello Sforzesco Inv. Number 595). The original virginal is a so-called
‘mother and child’ virginal. These
instruments were really two instruments in one: the large ‘mother’ instrument had a small octave virginal (the
‘child’) tucked into the front of the instrument in the otherwise empty space
at the side of the keyboard. This
copy was made only of the ‘mother’ without the ‘child’ virginal. The Ruckers family made two
types of virginal. The muselar
virginal had the keyboard to the right-hand side of the instrument and the
jacks plucked the strings about a third of the way along their length. This produced an open fluty sound with a
very strong fundamental and an unusual (for a keyboard instrument) quality of
great charm. The second type was
called a spinett virginal and it had the keyboard towards the left-hand side
of the instrument so that the jacks plucked the strings in a position similar
that in the harpsichord. The sound of
these instruments is therefore more like the usual harpsichord sound with a
strong attack, a shorter decay time and a quality more instantly recognisable
as that of an early plucked stringed keyboard instrument. This copy is of this second type. The keyboard has the usual C/E
to c3 4-octave compass with a short octave in the bass. As is normal with virginals there is only
one choir of strings giving a 1 x 8' disposition. The stand under the instrument
is a copy based on the stand of the 1650 Couchet muselar virginal in the
Vleeshuis Museum in Antwerp. This instrument is currently owned by Mark Ransom and is for hire from him or from Claire Hammett, Harpsichord Services of London. |
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