PUBLICATIONS
by
Grant O’Brien
PUBLICATIONS:
1974a ‘The numbering system of Ruckers
Instruments’, Bulletin of the Brussels
Museum of Musical Instruments, 4 (1974) 75-89.
1974b ‘The 1764/83 Taskin harpsichord in the
Russell Collection, Edinburgh’, The Organ
Yearbook, 5 (1974) 91-107.
1976 ‘Attitudes to musical instrument conservation and restoration’,
Bulletin of the Fellowship of Makers and
Restorers of Historical Instruments, 3 (1976) 15-21.
1977a ‘The determination of the original compass
and disposition of Ruckers harpsichords’, Colloquium. Ruckers klavecimbels en copieën, (1977)
38-47.
1977b ‘The stringing and pitches of Ruckers
instruments’, Colloquium. Ruckers klavecimbels en copieën, (1977)
48-71.
1979 ‘Ioannes and Andreas Ruckers - a quatercentenary celebration’, Early Music, 7, Nº 4 (1979) 453-66.
1980a ‘Ruckers 2. The instruments’, The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Stanley Sadie editor, 16 (1980)
305-10.
1980b ‘Couchet’, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 4 (1980) 831-2.
1980c ‘Harpsichord’, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 8 (London, l980)
216-46.
1980d ‘Il 400º anniversario della nascita di
Ioannes e Andreas Ruckers’, Gli Strumenti
Musicali, 4 (1980) 36-46.
1981a
‘Some principles of eighteenth-century
harpsichord stringing and their application’, The Organ Yearbook, 12 (1981) 160-76.
1981b ‘Eight Ruckers pitches’, Early
Music, 9, Nº 1 (1981) 80.
1982 ‘Attitudes to musical instrument conservation and restoration’,
British Institute of Organ Studies
Journal, 6 (1982) 78-87.
1983 ‘The authentic instruments from the workshops of Hans and
Ioannes Ruckers’, Mededelingen van het
Ruckers-Genootschap, 3 (1983) 37-44.
1984 ‘The authentic instruments from the workshops of Andreas
Ruckers I and Andreas Ruckers II’, Mededelingen
van het Ruckers-Genootschap, 4 (1984) 61-8.
1985 ‘Les Ruckers d’Anvers.
La vogue de leurs clavecins en Europe des XVIIe et XVIIIe
siècle. Biographie - Modèles et
modification de deux clavecins a double clavier’, La facture instrumentale Europeénne:
Suprématies nationales et enrichissement mutuel, Florence Gétreau
editor, (Paris, 1985).
1986 ‘The authentic instruments from the workshops of Ioannes
Couchet and his sons’, Mededelingen van
het Ruckers-Genootschap, 5 (1986) 45-9.
1987 ‘The conservation of historical keyboard instruments; to play or to preserve?’, Per una carta europea del restauro. Conservazione , restauro e riuso degli strumenti musicali antichi, (Olschki, Florence, 1987) 291-8.
1987 The Restoration and Conservation of Historical Keyboard Instruments: Some General Guidelines
1990a Ruckers. A harpsichord and virginal building
tradition
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990; digital reprint, Cambridge:
Cambridge University press, 2008).
1990b ‘Storia della costruzione del clavicembalo’,
Musica Antica, 2 (1990) 19-24.
1991 ‘Conservazione degli strumenti a tastiera’, La collezione di strumenti musicali del
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Guido Bizzi and Lorenzo Girodo, general editors,
(Il laboratorio, Milan, 1991) 37-9.
1992 ‘The restoration of Ruckers instruments: a personal view’, The Harpsichord and its Repertoire.
Proceedings of the International Harpsichord Symposium. Utrecht 1990, General editor Pieter
Dirksen, (STIMU Foundation for Historical Performance Practice, Utrecht, 1992)
3-8.
1994a ‘The Double-Manual Harpsichord by Francis
Coston, London, c.1725’, The Galpin
Society Journal, 47 (March, 1994) 1-42.
1994b ‘The Stringing Materials and Gauges for
Clavichords by I.C. Gerlach and H.A. and J.A. Hass’, De Clavicordio. Proceedings of the International Clavichord
Symposium/Atti del congresso internazionale sul clavicordo. Magnano, 9-11 September 1993, edited by
Bernard and Susan Brauchli and Alberto Galazzo, (Istituto per i Beni Musicali
in Piemonte, Turin, 1994) 123-35.
1994c ‘Una filosofia di restauro’, Convegni
Triennali Internazionali sulla Liuteria (1984 -1987 - 1990), edited by
Gianni Drascek (Santabarbara Editore, Bellona, 1994), 147ff.
1995 ‘Two virginals by Gianfrancesco Antegnati. A comparison of the instruments of the
Ateneo in Brescia and the Museo Teatrale alla Scala in Milan’, Gli Antegnati. Studi e documenti su una stirpe di organari bresciani del
rinascimento, edited by Oscar Mischiati (Pàtron Editore, Bologna, 1995)
51-62. ISBN 88-555-2347-3.
1996 'The Clavichord by G.C. Rackwitz, Stockholm, 1796 -A
Preliminary Study with a View to Possible Restoration', De Clavicordio. Proceedings of the International Clavichord
Symposium/Atti del congresso internazionale sul clavicordo. Magnano, 21-23 September 1995, edited by
Bernard and Susan Brauchli and Alberto Galazzo, (Istituto per i Beni Musicali
in Piemonte, Turin, 1996)
1997a Tuning
and Temperament, (co-author with Dr John Kitchen), (NetMuse, Scottish
Universities High Speed Network, http://netmuse.gla.ac.uk/, 1997).
1997b ‘Bartolomeo Cristofori/Giovanni Ferrini as restorers and re-builders. A Neapolitan connection in two Italian harpsichords in Britain’, paper presented at the Galpin Society Conference, Edinburgh, July, 1997.
1998a 'Robert Smith’s ‘Equal Harmony’ and the harpsichord built for it by Jacob Kirckman’, paper presented at the conference Notes that wing their heav’nly ways, August 15, 1998.
1998b ‘Ruckers double-manual harpsichords and
details of them relevant to the 1599 Ioannes Ruckers double-manual harpsichord,
Händel-Haus Halle, MS-65’,
Kielinstrumente aus der Werkstatt Ruckers zu Konzeption, Bausweise und
Ravalement sowie Restaurierung und Konservierung. Bericht über die Internationale Konferenz vom 13. bis 15.
Septmeber 1996 Im Händel-Haus Halle, (Händel-Haus, Halle,
1998) 48-62. ISSN 0232-3214. ISBN 3-910019-12-9.
1998c Co-author with Christiane Rieche and Stefan
Ehricht of the Händel-Haus, Halle, ‘The original state and later alterations of
the double-manual Ruckers harpsichord, Antwerp 1599,
Kielinstrumente aus der
Werkstatt Ruckers zu Konzeption, Bausweise und Ravalement sowie Restaurierung
und Konservierung. Bericht über die
Internationale Konferenz vom 13. bis 15. Septmeber 1996 Im Händel-Haus Halle, (Händel-Haus, Halle, 1998) 187-230.
ISSN 0232-3214. ISBN
3-910019-12-9.
1999a ‘The use of simple geometry and the local unit of
measurement in the design of Italian stringed keyboard instruments: an aid to attribution and to organological
analysis’, The Galpin Society
Journal, 52 (1999) 108-171. ISSN
0072.0127.
1999b Co-author with Augusto Bonza, ‘The “H.
Ruckers” double virginal in Milan. Two
important new discoveries’, The Galpin
Society Journal, 52 (1999)
314-323. ISSN 0072.0127.
1999c Translation from the Italian of a paper by
Andrea Gatti: ‘Moulding castings in
musical instruments: the approach to
the problem, the scientific investigations and the methodology used at the
Collection of Musical Instruments of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan’, Galpin Society Journal, 52 (1999)
202-218. ISSN 0072.0127.
1999d ‘Italian stringed keyboard
instruments and simple geometry:
Some new developments at the Russell Collection of Early Keyboard
Instruments’, paper presented at the Galpin Society Conference, Edinburgh,
July, 1999.
2000a
‘Towards establishing the original state of the
three-manual harpsichord by Stefano Bolcioni, Florence, 1627, in the Russell
Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, Edinburgh’, The Galpin Society Journal, 53 (2000)
168-200. ISSN 0072.0127.
2000b Translation from the Italian of a paper by
Francesco Nocerino, ‘Evidence for Italian mother-and-child virginals: an important document signed by Onofrio
Guarracino’, The Galpin Society Journal,
53 (2000) 317-321. ISSN 0072.0127.
2000c The Catalogue of the Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments at the University of Edinburgh, published at: http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/russell/catalogue/catalogue.html (this site, with all of the important information that it once contained, has been taken down by those now in charge of the Russell Collection).
2001a ‘Problemi tipici di un
piccolo museo di strumenti musicali a tastiera’, Musica e Museo, (Dipartimento di Musica e Spettacolo, Università
degli Studi di Bologna)
(In print).
2001b ‘Marco Jadra. A Venetian harpsichord and virginal maker?’, Festschrift für Kurt Wittmayer, Silke Berdux general editor
(Munich) (In print).
2001c ‘The unit of measurement used to ascertain
where Iberian harpsichords are made’, paper given to the 1º Festival
Internacional de Música de Tecla Española “Diego Fernandez” held in Almería,
Spain in October, 2000. (Due to be
printed in 2001.)
2001d ‘The case, stringing and fretting design of the 1543 Venetian clavichord by Dominicus Pisaurensis’, De Clavicordio, Proceedings of the V International Clavichord Symposium/Atti del V congresso internazionale sul clavicordo. Magnano, 5-5 September 2001, edited by Bernard Brauchli, Alberto Galazzo and Ivan Moody, (Musica antica a Magnano, Magnano, 2002), 91-107.
2002a
‘Il percorso di un’idea: dal
progetto allo strumento/The development of an idea: from the design to the
instrument’, Bartolomeo Cristofori. La spinetta[sic] del 1690/The 1690 oval spinet[sic], edited by
Gabriele Rossi-Rognoni, (Sillabe for the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence,
2002) 62-81.
2002b 'The conservation of the 1690 ‘spinetfta[sic] ovale’ by Bartolomeo Cristofori - an approach based on an archaeological analogy', paper given at the Accademia in Florence on the conservation and preservation of the 1690 oval virginal by Bartolomeo Cristofori.
2003b 'Four Variations on an old Neapolitan theme', paper given to the 3º Festival Internacional de Música de Tecla Española “Diego Fernandez” held in Mojácar, Spain in October, 2003.
2005a Co-author with Francesco Nocerino, ‘The ‘Tiorbino: an unrecognised instrument type built by harpsichord makers, with possible evidence for a surviving instrument’, Galpin Society Journal, LVII (2005) pp. 184 – 208 with colour plates pp 232-5.
2005b 'An Analysis of the Origins of a Large Franco-Flemish Double-manual Harpsichord. Would a Ruckers by any Other Name Sound as sweet?', Early Keyboard Journal, XX (2005) 49-80.
2006a 'The 1791 Lindholm clavichord in Stockholm', De Clavicordio, Proceedings of the VII International Clavichord Symposium/Atti del VII congresso internazionale sul clavicordo. Magnano, 7-10 September 2005, edited by Bernard Brauchli, Alberto Galazzo and Judith Wardman, (Musica antica a Magnano, Magnano, 2006) 29-44.
2006b 'The Statistical Analysis of the Lateral String Pin Spacings in Some Neapolitan and Flemish Seventeenth-Century Harpsichords', paper presented to the combined meeting of AMIS, The Galpin Society and CIMCIM in Vermillion, SD, June, 2006.
2006c 'Schede dei pianoforti moderni / Schedules[sic] of the modern pianos', Alla ricerca dei suoni perduti - In the search for lost sounds. Arte e musica negli strumenti della collezione di Fernanda Giulini - Art and music in the instrument collection of Fernanda Giulini (Villa Medici Giulini, Briosco, 2006) pp 282-367.
2007 'XI The Virginal', A Magnificent Roman Baroque Cabinet by Giacomo Herman, (Sotheby's Catalogue for the Sale of Important Continental Furniture, Sotheby's, 34-35 New Bond Street, London, 2007) pp 38-43.
2008 'Relazione organologica. Un fortepiano di Johann Schanz, Vienna, ca. 1816. Collezione Fernanda Giulini, Brioso, Italia./Organological Report. Viennese fortepiano Johann Schanz, Vienna, c. 1816. Collection of Fernanda Giulini, Briosco, Italy, Schanz. Lo strumento dei Principi/Schanz the instrument of Princes. Arte e musical nella Milano dell'Ottocento al tempo di Cristina Archinto Trivulzio/Art and music in the nineteenth Milan at the time of Cristina Archinto Trivulzio, (Villa Medici Giulini, Briosco, 2008) pp 88-141.
2009 'The single-manual Italian harpsichord in the Royal College of Music, London, Cat. No. 175: an organological analysis', Galpin Society Journal, LXII (2009) pp. 55 – 99 with colour plates pp 194-5.
2010a 'Criteria for the determination of original stringing in historical keyboard instruments: The cautionary tale of a 1785 Longman and Broderip harpsichord', The Historical Harpsichord, A Monograph Series in Honor of Frank Hubbard, Vol. 5: Aspects of Harpsichord Making in The British Isles, John Koster editor (Pendragon Press, Stuyvesant, N.Y., 2010) pp. 154-226.
2010b 'The local unit of measurement used in the study and restoration of a Franco-Flemish harpsichord', paper given at the conference 35. Tage Alter Musick in Herne, Cembalo, Clavecin, Harpsichord – Regionale Traditionen des Cembalobaus on Friday, 12 November, 2010.
2016 'Notes & Queries: French Harpsichord Register-Regulation Plates', Galpin Society Journal, 69 (2012) pp.
RIPIN, Edwin M.; SCHOTT, Howard; BARNES, John; O’BRIEN, Grant; DOWD, William; WRAIGHT, Denzil; FERGUSON, Howard; CALDWELL, John
1980 Early Keyboard Instruments, (Macmillan, London, 1980, 2/1984, 3/1989).
O’BRIEN, Grant and TAGLIAVINI, Luigi Ferdinando
1991 ‘Clavicembalo e spinetta[sic]’, La collezione di strumenti musicali del Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Guido Bizzi and Lorenzo Girodo, general editors, (Il laboratorio, Milan, 1991) 62-70.
O’BRIEN, Grant and BONZA, Augusto
1999 ‘The “H. Ruckers” double virginal in Milan. Two important new discoveries’, The Galpin Society Journal, 52 (1999) 314-323.
AWAITING PUBLICATION:
ACADEMIC PAPERS:
Linear-regression analyses: an important tool used to discover some of the most basic and important historical harpsichord-building techniques.
BOOKS IN PREPARATION:
Gianfrancesco Antegnati, Arpicordaro: Startling discoveries made using new organological methods to analyse the design of the instruments of some 15th- and 16th-century Italian keyboard-instrument makers.
A New Keyboard Organology: New Methods used in a Study of the 1679 Ioseph Ioannes Couchet Single-manual Harpsichord
Louis XV’s Golden Harpsichord?
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