Part 1 - The archival evidence[1]
By Francesco Nocerino
Recent work both in the Neapolitan archives and elsewhere
has uncovered numerous documents which provide yet more new evidence to confirm
the role of Naples as an important centre for the production of musical
instruments during the period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.[2]
My research, especially that carried out in the archives of the Banco di
Napoli, has drawn my attention to a large number of documents dealing with an
instrument called a tiorbino (sometimes spelled either teorbino
or tiorbina). The major ity of the archival documents indicates that this
instrument was especially common during the second half of the seventeenth
century but then quickly went into disuse.
Until now
the term tiorbino has generally been understood to mean a small octave tiorbo
or theorbo: in other words, a plucked instrument similar to the theorbo but
smaller and therefore at a higher pitch. As far as is known to the author the
collection of music in the Capricci a due stromenti cioe Tiorba e Tiorbino,
(Modena: 1622) by Bellerofonte Castaldi (1580-1649) is the only example of
printed music which mentions this instrument specifically (see Figure 1). As can be seen here this music is in lute tablature
and is therefore clearly intended for plucked strung instruments of the lute
family. It is not intended for a keyboard instrument but for instruments of the
lute family and, in this case, for the theorbo and the tiorbino ie. the theorbo
and a small theorbo.
Figure 1.
First page of the ‘Capriccio di battaglia a
due stromenti’ by Bellerofonte Castaldi, from his Capricci a due stromenti cioè Tiorba e tiorbino, (Modena: 1622).
A possible
second meaning is that the term tiorbino might refer to a harpsichord stop.
This use is documented in the Inventario di diverse sorti d’instrumenti
musicali in proprio del Serenissimo Sig. Principe Ferdinando di Toscana
compiled for Ferdinando in Florence in 1700.[3]
In this inventory a harpsichord by Girolamo Zenti is mentioned ‘a
tre registri, cioè due principali unisoni e tiorbino, […]’ – (with
three registers, that is two principal unison registers and a tiorbino).[4]
Here exactly what is meant by a register is ambiguous. Does the author of the
inventory really mean 3 rows of jacks each plucking its own set of strings or
does he simply mean that the instrument had the usual 2 rows of jacks and sets
of strings but with a buff stop operating on one set of strings? In the latter
case the tiorbino register would be the usual buff stop (called the lute stop
in German and Italian) consisting of a set of cloth or soft leather pads
touching the strings near the nut. Also mentioned in the same document is
another harpsichord by Giuseppe Mondini (who came originally from Imola in
Romagna) ‘a tre registri cioè due
principali e tiorbino unisoni […]’ – (with three registers, of which two
are principal registers plus a tiorbino all at unison [8'] pitch).[5]
Here again the meaning of three ‘registers’ is ambiguous and the possibility
that one of the registers might refer to a buff stop cannot be excluded.
But, among
the archives referring to the activity of Neapolitan harpsichord makers, and
especially in those of the seventeenth century, payments in favour of Gioseppe
de Simone have been found for a ‘tiorbino a levatora di cascia’ (a
tiorbino with an outer case), and another one in favour of the well-known
Onofrio Guarracino, for a ‘teorbino con tastiatura d’avolio’ (a tiorbino
with an ivory keyboard) and one more in favour of Antonio Sabbatino, for a
tiorbino ‘et duoi[sic] registri’
(with two stops).[6] In this case
it is clear and unambiguous that an instrument type known as a tiorbino is
referred to and that the reference is it is not simply to an extra buff or lute
stop (or, in this case, a tiorbino stop) on an otherwise normal metal-strung
harpsichord.
Among these
bills of payment there are also references to tiorbini made by the Neapolitan
harpsichord makers Salvatore Sanchez, Gaetano Carotenuto and, finally, in a
declaration signed by a notary and dated 1724, there is also a mention of a
tiorbino ‘ad ottava stesa con cassa di legname’ (with a chromatic bass
octave and with a wooden outer case) sold and delivered by Salvatore Sanges
[sic] and Gaetano Baldassarro, who may be a pupil of Sanges.[7]
A number of further new discoveries of heretofore unpublished documents also
testifies to the presence of tiorbini in the workshops of the Neapolitan
harpsichord builders Angelo Faenza, Gaspare Sabbatino, Francesco Andreassi e
Fabrizio Mucciardi.[8]
A survey of
the archival documents for the inventories of property which were compiled at
the time of death of the owners has proved particularly fruitful. For example,
among the archives of central and southern Italy there is mention of an
unfinished tiorbinetto in the shop of the Sicilian harpsichord maker
Carlo Grimaldi and a tiorbina[sic] in the workshop of the Roman Giovanni
Pietro Polizzino.[9]
In all of
these documents, the tiorbino is always mentioned in relation to the activities
of a harpsichord maker and is described with characteristics compatible with
those of a plucked keyboard instrument.
The will
and testament of the singer Don Giovanni Battista Merolla clarifies the
character of the instrument. Here we read of a tiorbino and a ‘minicordo’
(probably a small clavichord), ‘con li loro piedi’ (with their stands)
left to the students of the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio in Naples. Also we read
that the Governors of the Conservatory declare to have received these
instruments, and they are carefully specified: ‘uno spinetto e uno minicordo
remasti In casa di detto quondam Don Giovanni Battista cioe detto spinetto
collo piede e il minicordo senza piede’. (A spinet (or virginal) and a
clavichord left in the house of the said late Don Giovanni Battista, the said
spinet (or virginal) with its stand and the clavichord with no stand).[10]
Therefore
it seems that the term tiorbino was used interchangeably to describe an
instrument that could have a stand and that, at least as far as its dimensions
and structure are concerned, this instrument was very similar to a spinet or a
virginal. Furthermore in a letter dated 1624 and signed by Count Fabio
Carandini-Ferrari in the same archive, we are informed of the purchase in Rome
of a tiorbino ‘incassato[sic]’, an adjective that could be interpreted
to mean ‘con cassa levatora’
(with an outer case).[11] Indeed we have found a pictorial
representation published in Rome of a tiorbino which suggests a third meaning
of the term. This is found in an engraving of Michele Todini’s galleria
armonica,[12]
in Filippo Bonanni’s work[13] which illustrates a group of
mechanised instruments each separated from one another but connected together
invisibly using a complicated mechanism so that they can all be played by one
musician at a single central keyboard. The engraving shows, placed near the
wall with each on its own stand, a series of three instruments all of which are
unmistakably keyboard instruments.
Figure 2. Galleria Armonica in the Palazzo Verospi in Rome from Filippo Bonanni, Gabinetto armonico pieno d'istromenti sonori, (Roma: 1676), Plate XXXIII.
Todini
himself describes the picture thus: ‘Sono posti tre strumenti da penna; una
Spinettina all’ottava alta, un Spinettone, & un Tiorbino, nella facciata
dirimpetto à quello che suona’
(Three quilled instruments are placed therein; an octave spinet, a spinettone
and a tiorbino, facing towards the person who plays it).[14]
Another
illustration of the Michael Todini’s galleria armonica also exists in
the Phonurgia nova published by Attanasio Kircher.[15]
However, Todini himself considers that the illustration is not reliable because
‘chi n'hà fatto il disegno non ha veduto l'originale’ (the person who made the drawing
had never seen the original).[16]
Despite this unfavourable judgment however, the three keyboard instruments are
also recognizable in this engraving and each is on its own individual stand in
front of ‘quello che suona’ (he who is playing) (see Figure 3).
Figure 3.
The Galleria
Armonica of Todini from Athanasius Kircher, Phonurgia nova, (Kempten:
1673), p.168.
As a result
of the examination of the Todini’s description in his Dichiaratione della
galleria armonica, along with the image published there and the information
in the newly-discovered documents mentioned above, it seems possible to
identify the tiorbino as a keyboard instrument belonging to the harpsichord
family. But if it is assumed that the tiorbino was made by competent and
reputable harpsichord makers, then some questions follow, especially about the
stability and construction of such an instrument.[17]
The documents seen so far, mainly Neapolitan and Roman in origin, indicate that
there were problems with the tuning stability of the tiorbino. This
disadvantage required continuous attention on the part of the maker. The
following quotation wherein the buyer makes an agreement with the maker
illustrates this problem: ‘altrimente
non l'haverria comprato, di darli dieci carlini l'anno et lui lo tenerà sempre
accomodato et accordato facendoci tutto quello ci bisognerà ogni volta che lo
chiamerà ’
(otherwise [the buyer] will not buy it, by giving an
[additional] 10 carlini a year and he will maintain it regulated and tuned, and
doing whatever is necessary every time [the buyer] asks).[18]
In this case the buyer imposes as a
condition of the sale of the tiorbino its regulation and tuning on request, and
that this will cost 10 carlinos per year. This is equivalent to 1 ducat and
therefore to a tenth of the total cost of the instrument.
In another
example, the buyer even decides the price, but: ‘con patto che detto Teorbino in termine di giorni 20 da 13 corrente
fusse qualche motivo, non havesse o non tenesse l'accordio detto Salvatore sia
obligato accomodarlo a sue spese ove a caso non potesse riuscire ne debbia fare
un altro a sua sodisfazione’ (according to this agreement if, within a
period of 20 days of the 13th [of this month], the said tiorbino for whatever
reason, does not hold or maintain its tuning, then the said Salvatore [= the
harpsichord maker] is obliged at his own expense to make another [tiorbino] to
his [the buyer’s] satisfaction.[19]
This time the buyer imposes the condition
that if, for whatever reason within a period of 20 days from the consignment,
the tiorbino does not maintain its tuning, then the harpsichord builder must
repair it and, should he not succeed, then he must build a new tiorbino at his
own expense.
The
additional complexity of the work involved on the part of the harpsichord
builder is further revealed in another document which indicates the additional
cost (exactly double) involved in the tuning of a tiorbino compared to the
tuning of a harpsichord with 3 registers: ‘per accordo del tiorbino docati
4, e docati 2 per l’accordo del cembalo a tre registri’ (4 ducats for the
tuning of the tiorbino and 2 ducats for the tuning of the harpsicord with three
registers).[20]
The
difficulty implied by these documents of maintaining the tuning and regulation
of the tiorbino strongly suggests that it was an
instrument fitted with gut strings. The fact that the problem of instability
was common to many different makers all of whom were competent and reputable
suggests that the problem did not arise because of design-related problems so
that the stringing material is the only feature that could give rise to this
tuning instability. We already know of historical gut-strung keyboard
instruments such as the lute-harpsichord and the theorbo-harpsichord.[21]
Unfortunately, there are no recognised surviving gut-strung harpsichords and
indeed we know very little about the gut-strung harpsichord either in Italy or
north of the Alps.
An
interesting additional note is to be found in the will of the Bergamo painter
Evaristo Baschenis (1617-1677), who leaves a ‘spinetta tiorbata’ to the young
Dorotea Baschenis who is described as being ‘of little virtue’:
‘Di
più lascia alla detta Dorothea […] la spinetta tiorbata, li violini, il basso,
e tiorba, acciò se ne possa valere e ne ha libera patrona’.[22]
(I further leave to the said Dorothea the spinetta tiorbata, the violins, the
bass [viol?] and the theorbo, in order that she can use them freely as the
person with full title to them.)
It is
useful to note that in the Agliardi Triptych (see Figure 4), Baschenis carried out a self-portrait of himself in the act of
playing a virginal on the edge of which there is the signature ‘Evaristus/Baschenis/Bergomi/f ’.
However, for the moment at least, it is not possible to confirm the suggestive
hypothesis that this is the instrument mentioned in the Baschenis will.
A specific
reference to Italian keyboard instruments with gut strings can be found in the
work of Valdrighi who, in his note on Farini, stated to be an Italian builder
active in 1620, writes: ‘Le corde de’
cembali del FARINI erano di minugie’
[23]
(the strings of the harpsichords made by Farini were of gut).
However,
returning to the use of gut strings in the tiorbino, it does not seem a coincidence that in Naples and Rome, during
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there was in fact a significant
production of gut strings.[24]
Moreover Mersenne, in his Harmonie
Universelle, says that the strings ‘of gut are not as suitable as those of
brass because they change their pitch too easily in wet or dry weather and are not
as uniform or equal in every part as those of metal’.[25]
The use of gut strings on the tiorbino would have involved continuous
maintenance in tuning, quilling, voicing and re-stringing the instrument. All
these considerations justify and explain the buyers’ worries which are
repeatedly found in the Neapolitan documents.
As for the
shape, the tiorbino might have looked similar to a small virginal, or better
like a bentside spinet, as one can see in Bonanni’s drawings. Its dimensions
had to be rather small and it would have had a rather light structure in order
to qualify for the term ‘tiorbino’. (In the Italian language the suffix ‘-ino’
is frequently used as a diminutive). Even if the number of documents found up
to this point is insufficient to make a judgement about the characteristics of
a tiorbino on the basis of the valuations (or better the sale prices) made for
them, I feel that it is useful, at least as far as their dimensions are
concerned, to note that a new tiorbino would always cost much less than a
harpsichord made by the same maker and this suggests therefore that the
tiorbino was considerably smaller than a normal harpsichord.
Figure 4.
The Galleria
Armonica in the Palazzo Verospi in Rome (detail), from Filippo Bonanni,
Gabinetto armonico pieno d'istromenti sonori, (Roma: 1676), Plate XXXIII
As for the
sound of the tiorbino, the instrument most probably would have had a very sweet
and delicate sound. Being strung in gut, the overtone structure of the
instrument would be that forming a series of almost perfect harmonics because
of the flexible nature of the gut itself. Acoustical theory shows that a tense
flexible string forms a series of overtones which are a close approximation to
the natural harmoinic series. Such a series of accurate harmonics is perceived
by the ear as having a musically pleasing or sweet sound. The low mass of the gut would produce a
rather weak sound, however, compared to the sound of an instrument with much
heavier metal stringing. The sound
would have a strong attack with a rapid decay and little sustaining power. The
impression would be of a more powerful tone, however, because all of the energy
and sound would be concentrated in the intial attack so that the instrument
would be perfectly audible even though it had virtually no sustainging power.
The
etymology of the word ‘tiorbino’ used in the context of a keyboard instrument,
certainly draws its origins from the homonymous instrument identifiable as a
small theorbo.[26] It seems
very likely therefore that the name derives from its unusual stringing with
gut.
Finally,
the use of two registers on Antonio Sabbatino’s tiorbino[27]
seems to be perfectly compatible with the rarely-found references to the
gut-strung harpsichords, among which we mention the J.C. Fleischer lute- and
theorbo-harpsichords, with two and three stops respectively. Also
notwithstanding the extended period (from 1671 to 1733) during which archival
documents mentioning the tiorbino have been found and further in spite of the fact
that they were made by such capable harpsichord builders as Guarracino,
Sabbatino and Carotenuto, the tiorbino does not seem to have been a great
success, perhaps because of the necessity of such specialised, expensive,
frequent and complex maintenance. Probably already fallen into disuse by the
second half of the eighteenth century, the tiorbino was then quickly forgotten.
The only surviving traces are now found in the recently-discovered documents.
This therefore takes research into the field of historical harpsichord makers
into new frontiers.
In
concluding this study we hope that it may stimulate new interest in the
tiorbino and the discovery of further new documents which deal with it. This,
together with the re-examination of known documentary sources, could shed new
light on the knowledge about the tiorbino and generally increase our knowledge
of Italian harpsichord makers. It is clear even from the study carried out here
that the names of many new harpsichord builders have been discovered working
throughout Italy but especially in Naples. It seems certain that further study
will yield yet more names to add to this list.
Documentary appendices
Use has been made in the transcription of the following
documents of a few abbreviations in common useage. Notes or interpolations made
by me are placed between square brackets. Some of the printed documents have
been completely translated into English but, to avoid the translation of the
complex and tortuous legal and financial technical language of the original
unpublished documents, only an English resume of some of these has been given
here. I would like to express my thanks to Grant O’Brien for his translation of
the whole of Part 1 of this paper.
1.
‘Un Cimbalo di
Girolamo Zenti, non levatoro di cassa, a tre registri, cioè due principali
unisoni e tiorbino, con fondo di abeto e rosa nel mezzo traforata e dorata, con
fascie per di fuora tinte a imitazione di marmo rosso e bianco, con striscie
nere all’estremità e per di dentro tinto di nero, con il corniciame dorato, con
suo leggio simile, e sua tastatura di bossolo et ebano con cinque spezzati nei
neri di mezzo che comincia in gisolreut ottava stesa e finisce in cisolfaut con
n. cinquanta nove tasti tra bianchi neri e spezzati, e nella fascia davanti vi sta
scritto / a lettere d’oro con alcuni rabeschi: Hyeronimus de Zentis Romanus
faciebat in civitate Holmie, anno Domini 1653. lungo braccia quattro e
soldi nove, largo nel davanti braccia uno e soldi dieci, con sua contro cassa
di abeto pura, e sua coperta di cuoio rosso foderata di taffettà verde orlata
di nastrino d’oro’.
(Florence: Archivio di Stato, Guardaroba mediceo, n.1117, anno 1700, c. 3).’[28]
‘A
harpsichord by Girolamo Zenti, not removable from its outer case, with three
registers, that is two principal unison registers and a tiorbino. The
soundboard is of fir[29] with an incised and gilt rosette in its
middle. The case sides are painted in imitation of red and white marble with
black stripes painted around the edges and on the inside. The mouldings are gilt
as is the music desk. The keyboard is in boxwood and ebony with 5 split keys in
the central part of the compass. It has a compass from G1 without a
short octave to c3 with 59 keys including the naturals and
accidentals with all of the split keys.[30]
Written in gold lettering with a few arabesques on the nameboard at the front
is: Hyeronimus de Zentis Romanus faciebat
in civitate Holmie, anno Domini 1653 [Hieronymus de Zentis the Roman made
(this harpsichord) in the city of Stockholm, AD 1653]. The length is 4 braccia and 9 soldi
[2453mm] and the width at the front is 1 braccio and 10 soldi [827mm].[31] It has an external carrying case of
fir with a lid of red leather and lined [on the inside] with taffeta trimmed
with a gold band.’
‘A harpsichord by the priest Giuseppe
Mondini called the “Priest from Imola” with a separate outer case and 3
registers – that is with 2 principal registers and a tiorbino [all] at unison
pitch. It has a soundboard of fir[32]
without a rosette. The case sides and mouldings are of cypress with purfling in
an ebony strip, and a jackrail also purfled with ebony and with an ebony strip
down the middle. It has a keyboard of boxwood and ebony beginning at G1
and
finishing at c3 with no split keys so that there are altogether 53
keys with both the naturals and accidentals.[33]
It is 4⅓ braccia long (2369mm) and 1 braccio and 9 soldi (799mm) wide at the front[34].
There is an inscription on the nameboard at the front which reads: Joseph Mondini Imolensis MDCLXXXVIII. It has a music desk of cypress and an
outer case of fir, a lock and bolt and a lid [covered in] yellow leather and
lined with material and trimmed with a narrow strip of yellow.’
(Niccolò Graziano buys a
tiorbino for the price of 13½ ducats. It is by the harpsichord builder Giuseppe
de Simone, has a separate outer case and must be without any possible defect.)
(Giuseppe Cannicchio de
Roggiero buys a tiorbino with an ivory keyboard made by the master harpsichord
builder Onofrio Guarracino for 20 ducats.)
5.
‘A don Flaminio d’Angelo ducati dieci e
per lui ad Antonio Sabbatino Cimbalaro a complimento di docati trenta, atteso
gl'altri gliel'ha dati de contanti per haverli comprato dal medesimo Mastro
Antonio uno tiorbino et duoi registri opera sua et con questo pagamento sta
intieramente sodisfatto et hanno pattizzato, altrimente non l'haverria
comprato, di darli dieci carlini l’anno et lui lo tenerà sempre accomodato et
accordato facendoci tutto quello ci bisognerà ogni volta che lo chiamerà.’
(Naples: Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, Banco di Spirito Santo, giornale
matr. 573, 26 giugno 1676, fol. 1157).
(Flaminio d’Angelo buys a
tiorbino with two registers for 30 ducats from the harpsichord builder Antonio
Sabbatino, imposing as a condition of the purchase the maintenance and tuning
of the instrument at the price of 10 carlinos (= 1 ducat) per year.)
(Don Stefano Cavaliere buys a tiorbino for the
price of 8 ducats from the master harpsichord builder Salvatore Sanchez,
imposing as a condition of the sale that if, within a period of 20 days the
instrument was not in tune or did not maintain its tuning, then the harpischord
builder would be obliged to repair it or to re-make a new instrument at his own
expense.)
7.
“[....] Al Signor Nicola Cinname[sic] per
una annata di sua provisione maturata nell’ultimo di marzo 1725 docati 6 cioè
per accordo del tiorbino docati 4, e docati 2 per l’accordo del cembalo a tre
registri per il Natale, e per l’ultima Settimana Santa, restando con tal
pagamento sodisfatto per tutto il passato con polisa mia per il Popolo”
(Naples: Archivio di Stato, Monasteri Soppressi, San Paolo Maggiore, Libro
degli Esiti, 1725, esisto di aprile.
The harpsichord builder Nicola Cennamo receives 6 ducats (of which 4 were for
the tuning of the tiorbino and 2 for the tuning of the harpsichord with 3
registers) as his annual salary for the tuning of the instruments of San Paolo
Maggiore.
8.
‘A
Francesco Avallone di Mario ducati quattro e per esso a Gaetano Carotenuto a
compimento di ducati 5, atteso l'altri Carlini dieci l’ha ricevuti contanti et
sono per prezzo d’uno Teorbino ad esso venduto et consignato, così d'accordo.
Et per esso a Giovanni Battista Viva per altritanti’. (Naples: Archivio
Storico del Banco di Napoli, Banco di San Giacomo, giornale matr. 462, 20
dicembre 1688, fol. 814).
(Francesco Avallone buys a
tiorbino for the price of 5 ducats from the harpsichord maker Gaetano
Carotenuto.)
9.
‘[…] Item due organi ad ala usati. / Item
ciambali diversi numero cinque non finiti di tutto punto d’ottava stesa. / Item
un tiorbinetto non finito. / Item due urpicordi picciotti non finiti. / Item
uno vecchio. / Item un ciambalo vecchio a due tastature. […]’ (Messina:
Archivio di Stato, Notai, n. 632. cc.347r-351v., 24.4.1717[35]).
([there are:] 2 organs ‘ad
ala’,[36] 2 used
organs ‘ad ala’, 5 harpsichords with a full bass octave [down to C] not
all of which are finished, an incomplete tiorbinetto, 2 small unfinished
virginals, another old [virginal], an old harpsichord with two keyboards.)
10.
‘Un
cimbalo a tre registri attaccato alla cassa et una cassa di cimbali / Doi
cimbali attaccati alla cassa [a] doi
registri, non finiti / Un appicordone a doi registri / Doi spinette et un
appicordo / Doi casse di spinetta / Et una tiorbina[sic].’ (Rome:
Archivio di Stato, 30 Notai Capitolini, uff.18, Notaio Franciscus Pacichellus,
Testamenti, 30.10.1657[37]).
([there are:] a harpsichord
with an integral case and 3 registers, a case for a harpsichord, two incomplete
harpsichords with integral cases and 3 registers, a large spinet, two spinets
and a virginal, two spinet cases and a tiorbina.)
11.
‘Il quondam Don Giovan Battista Merolla figliolo
che fu del nostro Conservatorio nel suo testamento delli 2 agosto 1692 [sic]
chiuso, et aperto a 30 agosto 1699 per mano de notar Antonio ferraiolo lasciò a
detto Conservatorio le infrascritte robbe ut infra un quadro grande di s.
Felippo neri pintato con veste sacerdotale con cornice d’ora lo stipo grande di
radica de noce alla Genovese una con la
chiave vicino lo stipo di Cervinara seu pioppo due portieri de teletta de porta
nova di color torchino
lo stipo
grande di pioppo pintato il Tiorbino et Minicordo per uso de studiare li
figlioli dette robbe se sono ricevuti in conservatorio et se li scritto
ricevuta come qui aclusa.’ (Naples: Archivio del Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio, Libro maggiore di
terze, fol.77, anno 1699)
Attached:
[Folio 1 recto] ‘Legato fatto per il quondam Don Giovanni Battista merolla nel suo
Testamento alli 2 agosto 1696 chiuso et aperto a 30 agosto 1699 per notar
Antonio Ferraiolo de napoli.
Item
lascio al Conservatorio delli figlioli de Santo Nofrio a Capuana di questa
città Il quadro grande di S. Felippo neri pintato con veste sacerdotale con
cornice d'oro quale si debbia porre dentro la sacrestia, lo stipo grande di
radica di noce alla genovese un con le chiavi ma vacuo di dentro da ponersi
parimente nella sacrestia per conservare i paramenti d’essa, uno stipo di
Cervenara seu pioppo per servizio anco della sacrestia ma vacuo di dentro, due
portieri i migliori di Teletta di portanova di color Torchino per uso delle due
porte che sono alli versi del Altare maggiore della chiesa di detto
Conservatorio, Uno stipo grande di pioppo pintato per uso di detto
Conservatorio, Uno stipo grande di pioppo pintato per uso di detto
Conservatorio, il Tiorbino, et il mio minicordo una
[= unitamente, assieme] con li lloro piedi per uso di studiare li
figlioli assignandone uno per dormitorio, quali mobili voglio siano di detto
Conservatorio e Io ce li lascio per atto di gratitudine per ricompensa del
molto che devo a detto Conservatorio per esser stato io uno delli alunni di
detto Conservatorio et in quello Imparato quella virtù con la quale mi ho
procacciato di beni’.
(Naples: Archivio del
Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio, Libro maggiore III, allegato, fol.1r, anno 1699.
See Di Giacomo (footnote 10) 1924: 52-54).
(Notes and
relevant attached documentation in the papers of the Conservatory of Music of
Sant’Onofrio a Capuana in Naples of the property left by the deceased Giovanni
Battista Merolla, among which are a tiorbino and a clavichord with their stands
used by the pupils [figlioli] of the Conservatory for their studies.)
[Folio 1 verso][omissis: Grazia Merolla,
the sister of G. B. Merolla, was heir to the rest of his property]
‘Noi
Tutti Governatori del Real Conservatorio di Santo Honofrio de figlioli orfani
congregati dechiaramo che In esecuzione della disposizione del quondam
Reverendo Don Giovanni Battista merolla fatta nel suo Testamento havemo
ricevuto Tre stipi uno di noce alla Genovese un altro de Pioppo grande e un
altro de pioppo di Cervinara con le loro chiave di più uno spinetto e uno
minicordo remasti In casa di detto quondam Don Giovanni Battista cioe detto
spinetto collo piede e il minicordo senza piede, due portieri di Teletta di
portunova color torchino colli loro ferri, uno quadro grande di Santo Felippo
neri vestito da sacerdote, onde per cautela de chi spetta ne facemo la presente
ricevuta napoli 26 settembre 1699.
Ignatio
Terra Governatore
Antonio Civitate Governatore
Gennaro
Scala Governatore
Domenico
Antonio Santi Governatore’
(Naples: Archivio del
Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio, Libro maggiore III, allegato, fol.1t, anno
1699).
(Receipt signed by the
Governors of the Conservatory in which it is specified that the spinet [now
called a spinet rather than a teorbino] has its stand, but that the stand of
the clavichord is lacking.).
12.
‘Ho inviato or ora al Duca = il tiorbino
incassato, et ben accomodato in tutte le sue parti = e quantunque questi musici
avisano essersi introdotto a’ questi, et simili instromenti, et anco alle arpe
farvi porre le corde di oro che dicono dar maggiore dolcezza al suono =
tuttavia, esso Carandini non ve l'ha fatte porre di d.° prezioso metallo, = per
haver l’ordine preciso di farlo fare come l’altro, et alli med.i
mastri. / Roma 10 genn. 1624.’
(Modena: Archivio di Stato, Dispacci di Fabio Carandini-Ferrari).[38]
(A letter from Count Fabio
Carandini-Ferrari in which one reads of a tiorbino in its outer case which was
not equipped with gold strings even though the use of such metal had been
introduced [to Rome] in other instruments and even in the harp in order to give
it a sweeter [or softer] sound.)
13.
‘Sono
posti tre strumenti da penna; una Spinettina all’ottava alta, un Spinettone,
& un Tiorbino, nella facciata dirimpetto à quello, che suona, situati con
tale disinvoltura, che pare impossibile habbino communicatione con le machine
intrinseche, non conoscendosi, né come siano le operationi, né come possino
essere così stabili, facendo il suo effetto, quasi invisibilmente. Stanno detti
strumenti separati l'un dall'altro, più d’un palmo, sopra suoi tavolini, col
suo piede per ciascheduno, né toccano il muro, né altra cosa, che apparisca
stabile’. (Michele Todini, Dichiarazione
della Galleria Armonica, (Rome: 1676) 10-11.
(Three quilled instruments are placed
therein; an octave spinet, a spinettone and a tiorbino, facing towards the
person who plays them and situated in
such a casual way that it would seem impossible that they might have any
connection to the necessary machinery [used to operate them]. Without knowing that
[this machinery] exists and how the instruments function the effect is created
in a way that is almost invisible. The instruments stand separated from one
another by more than a palmo[39] on their tables and each on its own stand.
They don’t come into contact with the walls, nor anything else, and the whole
thing appears [not to contain anything] movable.)
14.
‘A
Giovanni Francesco d’Andrea ducati cinquanta e per lui al Signor Gasparro
Sabbatino Mastro Cembalaro per intiero prezzo e final pagamento di due Teorbine,
e proprio denaro della Duchessa di Carvizzano [sic], con dichiarazione, che detto Sabbatino resta per tal causa
Intieramente soddisfatto con tal pagamento. Et per esso contanti’. (Naples:
Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, Banco dello
Spirito Santo, giornale matr. 1270, 18 agosto 1733, fol. 2).
(On behalf of the Duchess of
Calvizzano, Giovanni Francesco d’Andrea buys 2 tiorbinos made by the Master
harpsichord builder Gaspare Sabbatino for the price of 50 ducats.)
15.
‘Declaratio pro D. Francesco de Angelis.
Die
duodecimo mensis ianuarij 2.de indictionis 1724 Neapoli, constituti nella
nostra presenza Gaetano Baldassarro e Salvatore Sanges di Napoli cimbalari et
accordatori di cembali, e spontaneamente avanti di noi hanno dichiarato, e
confessato aver ricevuto et avuto dal dottor signor Don Francesco de Angelis
similmente di Napoli assente docati sette e mezzo per lo Banco dello Spirito
Santo di questa Città con polisa notata fede in testa di esso signor don
Francesco della data de oggi predetto giorno renunciandono con giuramento
avanti di noi all'eccezzione della non numerata pecunia.
E
sono detti ducati sette e mezzo per lo prezzo d’un Tiorbino ad ottava stesa con
cassa di legname, da detti Salvatore, e Gaetano, venduto, e consignato al detto
Signor Don Francesco nel passato mese di dicembre [fol. 6 r] del caduto anno
1723, e quantunque si fusse preso detto Tiorbino dal detto signor Don Francesco
nulla di meno dichiarano detti Gaetano, e Salvatore, che ha servito per Angelo
Pisani figliolo del Conservatorio de Poveri di Giesù Cristo di questa città,
con che resta sempre tenuto detto Pisani à pagare detto prezzo di detto
tiorbino à detto Don Francesco avendo fatto esso Don Francesco detto pagamento
di suo proprio denaro per ordine dell’illustre signor marchese di Amoroso
regente della Gran Corte della Vicaria avanti di chi comparvero li detti
Gaetano, e Salvatore presso lo scrivano Riccetti. Stante il qual pagamento de
sudetti ducati sette e mezzo essi predetti Gaetano, e Salvatore dichiarano, che
restano sodisfatti da detto signor Don Francesco per detta causa, et il detto
Tiorbino è stato per uso di detto Pisano, e non altrimente; E perciò
spontaneamente hanno obligato se stessi loro eredi, successori, e beni tutti
presenti e futuri al detto signor Don Francesco assente, et à me per esso
presente sub pena dupli, medietate cum potestate capiendi consecutione precarij
renuntiaverunt et iuraverunt.
Presentibus
Iudice Antonio Pistone de neapoli regio ad contractus
Magnifico utriusque doctoris Hijacintho Scalese et
Magnifico Francisco Canfora
de neapoli.’ (Naples:
Archivio di Stato, Notai del XVII secolo, notaio Pietro Francesco Nicola
Giordano, scheda 1313, prot. 44, foll. 5v-6v, 12 Gennaio 1724.)
(On behalf of the Marquis di
Amoroso, Don Francesco de Angelis buys a tiorbino with a chromatic bass octave
at a price of 7½ ducats from the harpsichord builders and ‘harpsichord tuners’
Gaetano Baldassarre and Salvatore Sanges. This instrument would be purchased
for the exclusive use of Angelo Pisani a student at the Conservatorio dei
Poveri di Gesù Cristo in Naples.)
16.
‘Ad
Isidoro Faenza ducati ventisette 4.18½ et per esso a Francesco Andreasso per
altrittanti e per esso a Fabritio Mucciardi a compimento de ducati ventotto
3.18½, atteso li restanti carlini otto per detto compimento l’ave da esso
ricevuti in contanti, e detti ducati 28.3.18½ sono per il prezzo della mettà
della robba vendutali dal suddetto Fabritio per la suddetta summa esistente
detta robba nella bottega di cimbalaro, che si esercitava in communi tanto da
esso Francesco quanto dal suddetto Fabritio, site e poste nell’imbrecciata di
Santa Maria de Sette Dolori, consistente dette robbe in Cimbali e Teorbini,
principiati, ed altri lavori principiati, legnami di diverse sorte per uso di
Cimbalaro, accomodazioni fatti, ferri, stiglio ed ogni altro annesso e connesso
a detta Arte di Cimbalaro quale suddette robbe sono state apprezzate d’ordine
della Gran Corte della Vicaria da due esperti detti da loro Francesco e
Fabritio, cioè il magnifico Isidoro Faienza [sic] per parte di esso suddetto Francesco ed il magnifico Gasparro Sabbatino
per parte di esso suddetto Fabritio e sono state apprezzate per la somma de
ducati 57.2.17½ dichiarando col presente pagamento restar il medesimo [Fabrizio] da esso intieramente soddisfatto per causa
di detta mettà di robba vendutali come sopra non avendo altro da esso che
pretendere per la causa suddetta. Et per esso a Tomaso Palma per altritanti.’
(Naples, Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, Banco del Popolo, giornale matr.
1033, 24 aprile 1732, foll. 586-587).
(The harpsichord builder Francesco Andreassi collects
28.31.18½ ducats from the harpsichord builder Fabrizio Mucciardi for his
workshop which they will share. The workshop contains harpsichords and tiorbini
and other items already begun, diverse types of wood used in harpsichord
building, tools, shelves and all of those articles necessary to the art of the
harpsichord builder. The workshop is located near the church of S. Maria dei Sette Dolori in Naples, and the valuation
of the materials was carried out by order of the Gran Corte della Vicaria by
the experts Gaspare Sabbatino and Isidoro Faenza.
17.
‘A
Giacom’Antonio Cipullo ducati otto e per lui a Nicola Sardella per prezzo di un
Teorbino, opra fatta dal quondam Mastro Angelo Faenza, ad esso venduto e con
detto pagamento resta sodisfatto. Notata fede al 21 gennaro [sic] 1603.’ (Naples: Archivio Storico del
Banco di Napoli, Banco della Pietà, giornale matr. 968, 6 febbraio 1693, fol.
9).
(Giacom’Antonio Cipullo buys a tiorbino
for the price of 8 ducats from Nicola Sardella. The instrument is a work by the
late master harpsichord builder Angelo Faenza.)
Part 2 - A possible surviving tiorbino: an
anonymous Neapolitan spinet[40]
in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan
by
Grant O’Brien
Introduction and general description of the instrument
The Museo
Teatrale alla Scala in Milan has in its collection of musical instruments a
small anonymous spinet dated 1707, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04.[41]
As will be shown below it was made in Naples and is probably to be identified
as a tiorbino. It is unusual among Italian spinets in having two sets of
jacks and two sets of strings for each note even though it is much smaller than
is normal for Italian spinets. The small size (and short string lengths) means
that space constraints for 4 strings between the doubled pairs of jacks all
plucking into the same space are unusually severe. The instrument is clearly
intended to sound at a high pitch and, as will also be shown below, was
probably designed to be strung with gut strings and tuned to a pitch of
R + 11, an octave and a fourth above the ‘normal’ pitch R. (For the definition of R, see Note 62.)
The general characteristics of the
instrument are those of a typical small Italian spinet at high pitch. The case
sides overlap the baseboard which is of poplar. The case sides, keywell
scrolls, soundboard mouldings, and bridges are all of cypress. The soundboard
is of a softwood which, judged from the width and colour gradation of the
annular rings, is probably fir and not spruce. The grain of the soundboard wood
runs parallel to the wrestplank and boxslide, and not to the strings and
diagonal longside. The soundboard is very thin. Where it has come unglued from
the back of the boxslide its thickness can be measured and is found to be only
2.1mm thick at this point. There are two soundbars running diagonally back from
the rear of the boxslide to the spine in positions on either side of the
rosette. There is a cypress soundboard moulding running around the inside edge
of the case but there is no corresponding moulding on the wrestplank.
The
wrestplank, boxslide, balance rail and keyboard rack are all of walnut. The
naturals are of bone and the sharps are of ebony-capped black-stained
fruitwood. The key arcades (which, because of their plainness which does not
match the sophistication of the rest of the instrument, may not be original)
are also of bone. The keyframe is of poplar and the keylevers are of beech and
are guided by brass pins in the rack. The jackrail is of black-stained plum
with a rectangular bone inlay. The jackrail supports are of a black-stained
fruitwood. The outer case and lid are of poplar and the stand is now missing.
A general view of the instrument can be seen in Figure 5 and a plan view can be seen in Figure 8.
Figure 5 - General view with the lid open.
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
This instrument is of the classic inner
instrument in an outer carrying case type of construction. The inner instrument
itself is finely-made and of an ingenious design but, as is often the
situation, is enclosed in a somewhat crude outer carrying case. The inner
instrument is of small proportions and is of typical Neapolitan construction[42] each characteristic of which will be
discussed individually below. The strings are short and the layout is
ingeniously designed to give a geometry with a spatial layout in which both of
the strings for each note have almost the same scaling.
The two case sides have scrolls cut in them at the ends of the keywell in the usual Italian fashion (see Figure 6). The cheek scrolls are made of three layers of wood (the outer layer is the case-side) separated by two thin (1.2mm) layers of bone. There are two ebonised keyblocks beside the keywell scrolls which are attached to the lower side of the scrolls and to the baseboard. These keyblocks are made with a slot on their inside surface immediately above the baseboard. The keyframe which is slightly wider than the keys above it is made to slide into these slots which trap the keyframe vertically but allow it to move in and out of the instrument horizontally. The ability of the keyboard to slide in and out of the keywell like a drawer is among the many Neapolitan characteristics of this instrument.[43]
Figure 6. Drawing of
the cheek scrolls and case mouldings.
On the left is the bass cheek view, and on the right the front view
without the (non-original) nameboard showing the wrestplank (shaded),
wrestplank support and the grey keyblock with the recessed slot in which the
keyframe slides in and out. For reasons
of clarity the bass jackrail support has not been drawn in.
Tiorbino,
Naples, 1707,
Museo Teatrale alla Scala,
Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04.
The outside of the case behind the
keywell scrolls is framed by a moulding which is the same as that used at the
top and the bottom of the case (see Figure
6). Unusually for an Italian instrument, the back
corners of the case have this same moulding placed vertically at the edges of
the surface and mitred to the horizontal case mouldings at the top and bottom.
At the top of the case the inside and the outside have the same moulding, and
this is topped by the usual Italian cap moulding. This cap moulding, as is
normal with instruments built in the Neapolitan tradition,[44]
is flush at its edges with the top part of the case mouldings immediately below
it. Below and in front of the keys is a black ebonised moulded batten which
runs across the front of the instrument.
Two heavy cypress blocks glued both
to the case sides and baseboard support the wrestplank at either end in
recesses in the wrestplank (see Figure 7). The wrestplank and wrestplank
support blocks are also nailed to the case sides and, from below, to the
baseboard. The boxslide register is glued to the back of the wrestplank. The
soundboard is supported from underneath by a walnut liner glued to the back of
the boxslide and by poplar liners running around the rest of the inside of the
case. Using a mirror and a torch, relatively little of the interior structure
can be seen. However, there appears to be no internal framing other than the
tall lower belly-rail of poplar attached to the baseboard just behind the
keyboard.
The jackrail is made of a fruitwood,
possibly plum. The shape of the mouldings on the top edge of the jackrail is
the same as that on the soundboard mouldings running around the inside of the
case and the same as that on the batten below the keyboard at the case front.
This suggests therefore that the jackrail is original. There is an 8mm wide
band of bone and black-stained wood inlay in the middle of the jackrail. The
rest of the jackrail is all stained black (ebonised). The jackrail fits into
supports at either end (also of plum?) which are also ebonised and consists of
two forked pieces forming a slot for the ends of the jackrail (see
Figure 12). The scrolls on the jackrail supports are upside
down compared with the normal orientation found on many other Italian
instruments. The original nameboard is now missing and is replaced with a
modern strip of wood painted black.
There is a
small, simple parchment rosette in the soundboard (see
Figure 7 and 9) consisting of a
total of 4 layers of parchment. Like most other rosettes in Neapolitan
instruments (see footnote 42) there is an outer part glued to the top of the
soundboard and an inner part glued to the lower surface of the soundboard. The
outer part of the rosette glued to the top of the soundboard consists of only
two layers and is of a typical Neapolitan design. However, the central part of
the rosette (also with two layers) seems too simple in its design and rather
crude in execution in comparison with the outer ring. It also seems to me to be
by a different hand. This central portion is probably therefore not original.
The diameter of the rosette is 77mm measured roughly in the direction of the
strings.
Figure 7 - Soundboard rosette. Scale 1:1
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
As is usual in an octave spinet-type
of keyboard instrument the nut is straight, but the bridge, instead of being
curved, is composed of three mitred straight sections which approximate the
theoretical curved shape of a bridge which produces Pythagorean scalings (see
Figure 8). The mitres in the bridge
occur near the notes f/f♯ and b1/c2. Both the bridge and the
nut sections are constant along their length without any tapering.
The outer case is simply constructed
and simply decorated. It is made entirely of poplar of thickness about 12mm.
The direction of the grain of the baseboard wood runs parallel to the front
edge of the case. The sloping keyboard cover is attached to the main part of
the lid with wrought iron hinges which have been let into the surface of the
wood. The lid is attached to the spine with the typical Italian lid hinge
system which enables the lid to be removed. There is a wrought-iron lock
attached to the keyboard cover, but on the case only the nail holes for the
lock’s hasp remain.
There was
originally a system of pedal pull-downs for the bass short-octave of notes. The
bottom keys from C/E to B including B♭
(8 notes) have looped brass wires fixed
to their lower surfaces. These match [I have deleted
‘to’] holes in the keyframe and the baseboard of the inner instrument
and are for the cords connecting the pedal board to the keylevers. These holes
are carefully made and of good workmanship and therefore are probably original.
However, although there are holes for the cords in the baseboard of the inner
instrument there are no corresponding holes in the baseboard of the outer case.
This indicates that the pedal could only have operated when the instrument was
removed from its protective outer case.
The pedal
mechanism itself has, however, now been lost.
Figure 8 - Plan view of the soundboard, registers and keyboard
Tiorbino,
Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
Inscriptions:
Unfortunately, although there is a
number of ink markings on the instrument, there is no place where the name of
the maker is visible. However, as well as the figures indicating the numbers of
the keys, there are also traces of ink near and under the added blocks on the
tails of the top and bottom keylevers. These ink traces seem to be all that is
left of the signature of the maker but are insufficient to enable the name to
be read.
The original nameboard which
probably also carried the name of the maker, is now missing as mentioned above.
The front of the wrestplank behind the position of the nameboard is signed:
‘Cancus G C A Titi’ (where Cancus = Canonicus?) (see
Figure 9).
Figure 9 - Inscription on the wrestplank: "Cancus G C A Titi"
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
In addition the bass end of the
lower surface of the jackrail is signed: ‘Canco Andr[ea] Titi’ (the
end of the word Andrea has virtually disappeared). The treble end of the jackrail
has the sign AT = Andrea Titi. It would seem from the
crude way in which these signatures are written that these inscriptions were
probably carried out by a former owner and have nothing whatever to do with the
original maker of the instrument.
The top c3 key is dated
clearly 1707. The bottom key is also dated, but the final digit of the date is
less clear. Glued to the baseboard of
the outer case is a paper label with a hand-written inscription: ‘Sigor
/ Cav. Achille Can[- - -] / Milano’. There is also a printed
transport ticket that reads ‘ - - - Grande Veloci[tà] / da /
Bologna / 472 / a _______’.
The keylevers are numbered 1 to 45,
but there is now no way of knowing if this is original. In addition to these
numbers giving the order of the keys there are also gauge markings on the keys.
These will be discussed further below.
Analysis of the
unit of measurement used in the construction of this instrument and a
determination of its centre of construction.
The outer scantlings of the instrument including the
thicknesses of the case sides are given in Table 1 below:
Length Height Thickness Wood
Front: 842 -
- - 5 cypress
Case
left side: 95[45] 162-3 5 cypress
Angled
back: 922 161-3 5 cypress
Case
right side: 541 161 5 cypress
Baseboard: Italian style 14 poplar
Soundboard to the top of the case walls: 52
Table 1.
Scantling measurements in millimetres[46]
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
These
measurements are, however, not those used by the original maker of the
instrument who began by making the baseboard and working up from there. The
original
dimensions of the baseboard without case the sides are given in Table 2 below.
Width
along the front - 832½mm
Case
depth on bass side - 187mm
Case
depth on treble side - 522mm
Angled
back - 901mm[47]
Angle
at back - measured
as 21.3º but estimated originally to have been 22º
[48]
Case
height - 163mm
maximum
Table 2 –
Dimensions of the baseboard and case height
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
The procedure for determining the unit of measurement used
to construct this instrument begins with the measurements of the component
sides and the angle made by the back surface of the case. Although it is now
somewhat less than this because of shrinkage (see the shrinkage crack at the
top of the photograph in
Figure 10) the angle of the back was
estimated originally to have been close to 22º. The component of the rear side
perpendicular to the front is 522 - 187 = 335mm. The components of the triangle
formed by the rear side therefore have lengths of 832½mm and 336mm. There is a
limited number of possible measurements in once that these numbers could
represent given that the size of the measurement unit has to lie somewhere
within the limits of 19mm to about 30mm.
This means sthat the only ratio which gives numbers that are reasonable
(ie not shorter than 19 and not longer than 30) is when the sides have lengths
of 15½ once and 38 once. The
sides have a ratio of 
= 0.4024, and a
rctan 0.4024 = 21.92º suggesting that the angle of the back should be close to
this value. The estimated original angle of 22º has a tangent of 0.4040
@ 0.4079 = 
and this further suggests
that the lengths of the two sides of the triangle are 15½ once and 38 once.
Mathematically these would form an exact angle of 21.91º. This angle is
extremely close to the measured angle of 22º, is close to the angle calculated
above from the components of the tail side (= 21.92º) and well within the error
of measurement. Measurement in millimetres of the lengths of the two sides
constituting the components of the tail side gives an approximate estimate of
the size of the oncia which can then
be applied to the other measurements of the baseboard, keyboard, wrestplank,
string scalings, and all of the other parts and design features of the
instrument. A summary of the original measurements of the baseboard and case
height in once is given in the
following table:
Measurement Local Length
of
in
mm unit oncia
Length
along the front: 832½ = 38
once
→ 21.91
Rear
side component perpendicular to front: 335 = 15½
once
→ 21.61
Treble
right- hand side: 522 = 24
once
→ 21.75
Bass
left- hand side: 187 = 8½
once
→ 22.00
Case
height: 163 = 7½ once
→ 21.73
Total: 2039½ = 93½ once Average: 21.823mm
Table 3.
Calculation
of the length of the unit of measurement used to construct this instrument.
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
Figure 10 - Plan view of the baseboard seen from below.
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
These measurements are shown on the
diagram in Figure
11 below where the actual measurements in mm and the
measured angle of the back of the case are shown on the left, and the nominal
measurements in units of the Neapolitan oncia
are shown on the right. A look at a table of the units of measurement used in
the various centres in Italy during the historical period shows that in Naples
before 1841 the palmo, divided into
12 once, had a length of 262.01mm[49].
Hence the oncia had a length of:
Other sources also give the length of the
canna with 8 palmi and 96 once in
Naples as 2109.36mm[50]
so that
These two results are clearly two
different ways of expressing the same size of the unit of measurement in this
region, and this is clearly the unit that was used in the construction of this
instrument. No other centre had a unit of measurement as close in value to that
found for this instrument. The error between the value found here and the value
given in the tables of metrology is only 0.05%!
This therefore strongly suggests that Naples is the centre
in which this instrument was built.
Figure 11. Original
baseboard measurements in mm (left)
and in units of the Neapolitan oncia = 21.834mm
(right)
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala,
Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
I have been
able to show that the Neapolitan stringed keyboard maker Onofrio Guarracino
used his own workshop unit of measurement of about 21.63mm which is close to,
but not exactly equal to, the ‘text book’ value of the oncia used in
Naples.[51]
Therefore, although Guarracino is known to have made instruments of this type
this particular tiorbino which uses the standard Neapolitan unit of measurement
and not the workshop unit of Guarracino cannot be ascribed to the latter maker.
In any case Guarracino probably died in 1698 or 1699 and so it is unlikely that
he would have built this instrument.[52]
Neapolitan makers alive in 1707 and known to have made tiorbini[53]
include Giovanni Natale Boccalari (active from 1679 to 1717)[54],
Andrea Basso (born 1659 – died 1742)[55],
Gaetano Carotenuto (1682 – 1709)[56],
Giuseppe de Martino (1690 – 1720)[57],
and Salvatore Sanchez (1687-1724)[58].
Unfortunately because of the lack of surviving instruments nothing is known of
the characteristics of the work of most of these makers so that it is
unfortunately not possible to ascribe this instrument to any of these makers.
Keyboard
The compass is C/E to c3, four octaves with a
bass short octave and 45 notes. The 3-octave span of the keyboard is 510 -
512mm averaging about 511mm. The total width of the keys at the front is 658mm.
The total width of keyplank onto which the natural touchplates are glued is 652mm.
The length of the keylevers without their top coverings is 185mm with the
balance pin line for the naturals scribed a distance of 87mm behind the front
of this plank. The total width of the keywell between the fixed keyblocks is
738mm and the total distance between the carved lions is 657mm with 805mm
between the keywell scrolls.
Originally
all of the keys seem to have balanced along the same line about 78mm from the
front of the naturals. A piece of poor-quality walnut was added at the back of
the original balance rail and the balance pins for the sharps were
re-positioned in this new wood along a line in a position about 13-16mm behind
the original row of balance pins. The natural keylevers were also drilled in a
line along the same position, but the holes did not penetrate the new section
of balance rail so the natural balance pins were not re-positioned in these
holes. The balance pins are of iron of diameter 2.4mm. The fronts of the keys
have undecorated flat bone arcades which, because they are atypical of usual
Neapolitan practice, are probably not original.
There are small leather-covered
blocks glued to the top surface of the keylevers at the position of the jacks.
Their poor workmanship suggests that they are not original. Presumably they
were added to raise the non-original lead jacks (see below) to a position where
they were functional and so, like the jacks, these blocks are also presumed not
to be original. As discussed below in the section on the jacks and boxslides it
is likely however, that there were originally blocks on the tops of the
keylevers underneath the jacks. These would have been necessary to enable the
rear row of jacks to be disengaged during the tuning of the front row of jacks
or when changing the registration from one to two sets of strings. When the
keyboard was pulled toward the player the blocks would have moved away from
underneath the rear row of jacks which would then not have been raised when the
keylevers were depressed. The front register of strings could have then been
tuned on its own. Pushing in the keyboard would have operated the rear row of
jacks and the strings operated by these could have been tuned to the strings of
the first row of jacks and played together with them. This mechanism would, of
course, also serve to change the registration.
The
keyframe is of poplar and the balance rail (as well as the added piece
mentioned above) is of walnut. The rack is also of walnut in which the
keylevers are guided at their tails by brass pins (diameter = 1.1mm) instead of
flat wooden slips as is usual. As explained above, and as is usual for
Neapolitan keyboard instruments, the keyframe and keyboard slide in and out of
the keywell in overhanging slots in the large ebonised keyblocks at the ends of
the keywell. Next to these keyblocks are two walnut carved lions which are
attached to the keyframe and slide in and out of position along with the
keyboard and keyframe. As well as their obvious decorative function these
carved lions also serve as pommels to be used when the player wishes to move
the keyboard in and out of the instrument to change the registration or for
tuning. Behind the two carved lions there are two blocks which would have stood
just behind the original nameboard when it was lowered into position. These blocks
would then have bumped into the nameboard when the keyboard was pulled forward
when disengaging the rear row of jacks as discussed in the paragraph above.
These blocks would have prevented the complete withdrawal of the keyboard and
the consequent interference of the rack with the jacks (unless of course the
nameboard was removed completely).
Jacks, boxslide, and nut and bridge arrangement
None
of the original jacks survives. There are some lead or lead/tin jacks kept with
the instrument, but these are not of the correct length nor do they accurately
fit the jackslots. They have an improvised quill arrangement consisting of a
brass wire coiled to form a spring with one end of the spring projecting to
serve as the quill. But there is no provision for an escapement mechanism when the ‘quill’ passes the string on
the return of the jack, this being effected by brute force only, through the
weight of the lead jack.
The boxslide is made of walnut. It
consists of strips of uniform thickness into which four channels have been cut
with a fine saw (see
Figure 14). These strips were glued
together so that the last two slots of the previous strip aligned exactly with
the first two slots of the strip being glued in place. In this way the two
jacks in these slots were both operated from the same keylever. The number of
strips was continued until sufficient jackslots were present. The excess
material at the sides was planed away, and the excess end slots were cut off
(traces of these are still visible at the ends of the present boxslide and can
just be seen at the right-hand end of the boxslide in
Figure 14). Because of the large width of the boxslide register
the jackrail had to be made wide enough to cover all four rows of jacks and,
indeed, the jackrail on this instrument is wider than normal in order to
achieve this purpose.
Both the bridge and nut are of
cypress and have a very complicated cross-section. Side and plan views of the
bridges can be seen in the photographs of
Figure 12 and
Figure 14 and a plan view
drawing is given in
Figure 15.
Figure 14 shows how the bridges are shaped and pinned so that
each of the two choirs of strings can be placed at different levels. Effectively the bridge section is a
composite incorporating two bridges in one, with a moulding and set of bridge
pins for each set of strings at two different levels. The upper set of strings passes over the top of the composite
bridge as is normal and the lower set of strings passes through
carefully-positioned and angled holes behind the pins and moulding on the lower
part of the bridge. The paired rows of jackslots, the composite bridges and a
slight angling of the two choirs of strings relative to one another are all
features that are necessary in order to make the system work.
Figure 15 shows a drawing of the treble section shown in the
photograph above but with all of the strings drawn in.[59]
In this diagram the jacks for the strings at the lower level marked with an ‘L’
and those for the upper level marked with an ‘H’.
Figure 12 - The treble end of the bridge (left) and the nut (right) with the strings at two levels passing over the register and jackslots.
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
Figure 14 - Treble end of the bridges and boxslides.
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
Figure 15 shows that the upper-level strings run in a direction
almost parallel to the direction of the jackslots. The lower-level strings,
however, are angled slightly counter clockwise relative to the jackslots. This
means that the plectra of the near row of jacks for the upper level strings are
positioned above the angled lower-level strings below them. The jacks for the
upper-level strings must originally have been longer than the jacks for the
lower-level strings so that there was therefore no chance of interference of
the upper-level jacks with the lower strings. This angling of the lower-level
strings does mean, however, that the quills of the jacks for the rear set of
jacks plucking to the right had both the lower-level strings and the
upper-level strings above them. If the movement of these jacks had been
sufficiently great, then these jacks would have plucked both sets of strings
which would have been tuned a whole tone apart. Clearly the movement of the
jacks must have been restricted so that this did not happen. The key dip must
therefore have been quite shallow and the jacks for each register must have
been of differing construction. The jacks plucking the lower set of strings
must have had a long extension above their tongue and damper making the upper-
and lower-level jacks come into contact with the jackrail at the same moment.
In this way the excursion of the rear set of lower-level jacks would not have
enabled them to pluck the upper-level set of strings.[60]
With
two sets of strings this instrument would be expected to have had some method
of inactivating one set of jacks for tuning as discussed above. This may have
been done by using blocks on the tops of the rear ends of the keylevers and
sliding the keyboard toward the player so that only the near set of jacks was
operated by the keys.
The
two so-called ‘spinette ovali’ made
by Cristofori in 1690 and 1693 and now in the Accademia in Florence and the
Musikinstrumentenmueusm, Leipzig respectively are both instruments of the
virginal type which have two sets of strings and encounter the same problem of
disengaging one set of string while tuning the other. These instruments both
have a very sophisticated arrangement of blocks to support the jacks when the
keyboard is moved in and out for tuning and for changing the registration by
alternating the individual 8' choirs of strings or changing to 2x8'.[61]
Like
most other Neapolitan keyboard instruments the keyboard in this tiorbino slides
in and out like a drawer so a similar arrangement was clearly possible. There
are non-original blocks on the tails of the
keylevers, but I could find no clear evidence of the previous existence of
earlier blocks. However, the present large non-original keylever blocks may
well be covering over the signs left by somewhat smaller original blocks. The
non-original blocks on the top and bottom keylevers also cover over what
appears to be an original inscription of the maker’s signature as explained
above, and they may therefore cover over the signs of the original blocks as
well. The small bumper blocks positioned behind the nameboard on the supports
for the carved lion figures must have been used to restrict the movement of the
keyboard either when changing registration or during tuning. Their presence
indicates that at least some kind of system was originally present for this
purpose.
The ability of these little instruments to change registration from playing two sets of strings to one set of strings was perhaps one of the chief advantages seen by their owners over the normal ‘spinette’ with only one set of strings.
Figure 15 - Drawing showing a detail of the treble wrestplank, boxslide, bridges and strings. Both of the c2 and c3 strings are shown in red and the two f2 strings are shown in blue. The jacks for the higher -level strings are marked with an ‘H’ and those for the lower level strings are marked with an ‘L’. The horizontal holes in the bridges for the lower level strings are shown with dashed lines.
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
String scalings,
stringing materials and pitch
The
low set of strings, pinned along the inside of the bridge and nut, are
intrinsically shorter than the higher
set of strings pinned along the outside edges of the nut and bridge. By making
the rear set of jacks, located nearer the longside, pluck the lower set of
strings and by making the front jacks pluck the high set of strings, an attempt
was made to use the spatial geometry and the shape of the bridges to equalise
the scalings of the two string choirs . This can be seen in the diagram shown
above in Figure 15 where both the upper-level and lower-level strings
have been shown for f2 (coloured blue) and for c3
(coloured red). The straight-section bridges and the constant cross-section of
the bridges themselves does not allow the lengths to be made exactly equal, but
there is a clear attempt to make them as close to one another as possible.
The scalings and plucking points all
appear to be original:
Near
row of jacks Far row
of jacks
Upper
level set of strings Lower level
set of strings
String Plucking String Plucking
Note Length Point Length Point
c3 84 45 78 64
f2 124 40 120 62
c2 159 48 150 63
f1 236 44 251 63
c1 325 53 333 66
f 421 45 431 64
c 584 52 619 67
F 743 48 745 65
C(/E) 798 57 814 74
Table 4. String scalings in millimetres
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
In each case both of the c jacks pluck in a direction away from the player and both of the f jacks in a direction towards the player (see the drawing in Figure 15). These scalings are plotted in the graph shown in Figure 16 below.
Figure 16. The string scalings.
The values in once are given in the Neapolitan oncia = 21.93mm.
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala,
Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
Figure 16 shows that the scalings of the two sets of strings
are indeed very close in value to one another depending upon the geometry of
the bridge and the spatial arrangement for each note: in some cases the upper
string is slightly longer than the lower string for a given note, in other
cases it is the lower string that is slightly longer. A faint line has been
drawn through the points on this graph that corresponds to a c2-equivalent
scaling of 7¼ once or 158.3mm. This faint line passes very close to the
plotted points and strongly suggests that the maker designed the string
scalings based on a c2 scaling of 7¼ once (or a c1
scaling of 14½ once).
The surviving strings, both those of
brass and those of iron, are of very soft materials and are probably quite old.
The hitchpin loops of a few of the strings are nicely made but most are rather
untidy and of amateurish workmanship. In many cases the strings leave the
tuning pins off the top of the coils or off the middle rather than off the
bottom as they should. There are several tidy tuning pin coils, but all of
these belong to strings of diameter 0.24-0.25mm, and occur even as low as b♭ and a below middle c. There are many
repaired strings with looped joins in them. Also there are brass strings in the
bass of diameter 0.49mm which go even as high as e1. The mix of
strings, the fact that they do not follow the gauge markings on the keys and
the untidy workmanship of some of the hitchpin loops and of the tuning pin
coils indicate that that most of the strings were not placed on the instrument
by a person with the expertise to do so competently even though they may be of
the historical period.
It therefore appears that neither
the strings, the string gauges (see Appendix
1) nor the jacks have anything to do with the original
state of the instrument. There is anyway a number of problems in assigning the
pitch of this instrument if it is assumed that it is strung with metal strings.
Although the bridge is made of three straight sections, the scalings resulting
from this shape are remarkably Pythagorean in the treble (see Figure 16) and follow a line which suggests that they were
based on a design scaling of 7¼ once. This is equivalent to a c2
= 158.3mm using the value of the oncia calculated from the case
measurements above.
At normal pitch R,[62]
iron strings have a c2-equivalent scaling of about 350mm and brass
strings of about 285mm.[63]
The scalings of instruments strung in these materials but at higher pitches are
given in the table below
.
Musical Iron Brass
Pitch Interval Ratio Scaling Scaling
R - 1/1 350mm 285mm
R
+ 2 tone 8/9 311mm 253mm
R
+ 4 fourth 3/4 262mm 214mm
R
+ 5 fifth 2/3 233mm 190mm
R
+ 8 octave 1/2 175mm 143mm
R
+ 9 ninth 4/9 156mm 127mm
Table 5. Pitch levels and c2-equivalent scalings with iron and brass
stringing materials
Clearly
none of the possible pitches corresponding to brass stringing is close to a c2-equivalent
scaling of 158.3mm and so stringing in brass can be excluded unless the
instrument is at some very strange pitch level. It might be argued that
stringing in iron at a pitch of R + 9 is possible since the
corresponding iron scaling is 156mm and close to 158.3mm. However, I know of no
evidence that suggests that iron was used as a stringing material in Naples as
late as 1707 and so I would exclude iron as a possible stringing material.
This
then suggests that the instrument might have been strung in gut. What, one
asks, is a typical c2-equivalent scaling for gut strings? The answer
to this is not at all precise. Gut, being an organic material, is of variable
quality and strength depending on its manufacture and origin. Its strength
depends on factors like its method of preparation and very strongly on its
twist for example. It depends on whether it is made in a single strand or as a
‘rope’ of multiple strands as well. Therefore, it is difficult to give a
precise value of its c2-equivalent scaling.
As
a rough guide, however, one can calculate the c2-equivalent scalings
of the top strings of a baroque violin and a Renaissance lute. The top string
of a violin sounds the note e2 and has a length with a value of
around 330mm. This has a c2-equivalent of about 416mm and is
therefore much longer than a typical iron scaling. Indeed the re-stringing of
the violin and the other members of the violin family in metal strings had to
await the development in the nineteenth century of high-strength patent steel
before it was possible to re-string the violin in steel at the same pitch to
which it had previously been tuned. A Renaissance lute has a top g1
string and a length of about 590mm. This has a c2-equivalent scaling
of about 442mm, an even longer value and one which would result in strings that
were even more highly-stressed than the violin e2 string would be at
the same pitch level. The difference between these two is symptomatic both of
the variable nature of gut and of the problem of assigning a ‘typical’ c2-equivalent
scaling to gut as is otherwise possible with metal strings. On the other hand
it makes it clear that gut is effectively stronger than either iron or brass
and that it is capable, for any given string length, of being tuned to a higher
pitch. This suggests that pitches higher than those given in Table 5 have to be considered.
To
do this the values shown in Table
6 were compiled. Here, in addition to considering
higher pitches, the c2-equivalent scalings are given in terms of the
Neapolitan oncia, the unit of measurement that would have been used to
design and build this instrument. In this case the c2-equivalent
scaling of iron is given as 16 once = 349.4mm, of brass as 13 once
= 283.8mm and of gut as 19½ once = 425.8mm. All of these are close in
value to the known c2-equivalent scalings for these materials as
seen above.
|
|
Musical | Iron Scaling | Brass Scaling |
Gut Scaling |
||||
| Interval | Ratio | mm | once | mm | once | mm | once | |
| R | - | 1/1 | 349.4 | 16.00 | 283.8 | 13.00 | 425.8 | 19.50 |
| R + 2 | tone | 8/9 | 310.6 | 14.22 | 252.3 | 11.55 | 378.5 | 17.33 |
| R + 4 | fourth | 3/4 | 262.1 | 12.00 | 212.9 | 9.75 | 319.4 | 14.63 |
| R + 5 | fifth | 2/3 | 232.9 | 10.67 | 189.2 | 8.67 | 283.9 | 13.00 |
| R + 8 | octave | 1/2 | 174.7 | 8.00 | 141.9 | 6.50 | 212.9 | 9.75 |
| R + 9 | ninth | 4/9 | 155.3 | 7.11 | 126.1 | 5.78 | 189.2 | 8.67 |
| R + 11 | eleventh | 3/8 | 131.0 | 6.00 | 106.4 | 4.87 | 159.7 | 7.31 |
| R + 12 | twelfth | 1/3 | 116.5 | 5.33 | 94.6 | 4.33 | 141.9 | 6.50 |
| R + 15 | fifteenth | 1/4 | 87.4 | 4.00 | 71.0 | 3.25 | 106.5 | 4.88 |
Table 6. Comparison of c2-equivalent scalings using iron, brass and
gut at different pitches
From this table it is clear that the
only scaling that is close to the scaling of this instrument is the gut scaling
at a pitch of R + 11 – that is an octave and a fourth above R. The
values of 159.7mm and 7.31once for the c2-equivalent scalings
are both close to the values found for this instrument. However, it is
extremely improbable that the maker would have begun his design by working from
a scaling for an instrument at a pitch an octave and a fourth away from the
instrument actually under his hands. He would have used a c2-equivalent
scaling for the instrument he was working on which had a simple length – like
7¼ once – that was convenient and memorable to work with. Such a scaling
would have given strings which, like the top note of a lute, were ‘as close to
breaking as they could bear’. Gut strings at this pitch would have a series of
partials that were very close to a perfect harmonic series and would therefore
have had a very musical sound that was sweet and delicate. Therefore assuming
that the instrument was strung in gut instead of metal strings resolves the
problem of the lack of any suitable pitch category for stringing with either
iron or brass, and introduces the idea that this might have been tuned to a
pitch of R + 11 an octave and a fourth above normal pitch. To me this
is therefore the main reason for assuming that this instrument was originally
designed as a tiorbino.
Because of the features inherent in
the design of an instrument with straight bridge sections, the scalings do not
exactly halve and double with each octave rise and drop in pitch throughout the
treble part of the compass as explained above. However, it should be noted that
there is very little bass foreshortening. This can be see in the graph of Figure 16 where the scaling of the bottom note C(E) is only a
little more than an interval of a fifth to the left of the fine Pythagorean
scaling line.[64] This means
that the instrument could be strung in gut all the way to the bottom note and
still sound well and produce bass notes that would have a pure harmonic
structure with a pleasing musical quality. Because the bass scalings only start
to foreshorten at about the note c and because the foreshortening is small in
the bass, gut strings, probably without any overspinning, would work extremely
well throughout the whole of the compass.
The instrument therefore fits all of
Nocerino’s criteria:
1.
It is a
small instrument of the spinet type at a high pitch.
2.
It, like
some of the tiorbini described in the documents, has two choirs of strings.
3.
It must
originally have been strung in gut.
4.
Its appearance
is like that of the instruments in the engravings of Todini’s Galleria
armonica.
These factors all suggest strongly
that this instrument is a perfect candidate for re-classification as a
tiorbino.
Therefore the few
important ephemera which this instrument retains and its importance as one of
the few - perhaps the only - surviving keyboard instruments which can probably
be classified as a tiorbino makes this unimposing little instrument a treasure
and an object of the highest interest and importance.
Appendix
1 – Keylever gauge markings
The keylevers are numbered 1 to 45,
but there is now no way of knowing if this is original. In addition to these
numbers there are also gauge markings on the keylevers:
Gauge
Note Marking
c2[to
c3] 9
e1[to
b1] 8
a
[to e1] 7
e
[to g♯] 6
c
[to e♭] 5
A
[to B] 4
G 3
F 3
E/G♯ 2
D/F♯ 2
C/E 1
Keylever Gauge Markings
Tiorbino, Naples, 1707
Museo Teatrale alla Scala,
Milan, Catalogue Nº MTS-TP/04
The gauge
markings cover the ‘normal’ range of the Nuremberg wire-gauge system. It is
therefore likely that they were intended to indicate the diameters of the metal
strings which were probably placed on the instrument when the original jacks
were replaced with the present crude lead jacks.
