Rest of the documentation 2/5 Rafael Puyana Rafael Puyana was born in Bogota, Colombia, in 1931. He studied piano, organ, and harpsichord at the New England Conservatory, Boston, before devoting himself entirely to the harpsichord. His prowess drew the attention of the great Polish virtuoso Wanda Landowska and in 1951 she accepted him as a pupil and remained his teacher until her death in 1959. He made his debut in New York in 1957 and immediately estabblished his position as one of the leading musical figures of his generation. Since then he has won enthusiastic critical praise in his many recitals throughout America and Europe for his "rhythmic vitality," "keen scholarship," and "mastery of his instrument." To label him as the natural successor of Mmc. Landowska as is so often done in the press is perhaps unfair to his individuality as an artist though it gives a measure of his stature. His repertoire is by no means confined to the Baroque music in which. he is an acknowledged authority but extends to modern works several of which have been specially written for him by composers impressed by his virtuosity. He has been honoured in more tangible ways, too. He is the holder of the Cruz de Boyaca, his country's highest honour, and is the first musician to have reccived it. He has twice been awarded the Grand Prix International du Disque de l'Academie Charles Cros for his Philips recordings - one for a recital of Baroque music (838420 AY) and the other for his part in the recording of the complcte Bach sonatas for flute and clavier, with flautist Maxence Larrieu (802825 / 26 AY).
The Desruisseaux on the record cover is such a beautiful looking and sounding instrument! (It was also used in Jordi Savall's Forqueray and Verlet's Couperin) Shame that it's no longer functional today.
Here it is. Extra pictures and a brief description of this marvelous instrument. I wonder if anyone has copied it. collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0160786/clavecin
Rest of the documentation 3/5 Pavan a alla Veneziana in D major Harpsichord: Ruckers-Taskill, well-tempered tuning A copy of Dalza's lute works is preserved in Brussels. They were published in lute tablature by Petrucci in 1508. In Italy as in France, lute music was often adapted to keyboard instruments. This practice affected the style of both writing and playing. It appears that the well-known Venetian pavan was danced to a quicker step than that of ordinary, more stately, pavans. Andrea Gabrieli (1520-1586) Canzon francese detta Petit Jacquet in G minor Harpsichord: Faby da Bologna, original pitch, mean-tone tell1peral7lent The influence of the Franco-Flemish school is evident in Andrea Gabrieli's elaborate divisions in keyboard settings of songs by Jannequin, Crequillon, and other French authors. He undoubtedly inherited the taste for this form through his master Willaert, who preceded him as first organist in Saint Mark's Cathedral. A favourite song provided an excuse for savant demonstrations of every known cliche of variation technique. In lesser hands, the song became totally submerged as endless musical discourses resulted. The sobriety of Andrea Gabrieli's manner, his ability to impart an -inner element of surprise at the beginning of a stanza without destroying the continuity of the rhythmic pulse, are qualities that give particular distinction to a composition like "Petit Jacquet." Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) Canzona quarta in F major Harpsichord: Ruckers-Taskil1, well-tempered tuning Partite sopra l' Aria di Fiorenza in G major Harpsichord: 1. P. Baft, after Baffo, mean-tone temperament Aria detta B~llletto in C major Harpsichord: Desruisseaux, original pitch, mean-tone temperament Seventeenth-century "claverists'" like Frescobaldi were, first and foremost, organists by profession. Among the Italians, Frescobaldi was particularly versatile, having become famous throughout Europe as a lutenist, singer, harpsich~rdist, and organist. Most composers reserved their IQftiest spiritual offerings for the organ, as it occupied a place of supremacy in the services of the Church. The lute and the theorbo, as well as other plucked instruments of the keyboard variety such as the virginals, arpicordo, clavicembaJo, were used in church only for accompaniment. Keyboard music remained for a long time interchangeable between the organ and plucked keyboard instruments. Though not fully independent from organ writing, harpsichord music assimilated many elements of lute music and acquired by Frescobaldi's time a definite idiomatic individuality. The plucked-string sound of the clavicembalo became indispensible for the del ivery of ' such settings of popular songs as the "Aria dctta Balletto" and the "Aria di Fiorenza." Divisions on . secular French chansons, like Andrea Gabrieli's "Petit Jacquet," had been conceived for the organ although a clavicembalo performance was not excluded. How much difference was caused by the natural sound and touch of each instrument to the total effect of a perfo~mance? Aside from details such as ornamentation and slight changes of tempo, one can only speculate ... After all, it was only in 1625 that Girolamo Diruta's " I! Transilvano" raised the question and invited us to establish a contrasting approach to the arts o~ playing the organ and the clavicembalo. The "Aria detta Balletto" is a set of variations on the same theme known in England as the Italian Ground. John Bull, Orlando Gibbons, Robert Johnson, Sweelinck, Buxtehude, to name but a few, wrote works based on the popular song which students sang to the following Latin text: "More Palatino bibimus, ne gutta supersit Unde suam possU musca levare sitim. Sic bibimus, sic vivimus In academicis." Frescobaldi's treatment of the "Aria di Fiorenza" consists of a small triptych: two slow variations, warm and expressive, lead to a voIla-like dance. Jean Pierre Batt's precise copy of a clavicembalo by Baffo provides the ideal sound for this work. The "Aria di Fiorenza," also known simply as the "Aria" or "Balletto del Gran Duca" appears for the first time in Emilio . de Cavalieri's "La pellegrina" which was performed in Florence in J 589 on the occasion of the wedding of Grand Duke Ferdinando de Toscana and Christine de Lorraine. Fabritio Caroso's lute version in "Nobilta di dame" (Venice, 1600) is entitled "Laura soave." Besides notable settings by Peter Philips (in five parts) and the Dutchmen Sweelinck and Steenwick, there is a beautiful anonymous composition (Santino Garsi da Parma?), dated 1625, in the Prussian Library in Berlin. Frescobaldi actually anticipated J. S. Bach by more than a hundred years as a partisan of the well-tempered system of tuning. For this reason, the "Canzona quarta" is performed in this recording on a harpsichord tuned in that manner. As a matter of contrast, the "Aria detta Balletto" seems to thrive on the rustic, rather Italian sound of the Desruisseaux harpsichord tuned in the mean-tone system. To many a modern ear, this quite exact tuning may sound discordant The "Canzona quarta" is composed of two sf;ctions that illustrate the essential difference between contrasting aspects of Frescobaldi's art; (he strict fugato style of the opening part precedes and, as it were, justifies the following improvisatory passages which allow the player full use of his imagination.
Rest of the documentation 5/5 Luigi de Rossi (1598-1653) Passacaglia in A minor Harpsichord: Desruisseaux, mean-tone temperament Henri Prunieres discovered this masterpiece, the style of which clearly shows the impact of Louis Couperin's music on a composer of equal stature. Rossi went to France under the auspices of Cardinal Mazarin, and saw his opera "L'Orfeo" performed at court with th,e greatest' success. The writing suggests that this passacaglia may have been originally composed for harp, an observation supported by the fact that both Rossi's wife and brother were celebrated virtuosi of that instrument. If Rossi did intend it to be played on the harpsichord, the kind of instrument available to him in Paris may have been quite similar to the Desruisseaux harpsichord used in this recording. Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) Toccata con 10 Scherzo del Cuculo in A major Harpsichord: Ruckers-Taskin, well-tempered tuning From the Elizabethans onwards music frequently quotes that celebrated minor third which imitates the song of the cuckoo. Alessandro Poglietti and Johann Kaspar Kerll based extensive works on this traditional subject and many others like Fran
Rest of the documentation 1/5 The harpsichords The old harpsichords used on this recording show a wide variety in sound, while many similarities appear at the same time. They are all very outspoken, clear, and with a well-defined attack on each note, which is accentuated even more as one progresses from the Flemish, through the French, and finally to the two Italian instruments. They point to one trend in building, through three centuries: the search for an extremely personalised and clear-cut sound. In restoration, all later additions have been removed, to bring them back to what is the closest to the original state. Some of them, as will be noticeable, have been tuned in mean-tone, to accentuate their qualities, as was done in past centuries. Ruckers-Taskin (1646 and 1780) This harpsichord bears on the name batten, above the keyboards, the inscription: "Andreas Ruckers me fecit Antwerpiae Anno 1646." It was built by. the second son of Hans Ruckers who was the first to establish the reputation of this family throughout Europe. Ruckers harpsichords had as great a reputation, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as Stradivarius violins today. Most courts and great musicians insisted on owning such an instrument, and France particularly was given to a Ruckers fashion. But Flemish seventeenth-century harpsichords had a range of only four octaves, which limited composers and performers of the next century: the result was that French builders became specialists of the "ravalement," which consisted mainly in a widening of sound board, case, and keyboards, to a range of five octaves. Pascal Taskin, the most famous of Paris builders, signed this instrument in 1780, and put the following label inside the case: "Remis a ravalement par Pascal Taskin Facteur de Clavecins et Garde des Instruments de Musique du Rai, Eleve et Successeur de M. Blanchet, Rue de la Ven'erie, vis-a-vis S. Merry, a Paris." Taskin made a new wrestplank, new keyboards, added about 10 cm. to the soundboard, widened the case, and built a Louis XVI stand for it. He also put in knee-levers, his invention, to change the stops, and added a set of jacks with leather quills, called "peau de buffle." This stop is very soft-spoken, round, and mellow, and is particularly well adapted to accompaniment and the playing of soft passages. This harpsichord has a case of lime wood and a spruce soundboard, according to the Flemish tradition. Its disposition is: one 8ft. on the upper manual, with buff stop, one 8ft. on the lower manual, also with buff, a 4ft. on the same, and a third 8ft. in "peau de buffle" (the three first stops are in quill). The two manuals can be coupled. Desruisseaux (1675?) This is the only surviving instrument by this builder, and one of the very few examples of French seventeenth-century harpsichords. It is believed to have been built about 1675 in Paris. French harpsichords of this period are particularly interesting since they share two different traditions: the Italian and the Flemish. In case thickness they stand between those two schools, being slightly heavier than the Italian, but thinner than the Flemish. The scaling of the Desruisseaux is close to I the Italian, as are the bridges, with their typical mouldings. The keyboards on this instrument are dated 1753, but keep the original range, BB to c"', which included a short octave, BB becoming GG in tuning. This harpsichord has the robust sound of the Italian instruments, and their percussive quality, but it is slightly more sustaining and less dry, as one expects from its near-Flemish aspect. It has a solid walnut case, two keyboards, with one 8ft. on the upper manual, one 8ft. and a 4ft. on the lower, with coupler. The coupling mechanism was added to the instrument during this century. Paby da Bologna (1677) This elaborate instrument was built for the godson of Louis XIV, Count Ercole Pepoli, in Bologna. Its rich decoration, engraved ivory keyboards, as well as the masterful engravings in ivory, mother-of-pearl, and ebony on the nameboard, all point to the importance of its owner, whose. coat of arms adorns the instrument. This is a typical Italian harpsichord : case and soundboard are in cypress wood, with very delicate mouldings. The painted outer case is completely independent of the instrument and is used mainly to store it. One of the interesting features is a short and broken octave in the bass, which forces the performer to use unusual fingerings. The last keys of the instrument, with an F sharp and G sharp in two halves apparently start on E, but are tuned thus, as one ascends the scale chromatically: C - F - DIF sharp - G - E/G sharp - A - B flat - C. The instrument is entirely strung in brass, and it has two 8ft. stops on one manual, as was the tradition in Italy. Baffo-Batt (1579) The harpsichord used here is a strict copy of the original, which is in the Musee Instrumental of the Paris Conservatoire. The instrument is remarkable, first of all, for its length: 2.52 metres, and finally for its deeply curved bentside and the narrowness of its tail. It has a cypress soundboard and a case of thin mahogapy, topped with mouldings. The outer case in which the instrument was stored has been lost. The Baffo harpsichord has an unusually wide range, from FF to d"'. The keyboard has been changed to AA - f"', bringing it up a third, but the copy, built in Paris in 1968 by J. P. Batt, in the workshop of the Conservatoire, retained the original range. It has two 8ft.· stops on one manual (as with the Faby), but the soundboard shows traces of a 4ft. bridge, of which the date and origin cannot be traced. Robert Goble (1968) The modern Goble double-manual harpsichord used was specially made for Mr. Puyana in 1968 by Robert Goble and Son, of Oxford,. England. It combines the traditional tone qualities of older instruments (especially those made by Kirckmann, Shudi, and the English School), while being better able to withstand the vagaries of weather and humidity and the rigours of modern concert performance. The principal aim was to produce an instrument with a light sensitive touch and a finely blended sound based on resonant 8ft. tone. It is a full concert model, eight feet in length. There are four sets of strings: on the upper manual one 8ft. with harp and lute stops, and on the lower a 16ft., an 8ft. with harp stop, and a 4ft. There is a coupler and the registers are operated by seven pedals.
Rest of the documentation 4/5 Azzolino Bernardino della Ciaia (1671-1755) Toccata in G major Harpsichord: Baffo-Batt, mean-tone temperament Frescobaldi's improvisatory manner, a tradition followed by Della Ciaia in his toccatas, demands a similar type of rhythmic freedom in performance to that applied by the French to the Prelude non mesure. Whereas the composers of the French School preferred for this kind of music-making total freedom in notation in order to give a text rhythmic shape as they played along, the Italians were inclined to notate their extemporisa! lons more precisely. It was up to the musician's virtuosity, flexibility, and taste to bring about the desired freedom in actual performance. A copy of the keyboard works of this contemporary of Domenico Scarlatti is kept at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. H leads one to observe to what extent Della Ciaia considered fingering essential to convey the true expression of his music. All manner of passages are profusely fingered, thus illuminating many interesting aspects of eighteenth-century Italian keyboard technique. Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) Sonata in G minor Sonata in G major Harpsichord: Ruckers-Taskin, well-tempered tuning Eighteenth-century opera composers in Italy often published collections of light harpsichord pieces. It was an additional source of income sustained by many amateur harpsichordists. The contents of such efforts, like Galuppi's "Passatempo al Cimbalo," reveal, more often than not, how eager they were to spend their time uncomplicated by deep musical thought. Only a few of Cimarosa's 32 sonatas are lifted above this general mediocrity by his innate theatrical sense. The G major Sonata is of a brilliance that defies banality and the slow Sonata in G minor is a beautiful cantilena that remains both eloquent and noble in spite of its decadent style. Giovanni Benedetto Platti (c. 1700-1763) Sonata VIn in C minor Harpsichord: Goble, well-tempered tuning An incomplete manuscript in the library of the Conservatorio San Pierro a Majella in Naples has caused this sonata to be wrongly ascribed to Benedetto Marcello. Stylistic considerations, sustained by the presence of several copies in Germany confirming Platti's authorship, discredit this attribution. Giovanni Benedetto Platti was a follower, if not a pupil, of Antonio Vivaldi. He spent the greater part of his life in Germany in the service of the Counts of Schonborn and his influence reached such musicians as Graupner, Marpburg, and Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Robert Goble's two-manual instrument used in this recording encompasses the tonal perspective of a large eighteenth-century German harpsichord such as Platti may have had available to him. It has been suggested that Plalti was a forerunner of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in the art of writing for the clavichord. The argument would be valid on stylistic and historical grounds were it not for the fact that Platti writes at the beginning of several of his works: "Clavicembalo solo." Doubts arise also from those passages in the sonatas which demand the use of a double keyboard. The Dresden manuscript contains twelve sonatas "per il cembalo." Sonata no. 8 opens with a Fantasia remarkable for its sharp dynamic contrasts. It shows Platti's fashionable understanding of "Sturm und Drang" expression. The following Andan/ e., a delicate Siciliana, coulc\ indeed be played successfully on the clavichord. The third movement had the -rhythmic verve · of certain Handelian allegros in the Italian style and allows one the opportunity of inserting a short, cadenza. The final movement, marked Presto in the Donaueschingen manuscript, is one of the finest illustrations of the light and facile charm of Italian Rococo music.
![Jean Philippe Rameau - Master of Baroque Music (Documentary, 2014) [GER] [ENGLISH SUBTITLES]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xCSuyK2C43g/mqdefault.jpg)
Pasquini my fav !
🌺 Thank you! 🌺
Rest of the documentation 2/5
Rafael Puyana
Rafael Puyana was born in Bogota, Colombia, in 1931. He
studied piano, organ, and harpsichord at the New England
Conservatory, Boston, before devoting himself entirely to the
harpsichord. His prowess drew the attention of the great Polish
virtuoso Wanda Landowska and in 1951 she accepted him as
a pupil and remained his teacher until her death in 1959. He
made his debut in New York in 1957 and immediately estabblished
his position as one of the leading musical figures of his
generation. Since then he has won enthusiastic critical praise
in his many recitals throughout America and Europe for his
"rhythmic vitality," "keen scholarship," and "mastery of his
instrument." To label him as the natural successor of Mmc.
Landowska as is so often done in the press is perhaps unfair
to his individuality as an artist though it gives a measure of his
stature. His repertoire is by no means confined to the Baroque
music in which. he is an acknowledged authority but extends
to modern works several of which have been specially written
for him by composers impressed by his virtuosity. He has
been honoured in more tangible ways, too. He is the holder
of the Cruz de Boyaca, his country's highest honour, and is
the first musician to have reccived it. He has twice been
awarded the Grand Prix International du Disque de l'Academie
Charles Cros for his Philips recordings - one for a recital of
Baroque music (838420 AY) and the other for his part in the
recording of the complcte Bach sonatas for flute and clavier,
with flautist Maxence Larrieu (802825 / 26 AY).
The Desruisseaux on the record cover is such a beautiful looking and sounding instrument! (It was also used in Jordi Savall's Forqueray and Verlet's Couperin)
Shame that it's no longer functional today.
Thanks for the extra context of the instrument!
Here it is. Extra pictures and a brief description of this marvelous instrument. I wonder if anyone has copied it.
collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0160786/clavecin
Thank you so much! Now this is one vinyl that doesn't seem to have made it officially to digital ...
Interesting repertoire. thank you
👋🙏💓🌹
marvelous!
Rest of the documentation 3/5
Pavan a alla Veneziana in D major
Harpsichord: Ruckers-Taskill, well-tempered tuning
A copy of Dalza's lute works is preserved in Brussels. They
were published in lute tablature by Petrucci in 1508.
In Italy as in France, lute music was often adapted to keyboard
instruments. This practice affected the style of both writing
and playing.
It appears that the well-known Venetian pavan was danced to
a quicker step than that of ordinary, more stately, pavans.
Andrea Gabrieli (1520-1586)
Canzon francese detta Petit Jacquet in G minor
Harpsichord: Faby da Bologna, original pitch, mean-tone
tell1peral7lent
The influence of the Franco-Flemish school is evident in Andrea
Gabrieli's elaborate divisions in keyboard settings of songs by
Jannequin, Crequillon, and other French authors. He undoubtedly
inherited the taste for this form through his master
Willaert, who preceded him as first organist in Saint Mark's
Cathedral. A favourite song provided an excuse for savant
demonstrations of every known cliche of variation technique.
In lesser hands, the song became totally submerged as endless
musical discourses resulted. The sobriety of Andrea Gabrieli's
manner, his ability to impart an -inner element of surprise at
the beginning of a stanza without destroying the continuity of
the rhythmic pulse, are qualities that give particular distinction
to a composition like "Petit Jacquet."
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
Canzona quarta in F major
Harpsichord: Ruckers-Taskil1, well-tempered tuning
Partite sopra l' Aria di Fiorenza in G major
Harpsichord: 1. P. Baft, after Baffo, mean-tone temperament
Aria detta B~llletto in C major
Harpsichord: Desruisseaux, original pitch, mean-tone temperament
Seventeenth-century "claverists'" like Frescobaldi were, first
and foremost, organists by profession. Among the Italians,
Frescobaldi was particularly versatile, having become famous
throughout Europe as a lutenist, singer, harpsich~rdist, and
organist. Most composers reserved their IQftiest spiritual offerings
for the organ, as it occupied a place of supremacy in the
services of the Church. The lute and the theorbo, as well as
other plucked instruments of the keyboard variety such as the
virginals, arpicordo, clavicembaJo, were used in church only
for accompaniment.
Keyboard music remained for a long time interchangeable
between the organ and plucked keyboard instruments. Though
not fully independent from organ writing, harpsichord music
assimilated many elements of lute music and acquired by Frescobaldi's
time a definite idiomatic individuality.
The plucked-string sound of the clavicembalo became indispensible
for the del ivery of ' such settings of popular songs as the
"Aria dctta Balletto" and the "Aria di Fiorenza." Divisions
on . secular French chansons, like Andrea Gabrieli's "Petit
Jacquet," had been conceived for the organ although a clavicembalo
performance was not excluded. How much difference
was caused by the natural sound and touch of each instrument
to the total effect of a perfo~mance? Aside from details
such as ornamentation and slight changes of tempo, one can
only speculate ... After all, it was only in 1625 that Girolamo
Diruta's " I! Transilvano" raised the question and invited us
to establish a contrasting approach to the arts o~ playing the
organ and the clavicembalo.
The "Aria detta Balletto" is a set of variations on the same
theme known in England as the Italian Ground. John Bull,
Orlando Gibbons, Robert Johnson, Sweelinck, Buxtehude, to
name but a few, wrote works based on the popular song which
students sang to the following Latin text:
"More Palatino bibimus, ne gutta supersit
Unde suam possU musca levare sitim.
Sic bibimus, sic vivimus
In academicis."
Frescobaldi's treatment of the "Aria di Fiorenza" consists of
a small triptych: two slow variations, warm and expressive,
lead to a voIla-like dance. Jean Pierre Batt's precise copy of a
clavicembalo by Baffo provides the ideal sound for this work.
The "Aria di Fiorenza," also known simply as the "Aria" or
"Balletto del Gran Duca" appears for the first time in Emilio
. de Cavalieri's "La pellegrina" which was performed in Florence
in J 589 on the occasion of the wedding of Grand Duke
Ferdinando de Toscana and Christine de Lorraine. Fabritio
Caroso's lute version in "Nobilta di dame" (Venice, 1600) is entitled
"Laura soave." Besides notable settings by Peter Philips
(in five parts) and the Dutchmen Sweelinck and Steenwick,
there is a beautiful anonymous composition (Santino Garsi da
Parma?), dated 1625, in the Prussian Library in Berlin.
Frescobaldi actually anticipated J. S. Bach by more than a
hundred years as a partisan of the well-tempered system of
tuning. For this reason, the "Canzona quarta" is performed in
this recording on a harpsichord tuned in that manner. As a
matter of contrast, the "Aria detta Balletto" seems to thrive
on the rustic, rather Italian sound of the Desruisseaux harpsichord
tuned in the mean-tone system. To many a modern ear,
this quite exact tuning may sound discordant
The "Canzona quarta" is composed of two sf;ctions that illustrate
the essential difference between contrasting aspects of
Frescobaldi's art; (he strict fugato style of the opening part
precedes and, as it were, justifies the following improvisatory
passages which allow the player full use of his imagination.
Rest of the documentation 5/5
Luigi de Rossi (1598-1653)
Passacaglia in A minor
Harpsichord: Desruisseaux, mean-tone temperament
Henri Prunieres discovered this masterpiece, the style of which
clearly shows the impact of Louis Couperin's music on a composer
of equal stature. Rossi went to France under the auspices
of Cardinal Mazarin, and saw his opera "L'Orfeo" performed
at court with th,e greatest' success.
The writing suggests that this passacaglia may have been
originally composed for harp, an observation supported by the
fact that both Rossi's wife and brother were celebrated virtuosi
of that instrument. If Rossi did intend it to be played on the
harpsichord, the kind of instrument available to him in Paris
may have been quite similar to the Desruisseaux harpsichord
used in this recording.
Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710)
Toccata con 10 Scherzo del Cuculo in A major
Harpsichord: Ruckers-Taskin, well-tempered tuning
From the Elizabethans onwards music frequently quotes that
celebrated minor third which imitates the song of the cuckoo.
Alessandro Poglietti and Johann Kaspar Kerll based extensive
works on this traditional subject and many others like Fran
Rest of the documentation 1/5 The harpsichords
The old harpsichords used on this recording show a wide
variety in sound, while many similarities appear at the same
time. They are all very outspoken, clear, and with a well-defined
attack on each note, which is accentuated even more as
one progresses from the Flemish, through the French, and
finally to the two Italian instruments. They point to one trend
in building, through three centuries: the search for an extremely
personalised and clear-cut sound. In restoration, all later additions
have been removed, to bring them back to what is the
closest to the original state. Some of them, as will be noticeable,
have been tuned in mean-tone, to accentuate their qualities,
as was done in past centuries.
Ruckers-Taskin (1646 and 1780)
This harpsichord bears on the name batten, above the keyboards,
the inscription: "Andreas Ruckers me fecit Antwerpiae
Anno 1646." It was built by. the second son of Hans Ruckers
who was the first to establish the reputation of this family
throughout Europe. Ruckers harpsichords had as great a reputation,
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as
Stradivarius violins today. Most courts and great musicians
insisted on owning such an instrument, and France particularly
was given to a Ruckers fashion.
But Flemish seventeenth-century harpsichords had a range of
only four octaves, which limited composers and performers of
the next century: the result was that French builders became
specialists of the "ravalement," which consisted mainly in a
widening of sound board, case, and keyboards, to a range of
five octaves. Pascal Taskin, the most famous of Paris builders,
signed this instrument in 1780, and put the following label
inside the case:
"Remis a ravalement par Pascal Taskin Facteur de Clavecins
et Garde des Instruments de Musique du Rai, Eleve et Successeur
de M. Blanchet, Rue de la Ven'erie, vis-a-vis S. Merry,
a Paris."
Taskin made a new wrestplank, new keyboards, added about
10 cm. to the soundboard, widened the case, and built a Louis
XVI stand for it. He also put in knee-levers, his invention, to
change the stops, and added a set of jacks with leather quills,
called "peau de buffle." This stop is very soft-spoken, round,
and mellow, and is particularly well adapted to accompaniment
and the playing of soft passages.
This harpsichord has a case of lime wood and a spruce soundboard,
according to the Flemish tradition. Its disposition is:
one 8ft. on the upper manual, with buff stop, one 8ft. on the
lower manual, also with buff, a 4ft. on the same, and a third
8ft. in "peau de buffle" (the three first stops are in quill).
The two manuals can be coupled.
Desruisseaux (1675?)
This is the only surviving instrument by this builder, and one
of the very few examples of French seventeenth-century harpsichords.
It is believed to have been built about 1675 in Paris.
French harpsichords of this period are particularly interesting
since they share two different traditions: the Italian and the
Flemish. In case thickness they stand between those two
schools, being slightly heavier than the Italian, but thinner
than the Flemish. The scaling of the Desruisseaux is close to
I the Italian, as are the bridges, with their typical mouldings.
The keyboards on this instrument are dated 1753, but keep
the original range, BB to c"', which included a short octave,
BB becoming GG in tuning.
This harpsichord has the robust sound of the Italian instruments,
and their percussive quality, but it is slightly more
sustaining and less dry, as one expects from its near-Flemish
aspect. It has a solid walnut case, two keyboards, with one
8ft. on the upper manual, one 8ft. and a 4ft. on the lower,
with coupler. The coupling mechanism was added to the instrument
during this century.
Paby da Bologna (1677)
This elaborate instrument was built for the godson of Louis
XIV, Count Ercole Pepoli, in Bologna. Its rich decoration,
engraved ivory keyboards, as well as the masterful engravings
in ivory, mother-of-pearl, and ebony on the nameboard, all
point to the importance of its owner, whose. coat of arms
adorns the instrument.
This is a typical Italian harpsichord : case and soundboard are
in cypress wood, with very delicate mouldings. The painted
outer case is completely independent of the instrument and is
used mainly to store it. One of the interesting features is a
short and broken octave in the bass, which forces the performer
to use unusual fingerings. The last keys of the instrument,
with an F sharp and G sharp in two halves apparently start on
E, but are tuned thus, as one ascends the scale chromatically:
C - F - DIF sharp - G - E/G sharp - A - B flat - C.
The instrument is entirely strung in brass, and it has two 8ft.
stops on one manual, as was the tradition in Italy.
Baffo-Batt (1579)
The harpsichord used here is a strict copy of the original,
which is in the Musee Instrumental of the Paris Conservatoire.
The instrument is remarkable, first of all, for its length: 2.52
metres, and finally for its deeply curved bentside and the narrowness
of its tail. It has a cypress soundboard and a case of
thin mahogapy, topped with mouldings. The outer case in
which the instrument was stored has been lost.
The Baffo harpsichord has an unusually wide range, from
FF to d"'. The keyboard has been changed to AA - f"',
bringing it up a third, but the copy, built in Paris in 1968 by
J. P. Batt, in the workshop of the Conservatoire, retained the
original range. It has two 8ft.· stops on one manual (as with
the Faby), but the soundboard shows traces of a 4ft. bridge,
of which the date and origin cannot be traced.
Robert Goble (1968)
The modern Goble double-manual harpsichord used was specially
made for Mr. Puyana in 1968 by Robert Goble and
Son, of Oxford,. England. It combines the traditional tone
qualities of older instruments (especially those made by Kirckmann,
Shudi, and the English School), while being better able
to withstand the vagaries of weather and humidity and the
rigours of modern concert performance. The principal aim was
to produce an instrument with a light sensitive touch and a
finely blended sound based on resonant 8ft. tone. It is a full
concert model, eight feet in length. There are four sets of
strings: on the upper manual one 8ft. with harp and lute stops,
and on the lower a 16ft., an 8ft. with harp stop, and a 4ft.
There is a coupler and the registers are operated by seven
pedals.
collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0160786
That's nice. We make our own hpschd-lst this way ;-)
Hola.
Rest of the documentation 4/5
Azzolino Bernardino della Ciaia (1671-1755)
Toccata in G major
Harpsichord: Baffo-Batt, mean-tone temperament
Frescobaldi's improvisatory manner, a tradition followed by
Della Ciaia in his toccatas, demands a similar type of rhythmic
freedom in performance to that applied by the French to the
Prelude non mesure. Whereas the composers of the French
School preferred for this kind of music-making total freedom
in notation in order to give a text rhythmic shape as they played
along, the Italians were inclined to notate their extemporisa!
lons more precisely. It was up to the musician's virtuosity,
flexibility, and taste to bring about the desired freedom in
actual performance.
A copy of the keyboard works of this contemporary of Domenico
Scarlatti is kept at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.
H leads one to observe to what extent Della Ciaia considered
fingering essential to convey the true expression of his music.
All manner of passages are profusely fingered, thus illuminating
many interesting aspects of eighteenth-century Italian keyboard
technique.
Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)
Sonata in G minor
Sonata in G major
Harpsichord: Ruckers-Taskin, well-tempered tuning
Eighteenth-century opera composers in Italy often published
collections of light harpsichord pieces. It was an additional
source of income sustained by many amateur harpsichordists.
The contents of such efforts, like Galuppi's "Passatempo al
Cimbalo," reveal, more often than not, how eager they were
to spend their time uncomplicated by deep musical thought.
Only a few of Cimarosa's 32 sonatas are lifted above this
general mediocrity by his innate theatrical sense. The G major
Sonata is of a brilliance that defies banality and the slow
Sonata in G minor is a beautiful cantilena that remains both
eloquent and noble in spite of its decadent style.
Giovanni Benedetto Platti (c. 1700-1763)
Sonata VIn in C minor
Harpsichord: Goble, well-tempered tuning
An incomplete manuscript in the library of the Conservatorio
San Pierro a Majella in Naples has caused this sonata to be
wrongly ascribed to Benedetto Marcello. Stylistic considerations,
sustained by the presence of several copies in Germany
confirming Platti's authorship, discredit this attribution.
Giovanni Benedetto Platti was a follower, if not a pupil, of
Antonio Vivaldi. He spent the greater part of his life in
Germany in the service of the Counts of Schonborn and his
influence reached such musicians as Graupner, Marpburg, and
Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Robert
Goble's two-manual instrument used in this recording encompasses
the tonal perspective of a large eighteenth-century German
harpsichord such as Platti may have had available to him.
It has been suggested that Plalti was a forerunner of Carl
Philipp Emanuel Bach in the art of writing for the clavichord.
The argument would be valid on stylistic and historical grounds
were it not for the fact that Platti writes at the beginning of
several of his works: "Clavicembalo solo." Doubts arise also
from those passages in the sonatas which demand the use of
a double keyboard.
The Dresden manuscript contains twelve sonatas "per il cembalo."
Sonata no. 8 opens with a Fantasia remarkable for its
sharp dynamic contrasts. It shows Platti's fashionable understanding
of "Sturm und Drang" expression. The following Andan/
e., a delicate Siciliana, coulc\ indeed be played successfully
on the clavichord. The third movement had the -rhythmic verve ·
of certain Handelian allegros in the Italian style and allows
one the opportunity of inserting a short, cadenza. The final
movement, marked Presto in the Donaueschingen manuscript,
is one of the finest illustrations of the light and facile charm
of Italian Rococo music.