Clavichord
Maker
Henric Johan Söderström
Date1815
Place MadeStockholm, Sweden, Europe
SignedPrinted paper label on the soundboard (the last two digits of the date in ink by hand):Af
Henric Joh. Soderstrom
STOCKHOLM.
ÅR. 1815
MarkingsWritten in ink across ley levers FF and FF-sharp, behind the balance pins: 15
On the inside of the lid of the tool compartment are:
1) a modern sticker on which is written:
Post-Restoration pitch = A = 412 (1985)
[Under 412, which has been crossed out, is 408, which has also been crossed out and 392 written to its right.]
and 2) a Swedish two-kroner postage stamp with a plan-view drawing of a small clavichord.
DescriptionUnfretted. FF-c4 (5+ octaves). FF-A triple-strung (2 x 8’ and 1 x 4’); B-flat-a3 double-strung (2 x 8’). Ebony-covered naturals; bone-covered sharps; natural key fronts are an applied molding. The tops of the key levers are carved with typical clavichord “roof” beveling. The levers are guided at the rear in the typical Swedish manner by channels formed from upright slips of wood. Also typically Swedish is the grain of the soundboard, running at an angle of 29 degrees with the front in the direction from the front left to the back right. Key levers and bottom board of pine (Pinus sylvestris – identified by microscopic examination); probably also the core of the case, lid, etc.
Case exterior sides and front veneered in alder (identified by microscopic examination), with a mild stripe figure. Interior around the soundboard and both sides of the lid veneered in mahogany. The exterior of the main part of the lid, the top of the tool-box lid, and the matching pseudo-box-lid to the right of the keyboard are decorated with narrow light-colored stringing. Nameboard and keycheeks veneered in maple (Acer pseudoplatanus or A. platanoides, identified by microscopic examination), surrounded by narrow dark/light stringing and outer bands of mahogany. The instrument rests on four square-tapered legs with tenons at the top inserted into blocks attached to the bottom of the instrument. Formerly, the legs were secured by (wooden?) set screws, now missing, in the blocks.
A slot in the bottom and holes from staples in the undersides of the key levers from C to f indicate that there was formerly a pedalboard, evidently held by a structure connected in some way with the lower ends of the legs, which are now of new material scarfed onto the upper portions. Although the pedals were probably attached to the instrument very early in its history, the cutting of the slot and somewhat haphazard placement of the staples indicate that the pedal was not part of the instrument’s original construction.
DimensionsLength (without the fillet around the bottom): 2039 mm
Width (without the fillet around the bottom): 599
Height: 220
Three-octave measure of the keyboard: 485 mm
String lengths:
c4 86 mm
c3 162
c2 312
c1 623
c 1131
C 1569 (4’: 985)
FF 1706 (4’: 1229)
ProvenancePurchased from Michael Latcham, The Hague. Michael Latcham purchased the instrument in the early 1990s from Stephen R. Barrell.
Published ReferencesJohn Koster, “The Stringing and Pitches of Historical Clavichords,” in De Clavicordio: Atti del Congresso Internazionale sul Clavicordo, Magnano, 1993, edited by Bernard & Susan Brauchli and Alberto Galazzo (Turin: Isituto per I Beni Musicale in Piemonte, 1994), pp. 229, 234-235, and 241.
Donald H. Boalch, Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord 1440-1840. Third edition, edited by Charles Mould (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), pp. 634-635.
Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Christabel Gough and friends, in memory of Hugh Gough, 2007
Object number13501
On View
Not on view
1890-1910 ca.
