Miniature virginal
Alternate name(s)
- Ottavino spinet harpsichord
- Ottavina
- Spinettina
Maker
Francesco Vanini
Date1672
Place MadeBologna, Italy, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedPaper label inscribed in ink pasted to the jack guide in the interior.Penciled on the underside of the bottom is a modern transcription of the interior inscription:
Franciscus Vaninus Bononiensis faciebat anno Domini MDCLXXII
DescriptionCharles Burney wrote in 1771 (The Present State of Music in France and Italy), "Throughout Italy they have generally little octave spinets to accompany singing, in private houses, sometimes in a triangular form, but more in the shape of our old virginals; of which they keys are so noisy, and the tone so feeble, that more wood is heard than wire." This miniature virginal is perhaps even smaller than the instruments Burney wrote about. Made of cypress with a spruce or fir soundboard, it has a single set of strings pitched two octaves above normal pitch.
Compass: c/e-f2 (2+ octaves)
Dimensions305 x 188 mm.
ProvenancePurchased in 1984 from the Laurence Witten Family. Witten acquired the instrument in 1968 from the estate of E. M. W. Paul, London, England.
Published ReferencesKuronen, Darcy. “Keyboard Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum,” Early Keyboard Studies Newsletter, October 1991, p. 7, 9.
Larson, André P. The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion:
National Music Museum, 1988), p. 19, 41.
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03449
On View
On view
1520-1540 ca.
