Octave virginal
Maker
Onofrio Guarracino
Date1694
Place MadeNaples, Italy, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedSigned on highest key: Honofrius Guaracino fecit 1694DescriptionOnofrio Guarracino (born 1627/8, active until 1698), was the most notable and prolific harpsichord maker in seventeenth-century Naples. With its rectangular maple case, dovetailed corners, and its wrest plank placed to the left, behind the jacks, this virginal is typical of the distinctive Neapolitan school of harpsichord making, which had flourished since the early sixteenth century.
Compass: C/E-c3 (45 notes), short octave.
One set of strings, tuned one octave above normal pitch.
Case made of maple. Separate outer case (not original) of walnut.
Fine geometcial parchment rose.
Keys: natural keytops of ivory. Sharps of ebony.
Regency-style stand not original.
DimensionsWidth outside of box: 385 mm
Length outside of box: 789 mm
Depth outside of box: 113 mm
String length: c1: 293 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1997 from Jean Michel Renard, Bellenaves, France. Previously it had been in a private collection in Fontainebleau, France.
Published ReferencesKoster, John. "Museum Acquires Rare 17th-Century Italian Virginal," America's Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 24, No. 3 (April 1997), pp. 1-2.
Schulenberg, David. Music of the Baroque (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 29.
Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Margaret Ann and Hubert H. Everist, 1997
Object number06041
On View
Not on view
1520-1540 ca.
1625-1675 ca.
