varied somewhat in order to accommodate the instruments to higher or lower tunings. Also, a preference for the sound of thinner, longer wires or shorter, thicker ones may have caused some builders to increase or decrease the string lengths on their instruments in proportion to the string diameters chosen. We have no precise evidence concerning the original wire gauges of the strings of Italian harpsichords and virginals. Although the variety of pitch C lengths encountered on the instruments studied can partially be accounted for by these two factors, a third and more important cause existed.

Among the 33 instruments about which information has been secured, a correlation is discernible between the apparent manual compass and the pitch C string lengths. Sixteen of the instruments ascend to f´´´. For these, the length of the pitch C string varies from 10-1⁄4" to 13-3⁄4". The remaining instruments, with either a´´ or c´´´ as the highest notes, have pitch C strings ranging from 8" to 11-3⁄8" in length. If the average tension and wire diameter of the two groups are assumed to have been about equal, the difference in string lengths would suggest a corresponding difference in pitch, the instruments having the compass extended to f´´´ sounding somewhat lower than the others.

Figure 11.—Action of harpsichord. a, bottom; b, belly rail; c, soundboard; d, wrest plank; e, key frame; f, rack; g, key; h, jack; i, jack rail. Scale, 1:2.

There is some historical evidence that this actually was the case. In his Theatrum Instrumentorum Michael Praetorius[1] pictures a polygonal virginal, which appears to be very much like the many Italian examples that survive today, and a rectangular virginal that seems to be Flemish. He specifies that both are so recht Chor-Thon (at regular choir pitch). Praetorius also shows a harpsichord[2] that looks like a typical Italian instrument except for the presence of a set of strings tuned an octave above unison pitch, a rare feature on Italian harpsichords. This harpsichord is described as so eine Quart tieffer alss Chor-Thon (a fourth lower than choir pitch), clearly indicating that single manual keyboard instruments a fourth apart in pitch were in existence. Since no reason is given for the harpsichord being tuned a fourth lower than the two virginals, we may assume that the author considered the matter commonplace enough as to demand no further elaboration and that instruments a fourth apart in pitch were not rare.

Praetorius does not state that the harpsichord in his illustration was tuned to a low pitch standard, which was actually used for certain purposes or in particular localities. He discussed the numerous pitches in use before and during his time, but the only one that he mentioned as being a fourth below choir pitch he considered obsolete and suitable only for plainsong. If the harpsichord was not intended to be tuned to this standard and used for this purpose, it must have been tuned to choir pitch and treated as a transposing instrument.

Querinus van Blankenburg,[3] writing in 1739, states:

That the second manual of the two-manual harpsichord originated as a device for transposition is well known. In an article titled "Transposing Keyboards on Extant Flemish Harpsichords," Sibyl Marcuse[5] discusses surviving examples that show how the second keyboard was arranged. The upper keyboard was the principal one, with the lower keyboard sounding a fourth below. The strings acted upon by a c key on the upper manual were sounded by an f key on the lower; so, in changing from the upper manual to the lower, the player would have to move his hands to the left the distance of a perfect fourth in order to strike the same keys, thus producing the downward transposition. The compass of the upper manual was E/C to c´´´. Since the lower keyboard was shifted to the left, space was provided for five additional keys at its treble end. The apparent treble range of the lower keyboard was therefore extended to f´´´, although the lower f´´´ and upper c´´´ keys worked on the same strings and produced the same pitch. Room was also made for five extra bass keys at the lower end of the upper manual. However, since short octave tuning was employed and it was desirable to be able to use the same fingering in the bass on both manuals, the tails of the C/E, D/F# and E/G# keys of the upper manual had to be bent to the left in order to work on the strings played by the F, G, and A keys respectively of the lower manual. The vacant space to the left of the upper manual C/E was filled by a block of wood. Hence the five extra bass strings not used by the upper manual were those played by the C/E, D/F#, E/G#, B, and c# keys of the lower keyboard.

Of the 16 Italian harpsichords and virginals studied that ascend in the treble to f´´´, 13 range to C/E in the bass, thus having exactly the same compass as the lower (transposing) keyboard of the Flemish two-manual instruments. Twelve of the 14 Italian examples having c´´´ as the highest key stop on C/E in the bass and are identical in apparent compass to the Ruckers upper manual.

The correlation of compass and string length of the Italian instruments, the statements of Praetorius, and the similarity of the Italian keyboard ranges to those of the Ruckers transposing harpsichords have been considered. A plausible conclusion is that the Italian instruments extending to f´´´ were transposing instruments sounding a perfect fourth lower than the prevailing pitch standard. Adopting the terminology used for orchestral wind instruments, these could be referred to as harpsichords in G.

The evidence of the correlation between string length and compass becomes much more convincing if we assume that the Italian builders abandoned the practice of making