transposing harpsichords about the same time that the Ruckers family stopped employing the transposing lower manual. In the quotation previously given, Querinus van Blankenburg tells us that the Ruckers did not make transposing instruments later than the 1630's. Of the 10 dated Italian instruments with the keyboard extended to f´´´, only three were made after the third decade of the 17th century. Each of these has a shorter pitch C string than any of the seven earlier instruments. These three harpsichords, dated 1654, 1658, and 1666, are accordingly considered nontransposing instruments, with the extra treble keys representing an actual extension of the upward range. The six undated instruments with f´´´ in the treble are classified as transposing instruments because of their pitch C lengths and are accordingly believed to have been made before about 1635.

Figure 12.—Typical decorative device, known as rose, that appeared in soundboards of virginals and harpsichords.

The 33 instruments on which this study is based are classified in the list on page 107. They are grouped according to whether the highest key is f´´´ or c´´´, with the exceptions of the three harpsichords mentioned in the preceding paragraph and three instruments that go only to a´´. That the three instruments ending on a´´ belong with the nontransposing group is indicated by their string lengths.

The listing gives additional information about each example. String lengths of instruments having two registers are for the shorter of the two pitch C strings.

Information has been secured on two Italian virginals which were not included in the tabulation. Their measurements are completely at variance with the pattern consistently set by the other 33 examples studied. One, made by Giovanni Domenico in 1556, is in the Skinner collection; it has a pitch C string 14-1⁄16" in length and an apparent compass of C/E to c´´´. The other, with the same apparent compass and a 7-1⁄2" pitch C string, is at Yale University. Whether these instruments are exceptional in terms of the pitch to which they were tuned, the tension which was applied to the strings, or the thickness and weight of the strings themselves, has not been determined.

The average of the pitch C lengths of the transposing instruments in the list is 12.78"; that of the nontransposing group is 10.45". This suggests a separation between the two groups of about a major third since the first average is roughly 5⁄4 of the second. However, the fact that the separation of the two averages is not great enough to positively indicate a perfect fourth—the first average would have to be 4⁄3 of the second to do so—does not disprove the theory of transposition by a fourth. In the first place, a considerable variety of pitches is no doubt represented in both groups since a universal pitch standard did not exist in the 16th and 17th centuries. Also, a margin of error of only a semitone is as good as could be expected considering the small number of examples on which the averages are based.

A further possible justification for the relationship of the two averages is found in Praetorius' discussion of the pitch standards with which he was familiar.[6] He states that choir pitch was a major second lower than chamber pitch and that tertiam minorem was a minor third lower than chamber pitch. Praetorius says of tertiam minorem:[7]

Possibly some of the nontransposing instruments were tuned to choir pitch and others to tertiam minorem, while the transposing instruments were set a fourth lower than choir pitch.

Three of the instruments listed are ottavinas, small instruments tuned an octave higher than usual. Ottavinas correspond to a four-foot register. Mersenne[8] mentions that they existed in two sizes, one a fifth above the usual pitch and the other an octave above. The three ottavinas included in the table are considered to be of the size sounding an octave above the usual pitch because they have C/E to c´´´ ranges and pitch C string lengths about half the average length of the other instruments in the nontransposing group. Although no examples were found for inclusion in this study, it is probable that some ottavinas a fifth above the usual pitch—and therefore an octave higher than the transposing instruments in our listing—survive. Such instruments would be expected to have apparent ranges of C/E to f´´´ and pitch C strings between 5-3⁄4" and 6-3⁄4" in length.

DATA ON THE 33 INSTRUMENTS STUDIED