Colin Tilney Italian harpsichord and Flemish virginal
The Italian instrument is an unsigned and undated harpsichord which on account of certain characteristics suggests the probability that it was made in the mid-17th century. The Flemish instrument comes from the workshop of Martinus van der Biest and was made in 1580.
Produzent Gerd Berg
Tonmeister Johann Nikolaus Matthes
Released 1974 by EMI Electrola in the series Reflexe 1C 063-30 120
Cover design Roberto Patelli
Diese Platte entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Germanischen Nationalmuseum, Nurnberg
Thanks to Daniël who let me browse the famous Daniël Beuman harpsichord collection

Seite 1
00:00 Pavan and Galliard in G (MB 72a und b) *
05:10 Fantasia in D minor (MB 1) *
10:50 Lachrymae Pavan (MB 54)’**
16:02 Gaillard In· D minor, 4′ (MB 53) **
17:54 Hugh Aston’s Ground (MB 20)”

Seite 2
26:19 Prelude in C (MB 24) **
27:12 Mistress Mary Brownlow’s Galliard (MB 34) **
30:28 The Quadran Pavan (MB 70a) ”
39:31 The Quadran Galliard (MB 70 b) *
44:16 Pavan and Galliard in C minor (MB 31 a und b) **
50:19 Coranto in C 4′ **
MB = Musica Britannica
* Italienisches Cembalo (17. Jhdt., unsigniert)
** Flamisches Virginal von Martinus van der Biest, Antwerpen

About the Instruments
In the second half of the 16th and the
first half of the 17th century the art of
music composed for domestic keyboard
instruments rose to its climax in England.
Those numerous English composers
that wrote works for these
instruments are all known under the
name of virginalists. Up to about 1660
any type of harpsichord – harpsichord
proper, clavicytherium, virginal or spinet
– was called virginal: Only from about
1660 onwards was the term harpsichord
used, the term virginal being limited to
virginal and spinet. Thus these virginalists
are composers that composed for
the harpsichord.
At the time of the virginalists there must
have been a great number of harpsichords
to perfom these works. The
fact is that the inventory of instruments
owned by King Henry VIII, who had a
great gift for music, contains an amazingly
large number of keyboard instruments.
Queen Elizabeth as well has
played the virginal. But this does not
imply that all these harpsichords favoured
as they were have been of English
origin. In the 16th century, it is true,
there are known the names of 16 harpsichord
makers in England, but at least
some of them give the impression that
their bearers immigrated to England.ln
the Victoria & Albert Museum there is a
harpsichord dating from the year 1579,
made in London by a local harpsichord
maker, whose name was Lodewijk
Theeuwes and who was of Flemish
descent. In this museum there is also a
spinet that is said to have been in the
possession of Queen Elizabeth I. It is
beyond all doubt a Italian instrument.
The oldest hapsichord preserved of
definite English origin dates from 1622.
Without doubt the English virginalplayers
did not only use autochthonous
instruments, but also imported them
from Italy and Flanders. Thus history
gives reason for the fact that an
English and an Flemish keyboard instrument
have been used for this
recording. The Italian instrument is an
unsigned and undated harpsichard
wh ich on account of certain characteristics
suggests the probability that it was
made in the mid-17th century. Apart
from two devices to vary the timbre –
which, by the way, are not used in this
recording – the instrument is exceptionally
conservative, so that one may
suppose its sound to be most similar to
that of the instruments that were used in
Byrd ‘s lifetime. The Flemish instrument
comes from the workshop of Martinus
van der Biest and was made in 1580. It
is an instrument that is called virginal
according to the German terminology.
In such an instrument the strings lie
horizontally, but parallel to the keyboard.
Contrary to the wing-shaped
spinet the virginal is oblong and
. rectangular in shape. The harpsichord
used here is not the usual type, but a
double-virginal. With the Antwerp
speciality the keys are on one (here the
left) side, whereas the key-free side .
(here on the right) can hold an octavevirginal.
This ottavino may also be
placed on the big instrument and both
are coupled, so that the pitch on the
keyboard below is 8-foot/4-foot. Two
works of this recording are performed
on the double-virginal in this way:
Gailliard in 0 minor (Side 1) and
Coranto in C major (Side 2) .
The instruments used here form part of
the collection of old instruments in the
German National Museum, Nuremberg.
The Italian harpsichord is owned by
Dr. Dr. h. c. Ulrich Rock and forms part
of his collection of historical instruments.
ln this recording both instruments
are mean-tone tuned.

John Henry van der Meer, translation by Gudrun Meier

#Virginal #MartinusVanDerBiest #ColinTilney