The Zuckermann Italian Virginal III

The kit instrument I am assembling is the Italian Virginal III, manufactured by Zuckermann Harpsichords, Inc. Zuckermann are still very much in business, and although they no longer offer the Italian Virginal as a kit, the finished instrument is still available. If after reading this you are just dying to start on your own virginal, a similar kit is available from The Paris Workshop, or you can try your hand at a Flemish virginal kit from Hubbard Harpsichords.

According to recent correspondence with Zuckermann, the Italian Virginal III kit was available from "the mid to late 1970s" which makes my kit between 29-34 years old. As I mentioned previously, I purchased the partially-assembled kit from a colleague of mine at my place of employment. He in turn "inherited" the kit from the previous owner of his house. The previous two owners of the kit had brought the construction fairly far along, completing the case and installing the soundboard, so most of the large assembly steps were done before I took over. Incredibly, all of the parts are still together after all these years. Unsurprisingly, the one item that seems to have migrated away from the kit is the included X-acto knife.

This virginal exemplifies the "false inner-outer" construction that Italian makers favored for centuries. The earliest Italian harpsichords were made of extremely thin cypress; while this made the instruments remarkably light (some single Italian harpsichords are reputedly light enough to carry under one arm) they must also have been very fragile. These harpsichords were kitted out with protective outer cases of heavier construction, which could be decorated with varnish, tooled leather, gilt, and so on. Over time, the separate inner/outer construction was abandoned, but the conceit of a smaller, fragile instrument inside a larger case was retained by the strategic use of veneer and molding on the (single) case.

In terms of modern harpsichord kit-building, the Italian Virginal represents one of the first Zuckermann instruments designed by then-owner David Jacques Way. The Zuckermann business had been successful purveying a harpsichord kit that represented a middle road between historical authenticity and economical modern manufacturing, as well as realistic expectations of amateur assembly. Way gradually took the kit business firmly in the direction of historical authenticity by eliminating modern materials such as plywood, reinstating the bentside in the harpsichord kit, and other less visible changes. The Zuckermann Italian Virginal represents an early stage in this process. The design is very close to that of historical models. While most of the construction is from plank wood (rather than plywood), and the soundboard appears to be solid wood, the jack register and lower guide appear to be made of plastic, and the jacks themselves, as is nearly universal in kits nowadays, are made of Delrin, the same plastic the plectra are made from. The most unfortunate concession to modern manufacturing lies in the plastic sharps on the keyboard. These look just awful next to all the beautiful bare wood; I may replace these with ebony or stained fruitwood if time and budget allow.

At this point there is a lot of little fiddly work to do, mostly consisting of small jobs that have to be done 54 times each (once for each note on the instrument). As the manual points out, though, some large double harpsichords have 189 strings, so the virginal should come together comparatively quickly.

Speaking of notes, the range of the keyboard is BB-e'''. That means the lowest note is the B two octaves and a half-step below middle C, and the highest note is the E two octaves and a major third above middle C. Looking at historical examples of this type of instrument, this seems to be a common enough range (if anything, the bass has a bit more range than many 16th and 17th century virginals and harpsichords). However, that low BB is somewhat deceiving. Many virginals and harpsichords prior to the 18th century were tuned to what is now called the "short octave," meaning that the last five or so notes do not descend chromatically; instead the sharps are tuned to diatonic notes, usually a major third lower than their "normal" pitches.

For example, a very common keyboard layout for a small instrument such as a spinet or virginal would have a bass range extending down to the E one octave and a sixth below middle c; but this note would be tuned to the C two octaves below middle c. Likewise, the lowest F# was tuned down to D, and the G# was tuned down to E. While this extended the bass range slightly, it unfortunately also eliminated four accidentals from the lowest octave (C# and D#, which are not on the keyboard at all, and F# and G# which sound D and E). But most keyboard music of the time doesn't require accidentals in this low octave, so the musical impact is not damaging. This may sound confusing but it actually works out quite well in practice, as long as the music is not too chromatic.

The Zuckermann Italian Virginal III also incorporates a short octave, but it begins lower down on the keyboard. The lowest note, BB, is tuned down to GG (two octaves and a fourth below middle c), the C# down to AA, and the D# down to BB. The impression I get from reading books on historical harpsichord construction is that the first variety of short octave was by far the more common; the deeper range of the kit may be a concession to modern players who may want to play later, more chromatic music on the virginal.

Since my own musical interests skew closer to J. S. Bach, I will probably go ahead and tune the lowest notes chromatically, in order to have the low chromatic notes necessary for the Well-tempered Clavier and the French Suites. Other Bach harpsichord works such as the Goldberg Variations and Teil I of Clavierübung require a fully chromatic bass range down to GG and are not possible to play on this instrument without altering a few notes of Bach's music.

The current Italian Virginals available from Zuckermann and the Paris Workshop appear to have further bowed to modern tastes and are fully chromatic down to GG, giving up two notes at the top end of the keyboard making the top note d'''. It's probably not an accident that this exactly matches the range of Bach's harpsichord music.

At this point, I have the virginal strung (except for two notes - I ran out of the correct wire for these and will have to purchase some more) and have a couple of parallel tasks going. First, now that the strings are on, it's time to pin the left-hand bridge. The small metal pins guide the strings so that they run in exactly the right place, as well as binding the strings to the bridge. The bridge is responsible for transmitting the strings' vibrations to the soundboard, so a good, solid connection between the strings and the bridge is essential for a full tone. Second, I need to finish the keyboard by gluing the slips of boxwood veneer to the softwood key levers, shaping the keys, varnishing the boxwood, leveling and aligning the keys, and finally installing the completed keyboard into the virginal. Then, it will be time to file the jacks so that each one is a custom fit in its respective slot, install the Delrin plectra in the jacks, voice the jacks (trim the plectra so that each note speaks at the same volume level), install the jack rail, attach the lid with hinges, apply the decorative molding to the inside of the case, and paint the case. Piece of cake.

What is a virginal, anyway?

Basically, a virginal is a sort of sideways harpsichord. The strings are plucked by little plectra, like tiny guitar picks, rather than struck by hammers as in a piano. The major difference between a harpsichord and a virginal is that where the harpsichord strings run straight back away from the player (as in a grand piano), virginal strings run left-to-right. I suppose the idea is to save space in a domestic environment, although the actual space savings are not as large as you might hope, since the size of either instrument is largely determined by the length of the bass strings. Still, the virginal keyboard is situated on the side of the instrument, rather than at one end as with a harpsichord or grand piano, which makes placement of the instrument a little more flexible since you don't have to provide room at the end for the player.

Due to the left-right orientation of the strings, there is usually only space to equip a virginal with a single choir of strings (a "choir" just means a single set of strings, one for each note on the keyboard). In a typical harpsichord, there would be two choirs for a single-manual (one-keyboard) instrument, or three or more choirs for a double-manual instrument. This not only provides greater volume of sound, but allows the player to vary the tone color somewhat, since each choir can be engaged or disengaged individually. Since virginals have only one choir, it is not possible to change tone color in this way, but that doesn't mean there is no variation in the timbre. The jacks (mechanisms that hold the plectra) in a virginal do not stretch across the instrument in a straight line (as they do in a harpsichord); rather, the jacks are arranged on the diagonal, so that the relative plucking point of each string is slightly different that its neighbors. The effect is a bit like the similar yet distinct timbres of violin, viola, and cello in a string quartet or orchestra; although each instrument has a distinctive voice, they can blend together logically almost like a single instrument.

There are several styles of virginals. The kit I am assembling is representative of the Italian style, which consists of a basically rectangular box with the keyboard jutting out from one long side of the instrument, slightly to the left. The Flemish style virginals are also basically rectangular, but the keyboard is recessed into the side of the instrument. Flemish virginals can be further divided into "spinets" and "muselaars;" spinets have the keyboard on the left side and muselaars have the keyboard on the right. This has a radical effect on the sound produced. Spinets pluck the string close to the nut (in other words, towards one end of the string) and as a result the sound is rather thin and nasal. Muselaars, in contrast, pluck the string closer to its middle and the resulting sound has been described as "round," "flute-like," and "plummy." If you play the guitar, you can simulate the effect of either type by plucking near the bridge or over the fingerboard.

The most elaborate virginals were made by the Flemish makers such as the famous Ruckers family. Called "mother and child," these included a second, smaller instrument that slid into a recess in the side of the larger instrument and could be removed from the recess for performance. This smaller instrument was called an "ottavino" since it sounded one octave higher than the larger virginal. If desired, the "child" could be placed on top of the "mother's" jacks (after the jackrail had been removed) and slots in the bottom of the child would allow the mother's jacks to operate the child's keyboard, coupling the two mechanisms. When coupled this way, the mother's keyboard would play both instruments.



Other types of virginals exist, which eliminate the "dead space" in the corners, resulting in an instrument shaped like an irregular pentagon, or even an elongated triangle. While slightly smaller and lighter, according to some authorities the tone of these instruments is not as full or attractive as the rectangular virginals.

So why is it called a virginal? No one is really sure. Sadly, there is no truth to the notion that it was named for the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I of England (although she was, by the way, reportedly an excellent player of the instrument). It seems likely that as a domestic instrument, it would have been associated with young girls and unmarried women, hence the name.

One more note about the name: in Elizabethan English usage, you often come across the term "virginals" or "pair of virginals." Much like a "pair of scissors" or a "pair of pants," this refers, paradoxically, to a single instrument. Furthermore, at that time, the term "virginal" could refer to any plucked-string keyboard instrument, such as a spinet, muselaar, or harpsichord.

In my next post, I'll have some more information about the specific kit I am assembling, as well as some photos.

Recently, I purchased an unfinished Italian virginal kit from a colleague. To the best of my knowledge, the kit was manufactured sometime between 1975 and 1980. As I work on the instrument, I'll document my progress on this blog.