The
Hass instrument is now apparently owned
by Rafael Puyana, who is
seen here performing a Sonata by Scarlatti. Built in 1740, it
has three manuals with couplers, five choirs of strings (1x16', 2x8',
1x4', 1x2') with a separate soundboard for the 16' choir, six rows of
jacks, a lute stop and harp stop for the 16'. This fine instrument well
represents the culmination of the German school. It has since been copied
by Robert Goble & Son, Oxford.
The 17th C French instrument is depicted in plate 42 of
Russell's _The Harpsicord and Clavichord (1959) _, 2nd ed. As another contributor
reported,
it is said to have been destroyed in the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940.
Interestingly, this harpsichord is said to have had a chromatic compass
of FF-c3.
Isn't it a little unusual to see 17th C instruments chromatic down to FF?
Das
Virginal von Ruckers wurde vom Landesmuseum
Württemberg (Stuttgart) 1976 auf einer
Auktion bei Sotheybys in New York gekauft. Im Sothebys-Verkaufskatalog
ist die Provenienzangabe tatsächlich "Formely in the Collection
of M- & Mme. Salomon, Paris." Leider ist das Instrument nicht
spielbar. Es hatten mehrere Restauratoren Gutachten gestellt, aber von
einer so weitgehenden Restaurierung/Rekonstruktion abgeraten.