DescriptionTechnical description: Unfretted clavichord. 61 notes F₁ - F₆ (FF - f'''). Two sets of 8-ft strings, with a third set of 4-ft string (F₁-B₂). The note name is written beside each alternate tuning pin, with the gauge numbers for each note beside the second pin.
String lengths: F₆ 103, C₆ 140, F₅ 211, C₅ 285, F₄ 426, C₄ 569, F₃ 838, C₃ 1023, F₂ 1215, C₂ 1323, F₁ 1473.
Signature: Written in pen and ink on the treble part of the sound-board between the 8-ft bridge and the 8-ft tuning pins "J.A. Hass Hambg Anno 1763".
Decoration: The outside of the lid and case have a silver-coloured chinoiserie decoration on a vermilion ground. The inside of the case is veneered with olive wood and kingwood. The toolbox lid is finely decorated with incised mother of pearl and tortoise shell; the incised decoration is filled with red vermilion paint. The lid painting is a rural scene with houses, a river with boats, and figures in a neo-Chinese style, all surrounded with a silver-coloured chinoiserie border. The soundboard is decorated with large flowers, painted in a rather stiff and slightly naive style, almost certainly by the same decorator who painted the 1764 harpsichord in the Raymond Russell Collection also by Johann Adolph Hass.
Pitch: Instrument tuned to A = 407 Hz, Werkmeister 1/III temperment.
Repair History: The present stand is not original and probably dates from the early part of the twentieth century. Restrung by John Raymond in 1998.
Technical drawing available from the Friends of St Cecilia's Hall. Please see http://www.stceciliasfriends.org.uk/ |