Harpsichord in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2010

Harpsichord

Michele Todini (bapt. 1616–1689)

Date: ca. 1670

Geography: Rome, Italy

Medium: Wood, various materials

Dimensions:
HARPSICHORD: L. of inner instrument 269 cm (8 ft. 9 7/8 in.); W. of inner instrument 87.2 cm (34 3/8 in.); D. of inner instrument 19 cm (7 1/2 in.); 3-octave span 48.9 cm (19 1/4 in.); sounding L. of original c2 was approx. 28 cm (11 in.)
HARPSICHORD CASE: L. 299.7 X W. 96.5 X D. 37.5cm (118 X 38 X 14 3/4 in.)
POLYPHEMUS: H. 152.4 X W. 132.1 X D. 127 cm (60 X 52 X 50 in.)
GALATEA: H. 144.8 X W. 119.4 X D. 88.9 cm (57 X 47 X 35 in.)
STAND: Triton section: H. 96.5 x W. 170.2 x D. 144.8 cm (38 x 67 x 57 in.) Mid-section: H. 99.1 x W. 104.1 x D. 88.9 cm (39 x 41 x 35 in.) Shell section: H. 114.3 x W. 94 x D. 88.9 cm (45 x 37 x 35 in.)

Classification: Chordophone-Zither

Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889

Accession Number: 89.4.2929a–e

Description:

This gilded case encloses an Italian harpsichord of typical design but unusual length. Decorated with a frieze depicting the Triumph of Galatea and supported by three Tritons, the harpsichord originally formed part of Michele Todini's Galeria Armonica and was described in his catalogue of 1676. The flanking figures of Polyphemus playing a bagpipe (Todini invented one like it) and Galatea, holding a lute, were displayed with the harpsichord in front of a "mountain" in which a small pipe organ was concealed. The organ simulated the bagpipe's sound and the harpsichord represented the sound of the lute. Todini designed several such lavish instruments and charged admission from the aristocrats who visited his gallery. The artistic quality of the case ranks it among the finest examples of Roman Baroque decorative art; Todini's ingenuity and search for new forms of instrumental expressivity grew out of the same musical climate that led to the invention of the piano.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1800...