The Russell Collection is a substantial collection of early keyboard instruments assembled by the British

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

and

organologist Organology (from Ancient Greek () 'instrument' and (), 'the study of') is the science of musical instruments and their classifications. It embraces study of instruments' history, instruments used in different cultures, technical aspects of how i ...

Raymond Russell. It forms part of the Musical Instrument Museums collection of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, and is housed in St Cecilia's Hall. Its full name is the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments.

History

Raymond Russell, a British

and

, bought his first historic keyboard instrument in 1939. Over the next twenty years he assembled a considerable collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...

s and

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

s. His collection included instruments from all the main harpsichord-building areas of Europe: a number of English

spinet A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ. Harpsichords When the term ''spinet'' is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the ''bentside spinet'', described in this ...

s; early harpsichords and

virginals The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ...

from Italy;

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

instruments by the Ruckers; a late French instrument by Pascal Taskin; and a clavichord and harpsichord from North Germany, both by Johann Adolph Hass. Russell described many of the instruments in detail in his book ''The Harpsichord and Clavichord: an Introductory Study'', published in 1959. By 1960 Russell had decided to donate his collection to

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

, where it was to become the nucleus of a centre for research in keyboard

performance practice Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in whic ...

and organology, but this plan was not completed by the time of his sudden death in Malta in 1964 at the age of forty-one. Later that year, in his memory and in accordance with his wishes, his mother Maud Russell donated almost all of his collection – nineteen instruments – to the university; the donation also included his notes and his collection of documentary photographs. The collection was housed in St Cecilia's Hall in Edinburgh, which opened as a museum in 1968. The opening recital was given by Gustav Leonhardt. The university bought two further instruments from Russell's collection – an English double harpsichord by Jacob Kirckman, bought at auction in 1970, and a French double harpsichord by Jean Goermans and Taskin, purchased from Maud Russell in 1974 – bringing the total number to twenty-one.

Instruments

The instruments in the collection represent the five principal geographical areas or national schools of harpsichord-making – England, Flanders, France, the German-speaking world and the Italian peninsula – and more than two hundred years of the history of the craft.

England

English instruments in the collection include: * a rectangular virginal made by Stephen Keene in 1668 * a hexagonal spinet attributed to

John Player John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. In 1901, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company to face competition from US ma ...

, made in about 1705 * a single-manual harpsichord by Thomas Hancock, made in 1720 * a walnut bentside spinet by Thomas Hitchcock, dated 1728 * a bentside spinet made in 1757 by Sir John Harrison Burnett * a finelydecorated double-manual harpsichord by Jacob Kirckman, dating from 1755 * a Scottish bentside spinet made in Edinburgh in 1784 by Neil Stewart * a single-manual harpsichord by John Broadwood and Sons, made in 1793.

Flanders

There are four Flemish harpsichords in the collection, all made in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

: * a double-manual harpsichord made by Andreas Ruckers the Elder in 1608 * a single-manual harpsichord by Ioannes Ruckers, dated 1637 * a double-manual transposing harpsichord, also by Ioannes Ruckers, 1638 * a single-manual harpsichord by Ioannes Couchet, made in 1645.

France

The two French instruments are: * a double-manual harpsichord made by Jean Goermans in 1764, rebuilt by Pascal Taskin in 1783–1784, formerly the property of Arnold Dolmetsch * a double-manual harpsichord by Taskin, made in 1769.

Germany

There are two North German instruments, both made in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

by Johann Adolph Hass: an unfretted clavichord dating from 1763, and a single-manual harpsichord made in 1764. There is also a small German triple-fretted clavichord from about 1700.

Italy

Instruments from Italy include: * a pentagonal inner-outer virginal made in 1586 by Alessandro Bertolotti * an anonymous single-manual inner-outer harpsichord dating from about 1620 * a triple-manual harpsichord by Stefano Bolcioni, made in 1627 * an ''ottavino'' spinet made by Petrus Michael Orlandus in 1710.

References

External links

* {{authority control University of Edinburgh Keyboard instruments Former private collections in the United Kingdom Musical instrument museums in Scotland category:University museums in Scotland