> Boris wrote:
>>>Having the 4' on a separate manual
doesn't bode well for dialoguing unless the music calls for the octave
shift.
> Unless the intention is to combine two separate instruments in one box.
Like the French idea of having a solo 4' on the upper manual with nothing
else.  The 1680s date of this spinet is not far removed from the date of
such French instruments, IIRC. 
I think we must take seriously the idea of having 4' standalone pitch in the
17th century.  There are plenty of ottavini ... 

I guess most of uss agree with Boris. Let me quote from my own "Playing ..."
(2014):

p. 163: "... 4' as a solo stop ... a few modern writers (for example Rowland
2001) have noted that present-day players seldom use the solo 4’ foot at
all. This attitude certainly deserves correction, because the solo 4’ sound
was very familiar during the 17th c. in no less than three types of
instrument: (1) mother-and-child virginals, (2) small 4’ instruments and (3)
early double harpsichords with a lone 4’ in the upper manual. When in later
times the 4’ was located in the lower manual instead, there is good evidence
that it was still occasionally used as a solo stop, as specifically
prescribed by Dandrieu for his Le Concert des Oiseaux of 1724 (Gilbert 1969
p. 206). ... Because of the peculiar acoustics of the 4' bridge, the sound
of the 4’ is distinctively different from that of an 8’ stop: the 4’ is much
more metallic ..."

p. 166: "pièce croisées ... solo 4’ in the lower manual ... This ...
registration makes crossed pieces very comfortable to play, because the left
hand plays the keys one octave lower. In most harpsichords we also have a
perfect loudness match, as both the upper 8’ and the 4’ are voiced slightly
softer than the lower 8’. The practice is also historically authentic: in
17th c. France this was the only possibility in early two-manual
harpsichords with a solo 4’ in the upper manual. As for 18th c. France,
playing pièces croisées using the solo 4’ in the lower manual was
specifically prescribed by Dandrieu in the Preface to his Premier Livre of
1724 ...  An obvious requirement for this registration is that the score for
the left hand does not use the lowest octave in the range: this is the case
for most pièces croisées in the French repertoire ... (however) In Bach’s
Goldberg Variations, only two of the nine crossed pieces can be played with
the left hand on the solo 4’ ..."

Best
CDV

http://play.braybaroque.ie/


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