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Harpsichords and Related Topics

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From:
Bruce Jacobs <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 00:40:47 +0000
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And none of those old rooms had ventilation blowers raising the ambient noise.



A few years back, I sat in the back row of the Chicago Lyric Opera when a handful of singers and a tiny pit orchestra, with unamplified harpsichord, performing Handel's Giulio Cesare. From that vantage point, it was very soft.



That old room fortunately has an inaudible ventilation system.



We all listened carefully and were transfixed for three hours.



Bruce





On 4/15/17, 11:45 AM, "Harpsichords and Related Topics on behalf of George Debono" <[log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask]> wrote:



    I am not sure if I agree with your comment about  "rooms in which people

    gathered (especially in homes) to listen to clavichord music were much

    smaller than then they are today. "

    

    Many houses of the well-to-do had quite large rooms and there were also

    chapels and small churches where recitals may have taken place.

    

    My clavichords have been used for recitals in a medium-sized church with a

    high domed ceiling , and even slighly deaf people were amazed how they

    could hear the sound so distinctly.

    

    Regards

    

    George

    

    

    ​

    

    On Sat, Apr 15, 2017 at 2:30 PM, Tom Roach <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

    

    > I recall reading, in a history of the instrument, that when the clavichord

    > was developed, the rooms in which people gathered (especially in homes)

    > were much smaller than then they are today.  Hence the volume of the

    > instrument was of lesser importance than it is today because, small numbers

    > of people did indeed stand or sit around the instrument to hear it played.

    >

    > Tom Roach

    > Waterloo

    > Ontario

    > 519 746 5324

    >

    > On 2017-04-15 07:43, Philip Kimber wrote:

    >

    >> In answer to David Pickett's comment about the difficulty of listening to

    >> clavichord recordings because of the volume problem, I suppose the only

    >> solution is to play oneself or for a small audience to gather round the

    >> player at the instrument in real life. But there are almost no opporunities

    >> to do the latter.

    >>

    >>

    >

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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-

tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-

versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to

[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .

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