cO:= 



Figure 4. — Cross section of polygonal virginal, a, side: b, bottom; c, knee; d, liner; e, soundboard; f, rilD; c, bridge; ii 



string; i, jack rail. Scale, 1:2. 



section of one of the bridges appears in figure 4. The 

 jack rail, also shown in figure 4, e.xtends over the 

 jacks Us" above the soundboard. It serves not only 

 to prevent the jacks from flying out during play but 

 also to terminate the downward fall of the fronts of 

 the keys. The keys do not drop far enough to touch 

 the key frame, but instead are stojjped by the jacks 

 striking the jack rail. 



The keyboard has an apparent compass of four 

 octaxes and one note from E to f ' ' '. Short octave 

 tuning would have extended the compass down a 

 major third to C in the bass, with the E key sounding 

 C, the Fin key sounding /), the Gfi key sounding E, and 

 the remaining keys sounding their proper ])itches. 

 These three keys will hereafter be referred to as C/E, 

 DjF^ and £/G#. 



The lowest eight keys have small wire eyes attached 

 tu their undersides near the front. A corresponding 

 slot is cut through the inner and outer cases, allowing 

 the eyes to be connected to a short pedal keyboard 

 which has not survived. 



The keys themselves vary in length from 10" in the 

 bass to 18!i" in the treble; they are mounted on a 

 trapezoidal key frame which is removable from the 

 instrument. The balance rail and balance rail pins 



are on a diagonal, resulting in a gradual but noticeable 

 change in the touch from one end of the keyboard to 

 the other. The rack, W" thick and X'i" high, is 

 fastened along the back of the key frame and has one 

 vertical saw cut for each key. Projecting from the 

 back of each key is a small sliver of wood which rides 

 in its proper saw' cut and ser\'es to guide the key. The 

 natural keys are \-eneered with boxwood and have 

 arcaded boxwood fronts. The sharps are small blocks 

 of hardwood stained black. 



The sides, soundboard, ribs, jacks, guide, jackrail. 

 and mouldings are made of cypress, the wrest plank 

 and bridges are of walnut, and the framework, bot- 

 tom, keys, and key frame are of pine. 



The photographs (figs. 2, 3) show the decorati\e use 

 of ivory studs. On the soundboard appears the Latin 

 inscription Vita hrcvis, ars longa. A laminated parch- 

 ment rose, 1>Y\(," in diameter, is placed in the sound- 

 board in the position indicated in figure 6. A typical 

 example of this decorative device is shown in figure 12. 



The above-described \irginal is typical of Italian 

 practice. Other examples studied generally have 

 differed from it only in small details, except in the case 

 of compass and \ibrating lengths of strings. These 

 factors will be discussed in detail in a following section. 



98 



BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTOR\- .^ND TECHNOLOGY 



