Sweelinck: Pavana Lachrimae on 1628 Andreas Ruckers Harpsichord

[RandolphoScorchese]

This is a Ravalement Ruckers. Not Original!!! A French builder such as Taskin has taken part of a Ruckers and enlarged it to five octaves (Ruckers would have been less than 4 octaves) so maybe only a small part is Ruckers. The French style stand is a dead giveaway.

[tiercecoulee]

@RandolphoScorchese Of course the instrument underwent a "petit ravalement" approximately arond 1728. This means that the size of the case remained completely in the 1628 state. You find no alterations of the corpus or soundboard. It' s not a transposing dubble-manual anymore but indeed closer to its Antwerp origin than most other surviving Ruckers. For further information consult Grant o Brien's monography on Ruckers.

[marsvltor2]

The outside of a Ruckers would normally be either faux-marbling with a black border, or very occasionally, strapwork. Believe me, this is the view you would want ot see! P :-)

[harpsi8]

Quite beautiful ! and to hear it on a 1628 wow !

thank you for letting everyone see this treasure and to make it sing with your fine talent.

[blueslystone]

A beautiful piece.  I'm about to begin work on it myself. Would love to hear a complete recording whenever you have the time to make one!

[IfItsNotBaroqueFixIt]

I'd hate to break it to you but THIS is the side of the harpsichord that everybody sees; it is always open when the instrument is performed. It's also the side that the audience typically sees. The other side is only seen when the instrument is shut. I suppose that side would be seen all the time if the owner of the instrument never used it.

[tiercecoulee]

The lid-painting is beautiful, yes, but - aslike the whole outside decoration - from 18th c. and not the original Ruckers 17th c. state. What makes this instrument so striking is its fantastic sound. Unfortunately my recording does not reflect that aspect well.

[mangaissofun]

Very pretty inside on the lid, :D i wonder what the other side which was seen ALL the time was like...