• Author: Bartolomeo Cristofori
• Date: 1700
• Collection: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
• Material: ebony and cypress wood
• Inventory: Inv. Cherubini 1988/101

This harpsichord is meticulously described in an inventory of the musical instruments in the collection of Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici, drawn up in 1700. It had been created by the Paduan Bartolomeo Cristofori a few years earlier and its case is made entirely of ebony wood with ivory decorations. This type of wood came from forests in Africa. It was extremely valuable but very difficult to work with so an instrument like this one is a demonstration of the extraordinary skill of the manufacturer.

The slender shape and lightness, on the other hand, are typical of the Italian harpsichords. The clear, silvery sound it produced offered the ideal accompaniment to singing.

The instrument has undergone a number of modifications over the years – including the replacement of the legs and the addition of the two high keys for C#5 and D5 – which have been attributed to Giuseppe Ferrini, son of Cristofori’s only confirmed assistant. The instrument is reasonably well preserved but the cracks running through the soundboard make it impossible to use from a musical point of view. In 2010, Kerstin Schwarz made a modern copy of the original harpsichord, that is, before the modifications and transformations it underwent at the end of the 18th century in order to adapt it to the changing taste and the new musical repertoire.