Flemish and Franco-Flemish traditions of harpsichord making: history and modernity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31318/2522-4190.2026.145.356103Keywords:
musical art, performing art, musical instruments of the 16th-18th centuries, harpsichord, Flemish school of harpsichord making, Franco-Flemish school of harpsichord making, Ruckers-Couchet dynastyAbstract
Relevance of the study. The harpsichord-building traditions of the Flemish and FrancoFlemish schools, as well as the harpsichords that represent them, are rarely the subject of study by Ukrainian musicologists. However, it is precisely such instruments and their copies that are an important component of the modern practice of historically informed performance. The affiliation of the harpsichord of Johannes Ruckers, 1632 (Neuchâtel) to the Franco-Flemish school actualizes to introduce information about it into domestic scientific circulation, as it will allow us to draw conclusions not only about the specifics of the functioning of the aforementioned schools in a historical perspective, but also about possible ways to involve original harpsichords in today's concert practice and educational process.
The main objective of the study is to consider the specifics of the Flemish and FrancoFlemish schools of harpsichord building, as well as to identify the features of approaches to working with harpsichords in a historical perspective.
The methodology includes the following methods: cultural analysis to contextualize the space of the functioning of the harpsichord as a musical instrument; historical analysis to trace the evolution of harpsichord making; descriptive analysis to determine the characteristic features of harpsichords of the Flemish and Franco-Flemish schools; comparative analysis to identify similarities and differences between them; theoretical generalization to draw conclusions.
The methodology includes the following methods: cultural analysis to contextualize the functioning of the harpsichord as a musical instrument; historical analysis to trace the evolution of harpsichord making; descriptive analysis to determine the characteristic features of harpsichords of the Flemish and Franco-Flemish schools; comparative analysis to identify similarities and differences between them.
The main results and conclusions. The Flemish and Franco-Flemish schools of harpsichord making are examined in a historical and cultural context. Information is provided on the activities of the Ruckers-Couchet dynasty. The specific features of Flemish harpsichords, the peculiarities of their design and decoration are described. The kinship between Flemish and French sound aesthetics is emphasized, which made the emergence of the Franco-Flemish school possible. The ravalement procedure is described and attention is focused on the mandatory preservation of the original Flemish soundboard as the main factor in ensuring the standard sound of the harpsichord. Based on historical evidence, conclusions are drawn about the highest appreciation of FrancoFlemish harpsichords by contemporaries and the special cultural significance of this tradition of harpsichord building. The strong connection and interdependence of the type of harpsichord and the corresponding national harpsichord (composer and performer) school is indicated. The Johannes Ruckers harpsichord, 1632, kept in the Museum of Art and History of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), is described as a representative of the Franco-Flemish school. Information is provided on the activities of the Florentine antiquarian and harpsichord forger Leopoldo Franciolini. Modern approaches to working with preserved original instruments of the 16th—18th centuries are identified. The feasibility of involving original harpsichords in concert practice and the educational process, whose condition allows it, is emphasized. Examples of cultural and educational events involving original harpsichords are described, including the “Marathon Scarlatti 555” (2023) with instruments from the François Badoud collection. The special attention of modern harpsichord makers to Franco-Flemish models is emphasized. It was emphasized that Ukraine has copies of such instruments, in particular those built by Ukrainian master Dmytro Tytenko and highly appreciated by the world's leading harpsichordists.
Downloads
References
Тytenko, D. P. (2008). Evoliutsiia klavishnykh muzychnykh instrumentiv naprykintsi XVII–XVIII st. [The evolution of keyboard musical instruments in the late 17th and 18th centuries]. In: Tradytsiine muzykuvannia ukraintsiv u yevropeiskomu prostori: materialy III mizhnarodnoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii. 11—12 zhovtnia 2007 r. [Traditional Ukrainian music in the European space: materials of the III international scientific and practical conference. October 11—12, 2007]. Kyiv: National Academy of Culture and Arts Management, pp. 132–140 [in Ukrainian].
Titarenko, L. S. (2020). Fittsviliamova virdzhynalna knyha yak zhanrovo-stylova antolohiia anhliiskoi klavirnoi muzyky druhoi polovyny XVI — pochatku XVII stolittia [The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book as as an anthology of genre and style of English keyboard music of the second half of the 16th — early 17th century]. Manuscript of Dissertation work for gaining the degree of the Candidate of Art Criticism by specialty 17.00.03 Musical art. Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music. Kyiv, 335 p. [in Ukrainian].
Shadrina-Lychak, O. V. (2006). Italiiskyi i frantsuzkyi typy klavesyniv u zviazku z natsionalnymy klavesynnymy shkolamy [Italian and French types of harpsichords in connection with national harpsichord schools]. In: Naukovyi visnyk Natsionalnoi muzychnoi akademii Ukrainy imeni P. I. Chaikovskoho [Scientific herald of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine]. Issue 41: Seriia “Starovynna muzyka: suchasnyi pohliad”, kn. 2 [Series “Early music: a contemporary view”, book 2]. Kyiv, pp. 55–61 [in Ukrainian].
Anthony, James R. (1992). La Musique en France à l’époque baroque (de Beaujoyeulx à Rameau). Paris: Flammarion, 580 p. [in French].
Asselin, P.-Y. (2000). Musique et temperament. Paris: Ed. Jobert. 236 p. [in French].
Corrette, M. (1753). Le Maître de Clavecin. Paris: Chez L'Auteur, Bayard, Le Clerc, Castagnere. 90 p. Available at: https://vmirror.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/3/3f/IMSLP97676-PMLP200805-Corrette_-_Le_Maitre_du_Clavecin.pdf (accédé: 28.01.2026) [in French].
Denis, J. (1650). Traité de l’accord de l’espinette, avec comparaison de son clavier à la Musique vocale. In: Méthodes et Traités: Série I: France 1600—1800: Clavecin. En 2 volumes. Courlay: J. M. Fuzeau. Vol. 1, pp. 78–90 [in French].
Heiniger, N. (2023). Trente-cinq clavecinistes pour les 555 sonates de Scarlatti. ArcInfo. 02/06/23, p. 6. Available at: https://journaldigital.arcinfo.ch/arcinfo/login/ (accédé: 30.01.2026) [in French].
Hubbard, F. (1981). Le Clavecin. Trois siècles de facture. Nogent-le-Roi: Jacques Laget, Librairie des Arts et Métiers. Editions SA, 306 p. [in French].
Kottick, Edward L. (2003). A history of the harpsichord. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 557 p. [in English].
Macquer, Ph. (1773). Dictionnaire raisonné universel des art et métiers. In: Méthodes et Traités: Série I: France 1600–1800: Clavecin. En 2 volumes. Courlay: J. M. Fuzeau. Vol. 2, pp. 128–137 [in French].
Meeus, N. (1980). Short octave. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. In 20 vols. London: Macmillan. Vol. 17, pp. 263–264 [in English].
Mersenne, M. (1636). Harmonie universelle. Livre III: Des instrumens a chords. In: Méthodes et Traités: Série I: France 1600–1800: Clavecin. En 2 volumes. Courlay: J. M. Fuzeau. Vol. 1, pp. 10–77 [in French].
Mercier-Ythier, C. (1990). Les Clavecins. Paris: Vecteurs, 264 p. [in French].
Ripin, E.M., Schott, H. (with Barnes, J., O’Brien, G.G.) (1980). Harpsichord. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. In 20 vols. London: Macmillan. Vol. 8, pp. 216–246 [in English].
Watin, J.-F. (1774). L'art du peintre, doreur, vernisseur. Paris: Chez Grangé. 360 p. Available at: https://archive.org/details/lartdupeintredor00wati/mode/2up (accédé: 30.01.2026) [in French].
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Our journal abides by the CREATIVE COMMONS copyright rights and permissions for open access journals.
Authors, who are published in this journal, agree to the following conditions:
The authors reserve the right to authorship of the work and pass the first publication right of this work to the journal under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to freely distribute the published research with the obligatory reference to the authors of the original work and the first publication of the work in this journal.
The authors have the right to conclude separate supplement agreements that relate to non-exclusive work distribution in the form in which it has been published by the journal (for example, to upload the work to the online storage of the journal or publish it as part of a monograph), provided that the reference to the first publication of the work in this journal is included.
