CHECK-LIST of clavichords with the C/E short-and-broken bass octave

Arranged alphabetically by present location

This list is unbdoubtedly incomplete: please send any additions and corrections to peter@peter-bavington.co.uk. I hope to add further information about the clavichords listed in due course. See note at bottom of page for certain instruments missing since the second world war. Names of places are given in English, names of persons and institutions in the local language.
AUSTRIA, Private ownership:
Anonymous, between 1687 and 1711, C/E-c3. Double fretted, free are F, G, A, d, a, d1, a1, d2; single strung, decorated lid (source of the dating).
 
BAD AUSSEE, Austria, Heimatmuseum:
971 Johann Christoph Egedacher 1747, C/E-c3. Fretting not known.
 
BARCELONA Museo de la Música:
MDMB 466 Johann Ernst Haase(?), Budissin (Probably modern Bautzen, Germany) 1728, C/E-c3. No information (yet) about fretting. There is doubt about the maker's name, see Boalch III page 348.
 
BUDAPEST Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum:
1961.1392 Anonymous, ?c1700 C/E-c3. Fretted, no details as yet. Nameboard reads: 18-Laudate eum in Chordis & Organo-56. The date 1856 can hardly be the date of manufacture. More inscriptions, coat of arms and St Cecilia on lid.
 
COPENHAGEN, Musikhistorisk Museum:
X2 J.B.H.(?) c1750(?), C/E-c3. Fretted, probably diatonically. ‘J. B. H.’ appears in the form of a large gold monogram inside the lid: these might or might not be the initials of the maker. The date c1750 is given in Boalch III, but I should say c1700 is more likely, judging from the style of decoration etc.
 
EISENACH Bachhaus:
79 Anonymous, perhaps Christoph Dreßel, Leipzig, ?c1680, C/E-c3.
 
ENGLAND, Private ownership:
Anonymous, probably eighteenth century. FF-f3. Sold at Sotheby's on 18 November 1993. This instrument has the full, developed form of the 'Viennese' short octave, which can be regarded as an extension of the ordinary C/E short-and- broken octave. For more detail see sale catalogue or Richard Maunder: Keyboard Instruments in Eighteenth-Century Vienna, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998, p. 50 and plate 8.
 
GRAZ Steiermarkisches Landesmuseum Johanneum:
KGW 3.057 Georg Mitterreiter, Graz 1727, C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Thought to be the oldest signed and dated Austrian clavichord.
KGW 7.831 Anonymous ?early 18th century. Said to be very similar to the above clavichord, but unsigned. Pentagonal: rear right-hand corner 'cut away'.
KGW 22.644 Franz Xaver Schwarz, Graz 1796. C/E-f3. Diatonically fretted. Possibly the latest short-and-broken-octave clavichord to survive (but see Tannheim, below).
 
GOTHENBURG name of collection not yet known:
Anonymous C/E-c3. Triple fretted.
 
LEIPZIG Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität:
8 Anonymous, ?late 17th century. C/E-c3. Triple fretted.
9 George Haase, Bautzen 1692. C/E-c3. Triple fretted above note d2 only. Hexagonal. This instrument has undergone major reconstruction including replacement of the soundboard and bridge and possible re-arrangement of the fretting.
10 Anonymous, ?c1700. C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Rose. Stuttgart G4112 is similar.
 
LENINGRAD see St Petersburg
 
LINZ Ober-Österreichisches Landesmuseum:
100 Anonymous, ?17th century C/E-c3. Single-strung.
94 Anonymous, ?17th century C/E-d3.
 
MAIDSTONE, Kent, England, Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery:
Ugo Annibale Traeri, Modena, 1726. C/E-c3. A high-pitched instrument: a composer's travelling clavichord. Said to have belonged to G.F. Handel.
 
NEW HAVEN Connecticut, Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments:
4948 Anonymous ?17th century. C/E-f3. Diatonically fretted.
 
NUREMBERG Germanisches Nationalmuseum:
MIR 1049 Anonymous ?c1700. C/E-c3. Originally triple-fretted (obscured in present state)
MINe 60 Anonymous ?late 17th century C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Clumsy key carving. Rose, perhaps added.
MIR 1048 Anonymous ?late 17th century. C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Very small soundboard.
MIR 1050 Anonymous ?early 18th century. C/E-f3. Diatonically fretted, except that the top three courses are triple-fretted.
MIR 1051 Anonymous ?early 18th century. C/E-f3. Fretting probably similar to MIR 1050. In a ruinous condition.
 
SALZBURG Museum Carolino Augusteum:
B14/1 Anonymous ?17th century. C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Rose (gilded paper)
B14/2 Anonymous, ?c1700 C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Walnut case.
 
ST PETERSBURG Collection of Musical Instruments of the St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Muscial Art:
X-368 (old number: 1199) Johannes Vierengel (not Viererigel, see comment below) 1744 C/E-c3. Made in Presburg (modern Bratislava). The inscription 'Viererigel' given in Boalch III and in the Museum catalogue appears to be a misreading. The following information was kindly supplied by Martin Pühringer:

Johannes Vierengel (1710-26.3.1756) is mentioned as an organ maker in connection with the rebuilding and enlargement of an organ in the cathedral of St. Martin in Bratislava in a document of 21.04.1754. In 1756 he built an organ for the Franciscan church of Bratislava where he was mentioned as 'Feringel'. It would appear that he is the maker of the clavichord in Leningrad.


STOCKHOLM Musikmuseet:
3146 George Woytzig 1688, C/E-c3. Triple fretted. The case extensively carved in low relief
264.785 Anonymous, ??c1750 C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted from c/c#, with E's and B's unfretted. This clavichord is illustrated on p. 158 of Eva Helenius Öberg: Svenskt Klavikordbygge 1720-1820, Stockholm 1986.
 
STUTTGART Württembergisches Landesmuseum:
G4112 Anonymous ?c1700 C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Rose. Somewhat similar to Leipzig 10.
 
TANNHEIM, Tirol, Austria, Heimatmuseum Tannheimertal:
Joseph Läser (Bäser), Brixen (probably modern Bressanone) ?1804, C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Maker may be the same as Joseph Lusser, the maker of a clavichord dated 1810 in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg: if so, this is a remarkably late example.
 
VIENNA Kunsthistorischesmuseum:
SAM 650 Anonymous, ?c1700. C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. Veneered, with stand.
GdM 381 Anonymous, ?late 17th century. C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted.
SAM 900 'I.K. 1783' [the date is read as 1783 by Gerhard Stradner, 1782 by Richard Maunder. The instrument has been ascribed to J.G. Kuppler of Nuremberg by Stradner; to Johann Klein by Boalch III] C/E-f3. Diatonically fretted. Massive over-rail. Rose.
SAM 817 Anonymous, ?mid-18th century, C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted. The bass up to note a double-strung in brass, the treble from note b flat single-strung in iron. A remarkably small instrument (718 mm long), possibly a travelling clavichord.
 
ZÜRICH Schweizerisches Landesmuseum:
17498 David Jacob Weidner, 1697. C/E-c3. Triple-fretted. Split-sharps for D#/E flat throughout.
Bellerive Museum:
202 Anonymous, ?c1720 C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted.

Two clavichords formerly in Berlin, Musikinstrumentenmuseum der SIMPK, have been missing since the Second World War:

1 Anonymous, ?late 17th century, C/E-c3. Diatonically fretted, single-strung.
2159 Anonymous, ?Netherlandish ?c1700 C/E-d3. Diatonically fretted.

Many thanks to Lothar Bemman, Maria Boxall, Bernard Brauchli, Owen Daly, Mads Damlund, William Dow, Dr Rodger Mirrey and Martin Pühringer for information.

Last updated 25 April 2008