The virginals is a type of keyboard instrument related to the harpsichord. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
Description
A virginal is a smaller and simpler instrument compared to a harpsichord. It has a rectangular or many-sided shape. Each key on a virginal has only one string, unlike the harpsichord, which has several strings per key. The strings are mostly parallel to the keyboard, running along the long side of the instrument's case. Many of these instruments were made without legs and were placed on a table for playing. Later versions were built with their own stands.
Mechanism
The virginals works the same way as a harpsichord, because both use small pieces called plectra attached to jacks to pluck their wire strings. The virginals has a case that is shaped like a rectangle or a many-sided figure. It has one row of strings, with one string for each note, and these strings run almost parallel to the keyboard. The strings are plucked near one end, like the harpsichord, or near the middle in the case of the muselar. This creates a sound similar to a flute, with less of the higher musical tones.
Etymology
The origin of the name "virginals" is not clear. It may come from the Latin word "virga," which means a rod, possibly referring to the wooden parts that move the keys. However, this idea has not been proven. Another possibility is that the name comes from the word "virgin," as the instrument was often played by young women. It could also be linked to the sound of the instrument, which resembles a young girl's voice ("vox virginalis" in Latin). Some believe the name may be connected to the Virgin Mary, as nuns used the instrument to play hymns in her honor.
In England during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, any keyboard instrument with strings was often called a "virginals." This term could describe a harpsichord, clavichord, or spinet. Many musical works by William Byrd and his contemporaries were played on large harpsichords from Italy or Flanders, not just the smaller instruments now called virginals. At the time, people sometimes referred to a "pair of virginals," which likely meant a single instrument, such as a harpsichord with two sound settings or a double virginals (as explained later).
History
The virginals shares its origins with the harpsichord, both tracing back to the psaltery, a stringed instrument to which a keyboard was added, likely in the 15th century. The first recorded use of the word "virginals" appears in a musical treatise written around 1460 by Paulus Paulirinus of Prague (1413–1471). He described the instrument as "a device shaped like a clavichord, with metal strings that produce a sound similar to a clavicembalo. It has 32 rows of strings activated by pressing keys with the fingers, creating a soft, pleasant tone in both whole and half steps. It is called a virginals because, like a virgin, it produces a gentle and undisturbed sound." The Oxford English Dictionary notes the first use of the term in English in 1530, when King Henry VIII of England acquired five such instruments. Early virginals were small and often played on a person's lap or placed on a table, though later models typically included their own stands. The instrument was most widely used from the second half of the 16th century through the late 17th century, until the Baroque period, when it was replaced in England by the bentside spinet and in Germany by the clavichord.
Types
Spinet virginals (not to be confused with the spinet) were mainly made in Italy (Italian: spinetta), England, and Flanders (Dutch: spinetten). The keyboard is placed to the left of the center, and the strings are plucked at one end, farther from the bridge than in the harpsichord. This is the more common arrangement for modern instruments, and an instrument described simply as a "virginal" is likely to be a spinet virginals. The main differences in construction are the placement of the keyboard: Italian instruments always had a keyboard that extended outward from the case, while northern virginals had their keyboards set back into a keywell. Italian instruments were made of cypress wood and had delicate designs, while northern virginals were usually sturdier and made of poplar. Early Italian virginals were often hexagonal in shape, with the case shaped to match the strings and bridges. A few early Flemish examples were also hexagonal. However, from about 1580, most virginals became rectangular, with Italian models often having outer cases similar to harpsichords from that time. Very few English virginals remain, and they are all from the later period. They usually followed the Flemish design but had a curved lid.
Muselars (also called muselaar) were made only in northern Europe. Here, the keyboard is placed to the right of the center, and the strings are plucked about one-third along their length. This creates a warm, rich, and resonant sound with a strong main note and weak higher notes. However, this design has a drawback: the left-hand keys and jacks are placed in the middle of the soundboard, making mechanical noises louder. Additionally, the central plucking point in the bass section makes it hard to repeat notes quickly, as the still-sounding string interferes with the plectrum’s movement. An 18th-century writer (Van Blankenberg, 1739) noted that muselars "grunt in the bass like young pigs." Because of these issues, muselars were better suited for music with simple left-hand parts. Some muselars had a special stop called the harpichordium (also arpichordium), which used lead hooks to create a buzzing, rough sound on the bass strings.
Muselars were popular in the 16th and 17th centuries and were widely used, much like upright pianos were in the early 20th century. However, like other virginals, they fell out of use by the 18th century.
Both Italian and northern makers created small versions of virginals called ottavini. These were pitched an octave higher than regular virginals. In the Flemish tradition, ottavini were often sold with a larger virginal, allowing them to be played together. In the Italian tradition, ottavini were usually separate instruments with their own outer cases, like larger Italian virginals.
Examples include:
– 1689 Menegoni Ottavino from the Hans Adler keyboard collection. [1]
– Rectangular Octave Virginal, c. 1600, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Flemish school, especially the Ruckers family, made a special type of virginals called "Mother and Child." This design combined two instruments: a regular virginal (either a spinet or muselar) with one 8′ register, and an ottavino with one 4′ register. The smaller ottavino was stored under the soundboard of the larger instrument and could be pulled out to play separately. However, the two instruments could also be connected, with the ottavino placed over the strings of the larger virginal. This allowed both instruments to be played at the same time, creating a brighter sound.
In the inventory of Henry VIII of England, listed by Philip Van Wilder in 1553, there are mentions of "twoo pair of double virginalles," "one new pair of double virginalles," and other unclear references. These date back 30 years before the earliest surviving "Mother and Child" virginal (1581 Hans Ruckers) and 60 years before the earliest known double manual harpsichords. The term "double virginal" may have referred to the number of stops or the instrument’s range.
Examples include:
– Double virginal (1600) by Lodewijck Grouwels (MET 89.4.1196).
– Double virginal (1581) by Hans Ruckers the Elder. (MET 29.90)
– Hans Ruckers’ stand-alone virginal (1610) from the Hans Adler keyboard collection.
Compass and pitch
The keyboard range of most virginals was from C2/E2 to C6 (45 notes, 4 octaves), which allowed the playing of music that was commonly available for these instruments at the time. The lowest octave was tuned using a short octave system, meaning the bottom E sounded like C2, the bottom F♯ sounded like D2, and the bottom G♯ sounded like E2. This arrangement let frequently used low bass notes occupy positions of keys that were rarely played in the contemporary music, avoiding the need for a larger instrument. Some Italian models had a range from C2 to F6 (54 notes, 4 + ½ octaves).
Virginals came in different sizes. A Dutch musician named Class Douwes (circa 1650–circa 1725) described instruments ranging from about 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length down to 2 + ½ feet (0.76 meters). The pitch differences in models made by the Ruckers workshop were not random but matched specific musical intervals, such as a tone, a fourth, a fifth, an octave, and a ninth. Pitch assignments for these instruments have been proposed based on measurements provided by Douwes. Most modern virginals are full-sized at 8′ pitch or smaller versions called ottavini at 4′ pitch. However, no surviving Ruckers instruments are known to have been made at the 4′ pitch, and it is likely none were ever produced by his workshop.
Decoration
Early virginals in Europe were often made of plain wood, but over time, they became decorated with rich materials and designs. These decorations may have helped many of these instruments survive. Decorations included carved edges, jackrails, and namebattens, as well as materials like ivory, mother-of-pearl, marble, agate, tortoiseshell, and semi-precious stones. Intricate paintings were also used, and those who could afford it used expensive materials for these decorations.
Flemish virginals often had soundboards painted with images of flowers, fruit, birds, caterpillars, moths, and even cooked prawns. These designs were placed inside blue scalloped borders and surrounded by detailed blue patterns. Many of these images may have symbolized rebirth. The natural keys were usually covered with bone, while the sharps were made of oak or, less often, chestnut. The outside of the cases was often marbled, while the inside was decorated with elaborate printed paper. Sometimes, the inside of the lid showed a painted scene, but more often, it had printed paper with a Latin motto. These mottos were usually about music or morality. Examples include:
- SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MVNDI ("Thus passes the glory of the world")
- MVSICA DVLCE LABORVM LEVAMEN ("Music is the sweet solace of labour")
- MVSICA DONVM DEI ("Music is the gift of God")
The Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer was one of many who painted virginals in their artwork.
Italian virginals did not have a standard style of decoration. When they had an outer case, it was often decorated, while the instrument itself remained plain, especially in Venetian virginals. Cases might include paintings of grotesques, classical scenes, or marquetry, but soundboards were rarely painted. Keytops could be simple boxwood or decorated with materials like ivory, ebony, mother-of-pearl, or tortoiseshell, especially in northern Italy.
Both northern and Italian virginals had a decorative rose cut into the soundboard, sometimes two or three in older models. The rose had no sound-related purpose and was only for decoration. These roses were inspired by the rose on medieval lutes but were not carved directly into the soundboard. In Italian instruments, the rose was made by layering pierced parchment to resemble a Gothic rose window or an upside-down cake. In Flemish instruments, the rose was usually made of lead, covered in gold, and included the maker’s initials.
Composers and collections of works
The word "virginals" was used to describe any stringed keyboard instrument. In the past, musical scores rarely showed which instrument was used, so few pieces are known to be written specifically for virginals. Most keyboard music from the Renaissance era sounds similar on instruments like the harpsichord, virginals, clavichord, or organ. It is likely that composers did not have a specific instrument in mind when writing keyboard music. A list of composers who wrote for the virginals (and other instruments) can be found under the term "virginalist." While the "virginalist school" usually refers to English composers, it is also correct to include some composers from other countries, such as Girolamo Frescobaldi, Giovanni Picchi, Samuel Scheidt, and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.
Among the approximately dozen English "virginal books," only Elizabeth Rogers' Virginal Book had the word "virginals" in its original title. The other collections were given this name by music scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries.
A selection of English "virginal books" includes: