PIERRE VERBEEK CLAVICHORDS
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    • Urbino Palazzo Ducale clavichord 15th c.
    • Anonymous 'Mirrey' South Netherlandish clavichord ca. 1620
    • Johan Jacob Donat clavichord 1700
    • Anders Wahlstroem clavichord 1752
    • Israel Gellinger clavichord 1670
    • Ph.-J. Specken clavichord 1743
    • Anonymous Swedish clavichord ca. 1750
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    • A. Ruckers single 1637
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Anonymous 'Mirrey' South Netherlandish clavichord ca. 1620

Fretted clavichord after an anonymous clavichord ca. 1620, in the collection of Dr. Roger Mirrey, now in Edinburgh.

Fretted clavichord, original unsigned, possibly Antwerp, ca. 1620, Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, Edinburgh, collection number 4486 (see Darryl Martin, 'A South Netherlandish Quint-Pitch Clavichord', The Galpin Society Journal LXIX (2016), p 23-38).

This is a compact clavichord, with a particularly powerful and long sound for such small dimensions. It is a double- and triple-fretted instrument, whose model is the anonymous 'Mirrey' clavichord currently in Edinburgh, with collection number 4486 . With its meantone temperament it is ideal for the performance of music by composers such as J.-P. Sweelinck, W. Bird, H. Scheidemann, Th. Tallis, G. Farnaby, P. Cornet and many others up to the period of J.J. Froberger and M. Weckmann. The external appearance and details of its construction seem close to the engraving of Michael Praetorius' Syntagma Musicum of 1620 for the "gemein" clavichord.


  • C/E-c3
  • bass short octave
  • 45 notes
  • 24 pairs of strings
  • pitch A=440 Hz or higher
  • projecting keyboard
  • second 'soundboard' under the keys
  • outer dimensions 107.0 x 34.5 x 12.0 cm
  • case in pear wood or poplar (as in the original), wrestplank in oak,  bridge in beech,  keyboard in lime with boxwood covered naturals and sharps of pear wood, rose in parchment.



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  • Home
  • Clavichords
    • Urbino Palazzo Ducale clavichord 15th c.
    • Anonymous 'Mirrey' South Netherlandish clavichord ca. 1620
    • Johan Jacob Donat clavichord 1700
    • Anders Wahlstroem clavichord 1752
    • Israel Gellinger clavichord 1670
    • Ph.-J. Specken clavichord 1743
    • Anonymous Swedish clavichord ca. 1750
  • Gallery - clavichords
  • Banet Sart vacation house
  • Harpsichords
    • A. Ruckers single 1637
    • A. Ruckers transposing double 1640
    • Virginals
  • Prices and sales terms
  • Downloads
  • Care, maintenance
  • Contact, bio
  • Gallery workshop