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The Neapolitan Harpsichord
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (and perhaps still!) the southern city of Naples seems to have danced to a different tune from the rest of Italy. Their composers wrote a different sort of opera, and their instrument builders made a different sort of harpsichord. For one thing, they often used maple for their cases, rather than the usual cypress, and on occasion even used it for their soundboards. For another, they outdid even the most ornate examples from Venice with their extensive use of moldings. Their sharply-angles tails are another characteristic, and the generous distance at which the bentside follows the bridge provides plenty of vibrating soundboard area.
Our Neapolitan has a chromatic four-octave compass, C-d''', and is double-transposing at A = 392 Hz, 415 Hz, and 440 Hz with no loss of notes on either end.
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![[Footer - Zuckerman Harpsichords International]](/graphics/footer.gif)
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We couldn't resist the challenge, and incorporated all of these-including the maple soundboard-into our design. The Neapolitan is ideal for continuo and accompaniment use, but with its bell-like basses, penetrating tenors, and singing trebles, it gives the Italian solo literature a new dimension. And like any good Italian, it can deal with Flemish, German, and French music.
