Italian Ottavino Virginal (Spinettina) made by John Watson, Colonial Williamsburg's conservator of instruments and mechanical arts, in 1980. Serial number #18. After making two ottavinos (#13 and #17) for the late Charles Hardin, music teacher of Colonial Williamsburg, Watson made #18 for Frank Butler of Ithaca New York. Butler operated the Pipe and Tabor, a business selling mostly renaissance wind instruments and music. Then in Jan. 1981 Butler sold it to Kerris Guinness, who had a recorder ensemble in Virginia Beach, VA. Guinness had seen #13, which then belonged to Dr. Lawrence Smith of Virginia Beach, and Watson refered her to Frank Butler. In Dec. 1983 Guinness sold the ottavino to Stuart Dean, also of Virginia Beach. Watson last worked on #18 in November of 1983 to prepare it for the transition to Dean. Whatever happened afterwards nobody knows, until I got it from Joe Darrow of Norfolk, VA in March of 2004. Darrow got it from a trade of an electronic keyboard the previous year. As for the remaining Watson ottavini, #13 and #17 are currently in Virginia Beach and Williamsburg respectively, while #19 is in Jacksonville, FL.
The instrument has a dimension of 13' x 23'. It weighs 10 lbs, and is made of Walnut and Maple. The compass is C/E-f".
Watson used an anonymous late 16th century to early 17th century instrument in the Conservatory of Brussels as an inspiration. The compass of that instrument is F-f". It has a false inner outer keyboard design with a painted lid. Since the pitch of the original instrument is undeterminable, we do not know exactly whether it is a true ottavino (4') or a mezzo-ottavino (quint pitch, tuned a fifth above normal pitch). The instrument is Neopolitan, since the location of the tuning pins are on the other side of the jack rail, a very distintive trait. The painting is Flemish. Watson chose this instrument as a model because of its range, which corresponded to a certain period of lute reportoire, as requested by Hardin.
Ottavini have been used as child instruments, private home accompaniment instruments for singing, or simply as toys. Charles Burney once wrote that the Ottavino sounded terrible, which was understandable as it was a very difficult instrument to voice correctly, and people were not neccessarily kept it in tune or in good condition back in the 1600s. Frescobaldi had written three works specifically calling for the use of the ottavino.
The orginal Conservatory of Brussels instrument on which the Watson ottavino was based
I was a harpsichord student in Colonial Williamsburg, and had played on the organs which Watson has been working on for many years. Imagine the shock that I had when I won it from an online auction and later found out about its origin. Both Watson and my teacher Jock Darling, the organist of Colonial Williamsburg, were delighted about the news.
The instrument was in fair condition, as the previous owner had no idea what it was. I have been doing restoration work on it, and save a few minor problems, it is now playable. Thank goodness I had some experiences working on the Renaissance Workshop Company Ottavino.
Click on the pictures to see them individually.
To learn more about ottavini, please go to my ottavino homepage.