Instrument Exhibit: Colin Booth, ottavino

[@latorrefazionemusic]

Bravo 👏👏 beautiful instrument, playing and composition. Thanks for your music

[@caesarsneezer6992]

Can't say I'm enamored with the piece he chose to play, but the sound of this 'baby harpsichord' is heavenly

[@MartinMusicMaker82]

So absolutely enchanting! I would love more information on the Ottavino! Including love to own one!

[@stevepethel6843]

Beautiful playing, composition, tone and instrument...

[@lizlanecomposer]

I am glad you liked the composition, thank you!

[@pascalolivier7280]

Thank You for your kind explanation and demonstration of this fascinating little home instrument. I want to buy one!... ...

[@Mancada100]

Bravo!

[@MrMalvolio29]

I wish Colin had played a Baroque or Renaissance piece on the ottavino. It actually sounds more “celestial” than the clavichord, another portable, small early music instrument. I’d really like to hear a clavicytherium. Have never heard the sound of that odd instrument.

[@francoisbruel9163]

You'll easily find clavicitherium demo videos, and they range from small, late medieval models, to large ones that sound much like a regular harpsichord. But the real treat is to play one: the player directly facing the soundboard, the sensation is powerful!

[@colinbooth2421]

OTTAVINO I get so many enquiries about this instrument, that I’m offering this information sheet. I hope that this answers your queries! Q. Can you sell me one? A. Sorry - I no longer make instruments. I made eight of them, but sold them all, keeping one back for myself. I have put you on the list of enquirers. I have tried to get another craftsperson to make them to my design, but so far, with no success. All my ottavinos sold for around £5,000. Q. Do you know where I could buy one? A. Sorry - no. Q. Do you have plans which I could use? A. No. You can buy plans of the original 17thC instrument from which I worked, from Marc Vogel, Jestetten, Germany. But my design made some changes. Q. How does it work? A. Just like a normal spinet, but much smaller, since it is pitched an octave higher. The action is a conventional one, using historical, simple jacks and plectra. Q. Does it have dampers? A. Only in the bass. The original has no dampers at all. Q. What wood is your instrument made of? A. Cedar of Lebanon, with a Spruce soundboard. The rose is made and sold by Marc Vogel. The keyboard is topped with Boxwood, with Ebony sharps. History: The ottavino seems to have been very common in Italy, in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although it works beautifully as a solo instrument, Dr. Burney, writing about his European tour towards the end of the 18th century, mentions that the Italians used it more commonly than most other types of harpsichord or spinet, mostly for accompanying the voice.

[@francoisbruel9163]

Thanks for the info! Some ottavinos (ottavini?) have the register along the back of the soundboard, allowing for slightly longer key levers. Here the balance point is really close to the back of the key pallets! not a problem though, as the historic way of playing doesn't involve advancing deep into the keyboard. I wonder if any has been made not with a "see-saw" system but with a hinge at the end of the key lever (which could in that case be longer, up to the back of the instrument) . The jack would then go down, not up. Of course the key would need a spring to come up. Some positive organ keyboards are made that way, if the chest is under the keyboard…