(It.).
Term most commonly used in 15th- and 16th-century Italy for a polygonal Virginal (see Cervelli). Other, less popular, names at this time for the same instrument were clavicordio and spinetta. Despite the etymological similarity, it is not to be confused with the harpsichord or the Arpichordum stop. The name probably derives from the layout on a polygonal virginal of the bridges and strings, which resemble the shape of a harp (It. arpa). Some early instruments were made with curved case sides also suggesting a harp shape (see Winternitz, pl.50a). It is unclear whether a rectangular-cased virginal would have been called an arpicordo, but in any case, these were not common in the 16th century. The term arpicordo leutato was coined by Adriano Banchieri (L'organo suonarino, 2/1611) to describe several instruments he had seen with a sound between a harpsichord and a lute (see Lute-harpsichord).
E. Winternitz: Musical Instruments and their Symbolism in Western Art (New York, 1967, 2/1979)
L. Cervelli: ‘Arpicordo: mito di un nome e realtŕ di uno strumento’, Quadrivium, xiv (1973), 187–95
D.J. Hamoen: ‘The Arpicordo Problem: Armand Neven's Solution Reconsidered’, AcM, xlviii (1976), 181–4
J.H. Van der Meer: ‘Das Arpicordo-Problem nochmals erörtert’, AcM, xlix (1977), 275–9
DENZIL WRAIGHT