Vincentius [Vincenti]

(fl 1515). Italian instrument maker from Livigmeno (possibly Livignano, Tuscany). His harpsichord constructed in 1515–16 is the oldest known to survive (see Harpsichord, §2(i)); that made in 1521 by Hieronymus Bononiensis long held this distinction). An inscription on the harpsichord indicates that it was made for Pope Leo X in 1516, and a signature on the underside of the soundboard reveals that the instrument was started on 18 September 1515. Although the harpsichord was made in a style consistent with other early harpsichords, and probably with a single register, its compass cannot be definitely established. It may have been C/E–f''', although FGA–g'''a''' is also possible.

Another harpsichord maker called Vincentius (fl 1610–12), of Prato, made harpsichords that are now at Leipzig University, at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, and at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BoalchM

D. Wraight: ‘Vincentius and the Earliest Harpsichords’, EMc, xiv (1986), 534–8

D. Wraight: The Stringing of Italian Keyboard Instruments c1500–c1650 (diss., Queen’s U. of Belfast, 1997), ii, 311–14

DENZIL WRAIGHT