C O N S U L T A T I O N S

carried out by

Grant O’Brien

 

 Free-lance Consultations:

          Because I am now retired from my employment with the University of Edinburgh as Curator/Director of the Russell Collection and as Reader in the Faculty of Music, I now fill out much of my time carrying out free-lance restorations and consultations.  In the past I have been engaged both by museums and by public and private bodies to carry out restorations of early keyboard instruments for them and to give advice about restoration and environmental control in museums and in private collections. 

   

Submitted reports and consultations carried

out over a period of the past few years:

1991 Reports to the Ringve Museum, Norway

Investigative Analyses.  Unfretted Clavichord by I.C. Gerlach, Hamburg, 1756.  Ringve Museum, Trondheim.  Inventory No. RMT 74/15

Catalogue Description.  Anonymous Italian Bentside Spinet.  Undated c.1650-1700.  Ringve Museum, Trondheim.  Inventory No. RMT 67/116.

Restoration Report.  Anonymous Italian Bentside Spinet.  Undated c.1650-1700.  Ringve Museum, Trondheim.  Inventory No. RMT 67/116.

Catalogue Description.  Unfretted Clavichord by I.C. Gerlach, Hamburg, 1756.  Ringve Museum, Trondheim, Inventory No. RMT 74/15.

 

 1992 Interim reports on instruments in the Ringve Museum, Norway:

Interim report on the Upright Harp Piano signed "Dietz Paris/Brussel"  RMT Nº 390

Interim report on the English Square Piano signed "New Patent Clementi & Co- Cheapside, London"  RMT Nº 230

Interim report on the Fretted Clavichord signed "Johann Christoph Fleischer Hamburg 1728"  RMT 385

Interim report on the Double-manual French Harpsichord attributed to Antoine Watters (Vater?) 1737  RMT Nº 372

Interim report on the Viennese Grand Piano signed "Conrad Graf K K Hof Klaviermacher[sic] in Wien Wieden N 182"  RMT Nº 66/17

Interim report on the Norwegian Upright Piano signed "Nº 14 Brødrene Hals Kristiania"  RMT Nº 77/7

Interim report on the Double-manual English Harpsichord signed "Jacobus Kirckman Londini Fecit 1767"  RMT Nº 79/12

Interim report on the Small Piano known as the "Mozart Piano"  RMT Nº 67/124

Interim report on the 5-Octave Clavichord attributed to Hartwich Müller, Copenhagen  RMT Nº 383

Interim report on the French Square Piano signed (in part) "MÉDAILLE D’HONNEUR Expon Universelle de 1855 IGNACE PLEYEL & COMPIE. Paris"  RMT Nº 72-27

Interim report on the Grand Piano signed "Jean André Stein faiseur d’Orgues [e] des Clavecins, Organiste à l’Eglise des Minor[ites] à Augsbourg [17]83"  RMT Nº 771

Interim report on the English Grand Piano signed "Robertus Stodart Londini Fecit 1786 Wardour Street Soho"  RMT Nº 73/34

Interim report on the 6-Octave Anonymous Viennese Grand Piano  RMT Nº 228

Interim report on the 6½-Octave Grand Piano signed "Friedrich Wieszniewski à DANZIG"  RMT Nº 774

General Recommendations for consideration following my visit to the Ringve Museum May, 1992, Unpublished report held by the Ringve Museum, Trondheim, Norway (Edinburgh, June, 1992).

  

1992 Reports to the Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan, Italy:

Investigative report on the 1544 Antegnati virginal

Preliminary report on the Undated Square Piano by Johann Bohak

Preliminary report on the Virginal by G. Borghetti, Brescia, 1844

Investigative report on the 1667 virginal by Onofrio Guarracino

Investigative report on the 1765 Burkat Shudi harpsichord

Preliminary report on the Anonymous Spinet dated 1707

Investigative report on the ‘Spinetta’ of Verdi

Some special problems in the conservation and restoration of keyboard musical instruments.

General notes on the condition of the instruments, conditions in the museum, and the eventual conservation and restoration of the instruments.

  

1995 Reports to the Museo Correr, Venice, Italy

Salterio nella forma di un’arpa.

Cembalo italiano anonimo ad una tastiera dalla Ca’ Rezzonico.

Spinetta poligonale Franciscus Patavinus, 1552.

Fortepiano verticale, stile impero:  “Ditanaklasis”.  Mathias Müller, c.1805

 

 1997 Report to the Ufficio Tecnico, Salerno, Italy

Detailed Report.  Single-Manual Italian Harpsichord Attributed to Ignazio Mucciardi, Naples, c.1770.  Possibly once the property of Sant’Alfonso.  Property of the Padri Redentoristi, Convento di Pagani, Salerno.

  

1997 Report to the Accademia Pianistica, Imola, Italy

Pre-Restoration Report and Certification Of Authenticity.  Single-manual Italian Harpsichord, Francesco Fabbri, Roma, c.1630, Collection of Maestro Franco Scala, Imola

  

1998 Reports to Robert Brown, Oberndorf, Austria

The stringing of the Jacob Bertsche fortepiano, Vienna, c.1815.  Collection of Dr Andreas Beurmann, Hamburg.

Investigative Analysis of the present stringing of the Tangentenflügel by C.F. Schmahl, Regensburg, c.1795, for the Technisches Museum, Vienna.

The stringing of the Jacob Bertsche fortepiano, Vienna, c.1815.  Collection of Dr Andreas Beurmann, Hamburg.  The stringing of the Franz Münzenberger Fortepiano, Vienna, c.1810.  Private collection, Oberndorf, Austria.

 

1999 Reports to the Accademia Bartolomeo Cristofori, Florence.

Notes regarding the design and properties of the jacks made for the J.A. Stein vis-à-vis piano/harpsichord, Accademia Filarmonica, Castelvecchio, Verona.

 

1999 Reports carried out for the restorer Guido Bizzi, Caidate di Summirago, Italy

Stringing Calculations.  Anonymous Italian polygonal virginal.  Private ownership, Paris.

Pre-restoration Report.  Italian single-manual harpsichord signed ‘Bartholomaeus Stefanini’, ?Lucca?, 1714.

  

1999 Reports carried out for Alan Rubin, Pelham Galleries, London

Report And Analysis.  A Flemish/French double-manual harpsichord by Couchet c.1646 / Blanchet c.1730.  Collection Of Alan Rubin, London.

 

 1999 Report and restoration carried out for the Museo Santa Giulia, Brescia, Italy

The cleaning and consolidation carried out on the case and soundboard of the polygonal virginal by Gianfrancesco Antegnati, Brescia, 1554, on loan from the Ateneo, via Tosi, Brescia to the Museo Santa Giulia, Brescia.

  

2000 Interim Report carried out for the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland

The history, authenticity and condition of the ‘1636 Iohannes Rucker’ double-manual harpsichord.  Property of HM Queen Elizabeth II, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh

  

2000 Report and restoration carried out for the Accademia Pianistica, Imola, Italy

Final Report.  Single-manual Italian harpsichord attributed to Francesco Fabbri, Rome, c.1630.  Collection of Maestro Franco Scala, Accademia Pianistica, Imola.

Restoration Report.  Single-manual Italian harpsichord attributed to Francesco Fabbri, Rome, c.1630.  Collection of Maestro Franco Scala, Accademia Pianistica, Imola.

 

 2000 Report to Barbara and Wolf Wolf, São Paulo, Brazil

Initial Report.  Flemish double-manual harpsichord with a Ioannes Ruckers rose, Antwerp, c.1620.  Now private property, London (see description on this site).

 

For more details about the Franco-Flemish harpsichord click on the image below:

 

This harpsichord was sold on 19 October, 2006.

 

 2000 Report carried out for Michele Visaggi, Terlizzi, Bari, Italy

Information Report.  Single-manual Neapolitan harpsichord with an inscription attributing it to Gaetano Carotenuto, ?1619?.  Collection of Michele Visaggi, Terlizzi, Bari.

 

 2000 Report carried out for Dr Richard Luckett, Cambridge

Data Sheets.  Anonymous Spanish single-manual harpsichord [Pérez Mirabal], Seville, 1734.  Collection of Dr Richard Luckett, Cambridge.

 

 2000 Report carried out for Harold Lester, London

Data Sheets.  Portuguese Piano.  Anonymous [Antunes?], c.1750, Lisbon, Portugal.  Collection of Harold Lester, London.

  

2000 Report carried out for the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Data Sheets.  Italian single-manual harpsichord.  Anonymous, Naples, c.1680.  Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Catalogue No M. 1-1933.

 

 2001 Reports carried out for the Galleria dell’Accademia delle Belle Arte, Florence, Italy

Report.  Italian single-manual harpsichord “Cembalo d’ebano”.  School of Bartolomeo Cristofori.  Galleria dell’Accademia delle Belle Arte, Florence.

Preliminary Report.  Spinetta di forma ovale’, Bartolomeo Cristofori, Florence, 1690.  Bardini Collection, Florence.

Report.  Italian polygonal virginal.  Benedetto Floriani, Venice, 1568.  Museo del Conservatorio di Musica ‘Benedetto Marcello’ and the Galleria dell’Accademia delle belle Arte, Florence.

Report.  Anonymous Italian polygonal virginal made in Trentino-Alto Adige possibly by Antonio Berneri.  Galleria dell’Accademia delle Belle Arte, Florence.

  

2002 Reports to Barbara and Wolf Wolf, São Paulo, Brazil

Final Report.  Franco-Flemish Double-manual Harpsichord with a Ioannes Ruckers Rose, C.1610, Private property, London  (see the description on this site).

Restoration Proposal.  Franco-Flemish Double-manual Harpsichord with a Ioannes Ruckers Rose, C.1610, Private property, London.

 

2003 Reports to Signora Fernanda Giulini, Briosco, Italy

Initial Report and Revised Report, Analysis of the early states as a harpsichord, Anonymous Franco-Flemish harpsichord converted into a fortepiano, Collection of Fernanda Giulini, Milan

Initial Report, Italian single-manual harpsichord, Attributed to Onofrio Guarracino, Naples, c.1670, Collection of Fernanda Giulini, Milan

 

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