Virtual Vincenzo

Welcome

In 1975 Decca made a vinyl recording of a collection of Scarlatti's sonatas. These pieces were played on a harpsichord constructed by Vincenzo Sodi in 1782. The Vincenzo Sodi harpsichord is by all accounts one of the most authentic instruments surviving and very much in keeping with the instrument that Scarlatti would have been composing on.

The harpsichord is currently kept in the basement of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter and is not currently on show to the public.

Sound Gallery have digitally recorded all the working notes from the harpsichord. We are in the process of re-creating the entire keyboard (or at least an approximation of it) with the aid of the latest computer and MIDI technology. In this way the sampled notes can be transferred to a MIDI controlled master keyboard and then played and heard by the public providing access to this important instrument. We have already developed a working octave for demonstration purposes.

The RAMM have told us that they have plans to create an exhibition space for the harpsichord, with a view to setting up an installation incorporating Sound Gallery's Virtual Vincenzo™. This area will be designed as an interactive musical and educational environment incorporating projected images a virtual harpsichord that can be played and the original instrument on display.

We feel that this principal of virtual, non-destructive restoration can be aplied to all manner of instruments throughout collections and museums nationally (and Internationally). We are currently persuing other avenues including local collections of Burmese and Tibettan instruments. Also, Sound Gallery is to archive notes from two local virginals built be Rewallin, a Kirkman harpsichord and early pianos amongst other early keyboard instruments nationally and internationally.

Virtual Vincenzo™ - A Re-Creation of Sonic History