DULCE MELOS
This instrument from the early 15th century is one of the earliest string keyboards. It was commissioned to be reconstructed by the Chi Mei Culture Foundation in Taiwan for their Museum in 1994. The only source of information is the manuscript treatise by Arnault de Zwolle c. 1440. We are the first firm to make this keyboard available for early music performance, and it was used by Philip Pickett's New London Consort in March 1998 for their CD 'Songs of Angels' to be released by Decca in the near future, and had its first public performance in the Early Music Festival, London on the 5th September 1998 with the same consort and programme as on the CD.
It is essentially a keyed dulcimer whose action is a precursor of certain early pianos. A staple-shaped 'hammer' carries a slip of wood hinged to the key at the back, and when a key is depressed it is thrown up against the strings and returns instantly. There are no dampers, and it is possible, played sensitively, to obtain limited dynamics, which was an advantage over the harpsichord being developed over the same period. Some people believe the mysterious chekker and the dulce melos to be one and the same instrument. For professional and amateur groups this early keyboard is a valuable and exciting addition to the timbre and resonance of sound so typical of medieval music. There is mention of a dulce melos being used in Spain in 1490 to celebrate Corpus Christi along with two vielles and woodwind instruments.
All of the 12 unison pairs of strings passing over the four bridges is capable of sounding three notes; its basic pitch (struck between the first and second bridges) and that note two octaves higher, thus providing a fully chromatic range from B to a". The casework is in walnut, with a spruce soundboard, and the keyboard is finished with boxwood and ebony. Iron strings ('a' can be pitched at 440 or to a maximum of 466).
SPECIFICATIONS
Length: 930mm
Width: 360mm
Depth: 150mm.