Virginals
| Maker | Adlam Burnett |
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| Manufactured | Finchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent, 1972 | |
| Description | Replica of 17th-century Flemish muselar virginal by Joannes Couchet, Antwerp, 1650. Green painted case-work lined with 'Ruckers' papers, on a four legged turned and framed oak stand. | |
| Inscriptions | + DUM + VIXI + TACUI + MORTUA + DULCE + CANO + on the inside of the lid; + AURES + ANIMI + FORES + on the inside of the front flap; ~ DEREK ~ ADLAM ~ FECIT ~ on jackrail; and Derek Adlam Opus 3 1972, Adlam Burnett, Finchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent. and Malcolm Fisk No1 29-3-72 on rear of front-board. | |
| Specification | One 8', strung in iron and brass with an arpicordum stop on the straight section of the RH bridge. | |
| Pitch | A=415 | |
| Compass | C-c3; short & broken octave. | |
| References |
Original in Vleeshuis, Antwerp (Boalch3 number: COUCHET, I. 1650; O'Brien, p. 272, number: 1650a IC)
The anonymous motto, part of the longer riddle Viva fui in sylvis sum dura occisa securi | Dum vixi tacui mortua dulce cano ("Once I was alive in the woods till felled by a cruel axe; living, I was mute, dead, I sweetly sing"), has been associated with musical instruments since the Renaissance; see E. K. Borthwick, 'The Riddle of the Tortoise and the Lyre', Music & Letters, li/4 (Oct. 1970), pp. 373-87. Aures animi fores ("The ears are the gateway to the soul", Ficino, De Amore, VI/9) became the builder’s motto upon his finding it inscribed on the confessional at Godinton Park, Kent. | |
| Restoration | 1984 Mackinnon & Waitzman |