Girolamo Zenti

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Spinet, 1631, by Girolamo Zenti

Girolamo Zenti also Girolama de Zenti , Gerolamo de Sentis or Hieronymus de Zentis (* around 1609 in Viterbo , † around 1666 in Paris ) was an Italian harpsichord and organ builder .

Life

Girolamo Zenti was born in Viterbo near Rome . He was an apprentice in the workshop of Giovanni Battista Boni , which he continued after his death in 1641. It is documented for the year 1638 that Zenti was registered as a harpsichord maker in Rome. In 1641 he was responsible for Pope Urban VIII's collection of instruments . In 1653 he traveled to the Swedish royal court and worked for Queen Christina . He returned to Rome in 1660 to build an organ , which he did not complete.

In 1662 he traveled to Paris, but in 1664 he was brought to the royal court of Charles II in London . There he was called King's Virginal maker . In the same year he returned to Rome, in 1666 he traveled again to Paris. He died there a short time later.

Zenti was probably also at the Medici court in Florence . Six of his instruments were counted there around 1700 on the occasion of an inventory when Bartolomeo Cristofori arrived .

Invention of the spinet

Zenti is credited with inventing the spinet. He is the builder of the oldest surviving spinet , a small octave spinet from 1631. After his stay in London the instrument became very popular there too and it is reasonable to assume that Zenti introduced the instrument there and in other parts of Europe. In France this instrument was called espinette à l'italienne ("spinet in Italian manner") and in England it is called the bentside-spinet .

Preserved instruments

Harpsichord from 1666

No instruments from his time in Stockholm , London or Paris have survived, and no Zentis organ has survived. But about a dozen stringed keyboard instruments in Italy are ascribed to him, two of them with great certainty. These are a spinet from 1631, which is in the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels , and a harpsichord from 1666, which is on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art .

Another octave spinet that is unusually small in size is also in the Metropolitan Museum. It was probably made for a child.

In the Deutsches Museum in Munich there is an instrument that the musical instrument lore ascribes Zenti. However, it was ruined by Leopoldo Franciolini , a 19th century instrument forger. He added a second manual to the instrument to increase the price.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord . Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2003, ISBN 0-253-34166-3 , pp. 137 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Andreas Beurmann: Historical keyboard instruments - The Andreas and Heikedine Beurmann collection in the Museum for Art and Industry Hamburg. Prestel, Munich a. a. 2000, p. 53.
  3. ↑ a b c Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord . Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2003, ISBN 0-253-34166-3 , pp. 139 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ Girolamo Zenti | Harpsichord | Italian. In: metmuseum.org. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  5. ^ Edwin M. Ripin, Denzil Wraight: Zenti, Girolamo (Zentis, Hieronymus de). (No longer available online.) In: grovemusic.github.io. Formerly in the original ; accessed on July 8, 2017 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / grovemusic.github.io  
personal data
SURNAME Zenti, Girolamo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zenti, Girolama de; Sentis, Gerolamo de; Zentis, Hieronymus de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian harpsichord and organ builder
DATE OF BIRTH around 1609
PLACE OF BIRTH Viterbo
DATE OF DEATH around 1666
Place of death Paris