Early
English Keyboard Music
on
the organ of the Ospedaletto in Venice
The Conservatorio dell’Ospedaletto has had a
series of organs
since its foundation in 1528. The present instrument
was built in
1751 by the leading Venetian organ-maker of his day, Pietro
Nacchini (his Opus 160). Its fine baroque case which predates it
(1698)
stands in the choir gallery situated above the main altar. The
instrument has remained unaltered and was restored in 1983 by
Franz Zanin.
Christopher Stembridge specialises in keyboard
music of the
renaissance and early
baroque, particularly from Italy. In addition
to publishing
various papers, he has edited music by de Macque,
Mayone and Frescobaldi.
Apart from the organ, he also plays
the clavichord and the cembalo cromatico, a harpsichord with 19
notes to the octave
–
a
reconstruction of an instrument that was
widely used in late
16th-century Italy.
