Virginals

The virginals or virginal (the plural does not necessarily denote more than one instrument) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early baroque periods.

Description

A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular form of the harpsichord with only one string per note running more or less parallel to the keyboard on the long side of the case. Many, if not most, of the instruments were constructed without legs, and would be placed on a table for playing. Later models were built with their own stands.

Mechanism

The mechanism of the virginals is identical to the harpsichord's, in that its wire strings are plucked by plectra mounted in jacks. Its case, however, is rectangular, and the single choir of strings—one per note—runs roughly parallel to the keyboard. The strings are plucked either at one end, as with the harpsichord, or, in the case of the muselar, nearer the middle producing a richer, flute-like tone.

Etymology

Legends about Theoderic the Great

The Gothic King Theoderic the Great was remembered in Germanic legend as Dietrich von Bern (Bern is the Middle High German name for Verona, where Theoderic had one of his residences). Dietrich figures in a number of surviving works, and it must be assumed that these draw on long-standing oral tradition. The majority of poems about Dietrich/Theoderic are composed in Middle High German, and are generally divided by modern scholars into historical (German: historische Dietrichepik) and fantastical (German: either märchenhafte or aventiurehafte Dietrichepik). The historical poems can loosely be connected with the life of the historical Theoderic and concern his expulsion from Verona by his uncle Ermenrich (Ermanaric) and his attempts to regain his kingdom with the help of Etzel (Attila). The fantastical poems concern his battles with dwarfs, dragons, giants, and other mythical beings, as well as other heroes such as Siegfried. In addition to these two categories of poems, he appears as a supporting character in some poems such as the Nibelungenlied and Biterolf und Dietleib.

Virginal (disambiguation)

Virginal may be:

See also