"Jesses Cassus" Single Manual

4469 HCH  This harpsichord, with an inscription that has been read as “Jesses Cassus,” has been the subject of intrigued speculation since 1956, when it was mentioned and illustrated with two photos in the first edition of Donald Boalch’s Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord. Its apparent significance has stemmed from the interior decoration of the case, which is quite similar to that of English virginals made between circa 1570 and 1684. As an English harpsichord of the “virginalist” period, the “Jesses Cassus” would be of extreme rarity, since only three pre-1700 English harpsichords are known, made in London by Lodewijk Theewes (1579), John Hasard (1622), and Charles Haward (1683). Although many questions remain, it is clear that the instrument was heavily rebuilt, that is, made up from various antique and new parts between about 1880 and 1925. To summarize the discussion below: while the interior decoration and parts of the case may be seventeenth-century English, the soundboar