Lucca's organ split keys.

Hi all,

The discussion about the possible split keys of Lucca's organ recalls to
my mind a discussion I had many years ago with my teacher, at my
apprenticeship time. The doubt was about a possible translation into
modern terms of the original contract's text.
The phrase "la tersa del fa delle f" is pretty obscure, and I believe
Lindley's translation "the minor third above F" may be somehow
erroneous, considering that the literal translation is "the third of the
'fa' of the f's", then there is no mention to the "minor" term.

I would propose a solution that would both make more consistent the
explication of the antique text, and allow to determine the second split key.
The word "fa" might be a misspelling of the transcriptor who rendered
the antique text, which, instead, may be was "la tersa del # delle f".

Such an error is more understandable if we consider that the antique
document was written by hand with the characters of the XV century, then
there is place, to the reader, for a confusion between "#" and "fa". It
may even be that the error was made by the copyst of the time; in fact,
it is known that the contracts were written by a notary, and than copied
by an assistant in the number of copies which was needed, according to
the number of contractors. It may well be that the copyst had some
difficulties in understanding the meaning of the unusual "#" character,
and rendered it by the nearer common letters.

If we accept such an interpretation, the text becomes quite clear, as
the English translation would be "the third of the # of the f's", which
is explicative with no forcing, so the second split key would be the
A#/Bb, as already suggested by L. F. Tagliavini.
It would be nice to check the original manuscript, if it is still
available somewhere.

I launch this as just a working hypothesis, and would like to hear your comments.

Best regards from Italy
Leonardo Perretti