Richly illustrated volume traces 6 hundred years of harpsichord design and construction.
A History of the Harpsichord brings together for the first time more than 200 photographs, illustrations, and drawings of harpsichords in public museums and private collections throughout Europe the United States. Edward L. Kottick draws on his extensive technical knowledge and experience as a harpsichord builder to detail the changing design, structure, and acoustics of the instrument over seven centuries.
Based on painstaking research, the book considers the place of the instrument in society and vividly describes the market forces that brought about changes in its form, decoration, and cultural importance. An accompanying CD
includes performances on several of the historical instruments described and illustrated in the volume, including a 1580 spinett virginal by Martin van der Biest and instruments built by Ruckers and Pleyel. The volume devotes attention to American harpsichord design as well as to present and future uses of the instrument.
Also of interest
The History of the Pianoforte
A Documentary in Sound
Eva Badura-Skoda
0-253-33582-5 HB £37.95
" . . . full and detailed, the result of hard work, very wide reading and, as often in this area of study, personal experience as an instrument maker. . . . A History of the Harpsichord can thus serve many purposes, for anyone from student players to museum curators."--Times Literary
Supplement, 13 February 2004
Content:
List of Plates and Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
1. From Psaltery and Monochord to Harpsichord and Virginal
The Sixteenth Century
2. The Emergence of the Northern Harpsichord
3. Antwerp Harpsichord Building between Karest and Ruckers
4. Early Italian Style
The Seventeenth Century
5. The Ruckers-Couchet Dynasty
6. Later Italian Style
7. Seventeenth-Century International Style
8. France
9. Germany and Austria
10. England
The Eighteenth Century
11. The Decline of the Italian Harpsichord
12. The Iberian Peninsula
13. Harpsichord building in France to the Revolution
14. The Low Countries in the Post-Ruckers Era
15. Germany, Scandinavia, Austria, and Switzerland
16. Great Britain and America
The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
17. The Harpsichord Hibernates
18. The Harpsichord Revival from the Paris Exposition to World War II
19. The Modern Harpsichord
20. Into the future
Glossary; Bibliography; Appendix: Exploded views; Index
A History of the Harpsichord brings together for the first time more than 200 photographs, illustrations, and drawings of harpsichords in public museums and private collections throughout Europe the United States. Edward L. Kottick draws on his extensive technical knowledge and experience as a harpsichord builder to detail the changing design, structure, and acoustics of the instrument over seven centuries.
Based on painstaking research, the book considers the place of the instrument in society and vividly describes the market forces that brought about changes in its form, decoration, and cultural importance. An accompanying CD
includes performances on several of the historical instruments described and illustrated in the volume, including a 1580 spinett virginal by Martin van der Biest and instruments built by Ruckers and Pleyel. The volume devotes attention to American harpsichord design as well as to present and future uses of the instrument.
Also of interest
The History of the Pianoforte
A Documentary in Sound
Eva Badura-Skoda
0-253-33582-5 HB £37.95
" . . . full and detailed, the result of hard work, very wide reading and, as often in this area of study, personal experience as an instrument maker. . . . A History of the Harpsichord can thus serve many purposes, for anyone from student players to museum curators."--Times Literary
Supplement, 13 February 2004
Content:
List of Plates and Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
1. From Psaltery and Monochord to Harpsichord and Virginal
The Sixteenth Century
2. The Emergence of the Northern Harpsichord
3. Antwerp Harpsichord Building between Karest and Ruckers
4. Early Italian Style
The Seventeenth Century
5. The Ruckers-Couchet Dynasty
6. Later Italian Style
7. Seventeenth-Century International Style
8. France
9. Germany and Austria
10. England
The Eighteenth Century
11. The Decline of the Italian Harpsichord
12. The Iberian Peninsula
13. Harpsichord building in France to the Revolution
14. The Low Countries in the Post-Ruckers Era
15. Germany, Scandinavia, Austria, and Switzerland
16. Great Britain and America
The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
17. The Harpsichord Hibernates
18. The Harpsichord Revival from the Paris Exposition to World War II
19. The Modern Harpsichord
20. Into the future
Glossary; Bibliography; Appendix: Exploded views; Index