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William Dowd Harpsichord

Available for use in Recording Studios

Not currently on exhibit

Artifact TypeHarpsichord

Manufacturer William Richmond Dowd 1922 - 2008

Based on Original Design by Pascal Taskin 1723 - 1793

Manufacturer LocationBoston, Massachusetts, USA, North America

Date1972

Renowned American harpsichord maker William Dowd (1922 – 2008) was a pioneer of the historical harpsichord movement. Trained in the manner of Arnold Dolmetsch, Dowd is credited with rescuing the harpsichord from crude “modernizations” in the first half of the 20th century—and reviving the original craftsmanship of the historical 17th century instrument. Based on the designs of French harpsichord builder Pascal Taskin, Dowd worked out a standard design that has become the benchmark for performers—and the succeeding generations of harpsichord builders—across North America and Europe.

Inscription on nameplate: ‘William Dowd - Boston - 1972’.

Operation/FunctionThis particular instrument is a double manual French harpsichord, employing a five-octave compass on each keyboard; the upper manual slides forward to couple with the lower manual. The upper manual contains a single 8’ set of strings, and the lower manual contains both 8’ and 4’ sets of strings. The instrument’s jacks are made of Pearwood, and the plectra are made of Delrin. It is a copy of a 1769 instrument made by Pascal Taskin.Cultural SignificanceThe harpsichord is historically recognized as the most well known of the plucked string keyboard instruments, with the more compact virginal and spinet holding a similar reputation to the vertical piano in their being a more practical alternative to the larger and more complex grand piano. It stood as the dominant keyboard instrument of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and its designer’s penchant for complexity and intricate design has resulted in the instrument’s association with luxury, opulence, and innovation. Unlike the clavichord, the harpsichord was capable of projecting its tone to a far more substantial level and was thus more suitable for public usage. The harpsichord remained popular in the context of chamber and orchestral performance, as it was loud enough to hold its place among a group of instruments, while the virginal and spinet, along with other small keyboard instruments such as the clavichord, were more common in domestic settings and among travelling musicians. Although most composers of keyboard music throughout the Renaissance and Baroque did not write for a specific instrument, the harpsichord was typically the most popular among early keyboard instruments, and remained so until its decline in the eighteenth century with the rise of the piano. A number of prominent composers, including J.S. Bach, Franz Haydn, and W.A. Mozart composed for the harpsichord. Although the instrument remained relatively obscure throughout the nineteenth century, its resurgence in the twentieth century – both in the form of the revival movement of the early twentieth century and the historical revival in the mid twentieth century – once again returned the instrument into popular usage. Along with its modern usage in early music revival, repertoire for the harpsichord has considerably expanded throughout the century, including appearances in popular and experimental music.Technological SignificanceAlthough succumbing to the piano late in the eighteenth century, instruments belonging to the harpsichord family are still today regarded as tonally and structurally intriguing on account of their unique plucking mechanism. The harpsichord, in its ability to alter its tone, split its voicing over the two manuals of double-manual instruments, and maintain a relatively loud volume, remained the dominant keyboard instrument of the Baroque era. When the piano emerged in 1700, however, it brought with it a more sophisticated clavichord mechanism that enabled the instrument to project its tone. Unlike the harpsichord, the clavichord employs a striking mechanism that attaches small pieces of metal called tangents to the back end of the keys: when a key is depressed, the back end is lifted and the tangent hits the string, causing it to vibrate. Since there is no other mechanism separating the key from the tangent, however, the difficulty with the clavichord lies in the fact that the tangent remains in contact with the string for as long as the player holds down the key. As a result, the tangent dampens the vibrations in the strings, preventing them from projecting. That being said, since the touch of the key is directly correspondent with the movement of the tangent, it is possible for the player of the clavichord to produce tones that vary in dynamic expression; by hitting the key with minimal force, a quieter sound is produced, and by hitting the key with a greater force, louder tones are achieved. Thus, although the clavichord was more expressive than the harpsichord, its tone was, overall, too quiet in comparison and the instrument was largely rendered inappropriate for public performance. The inventor of the piano, Italian builder Bartolomeo Cristofori, is credited with the design of the single escapement action, which improved upon the key lever system of the clavichord by physically detaching the key from the tangent, or hammer as they are called in pianos. When a key is depressed on Cristofori’s piano, the hammer is similarly pushed upward to strike the string, but then falls back to its resting position immediately afterward under its own weight, regardless of whether the key remains held down. Cristofori’s piano was also capable of producing the same types of expressive and dynamic variations as the clavichord. For the most part, the harpsichord was not capable of varying its dynamics – an unfortunate feature that is attributed to the plucking mechanism. A number of innovations were introduced into the instrument to attempt to overcome this difficulty, including: incorporating coupling mechanisms into double-manual instruments, which would enable the player to split the manuals into 8’ and 4’ sections, thereby producing tones of slightly varying amplitude as well as frequency; replacing the quill or bone plectra with ones made of leather – a practice first established by Pascal Taskin in 1768, which produced a slightly softer tone; introducing materials such as silk and silver into the instrument’s steel and brass strings, again, so as to produce somewhat softer tones; and, retrofitting the lid of the instrument with moveable slats that would allow the player to make active changes to the projected amplitude. In the end, these innovations proved ineffectual, and the hammering system of the piano, capable of natural subtleties and variations that are a direct result of the player’s touch, emerged as the more flexible mechanism at the end of the eighteenth century. The organ, though also considered an early keyboard instrument, is often placed into its own category of instruments, and has been continuously refined over the centuries to allow the player a great many number of variations in tone, timbre, and amplitude. The harpsichord also suffered further practical issues, one of which stems from the manner in which the jacks mute the strings after the key is released. When the key is released, the jack falls back into its resting position and a piece of felt placed at the top of the jack serves to dampen the vibrations of the strings. Unless a key is held down for a sufficient amount of time, which is not generally feasible in common performance practice, the jack mutes the string somewhat prematurely, resulting in a tone that feels roughly cut. In the late nineteenth century, a number of piano builders, most notably the French firms of Érard and Pleyel began reproducing harpsichords, incorporated techniques and materials borrowed from piano building. These instruments came to be known as “revival” harpsichords and, along with the historically informed instruments that arose in the mid twentieth century, which based their designs on historical models and documents, were in popular use throughout the twentieth century. Some modern harpsichords are built with a transposition mechanism that allows the player to shift the keyboard so as to alter the A pitch (i.e. 440 Hz versus 415 Hz, etc.). The harpsichord finds its origins in the psaltery, a medieval plucked stringed instrument that was modified at some point during the mid fifteenth century to incorporate a keyboard for controlling the plucking action. The psaltery also employed tuning pins similar to those found in the harpsichord, as well as a bridge and soundboard for amplifying the vibration of the strings. The foremost producers of harpsichords, virginals, and spinets during the late Renaissance and Baroque periods were based primarily in the regions of Italy, England, France, Germany, and Flanders, an area that encompasses modern day Belgium and the Netherlands. The spinet and the virginal are understood to have first appeared in Italy in the early sixteenth century, followed by the first Flemish spinets and virginals. Earlier harpsichords, primarily constructed by Italian builders, were distinguished from later ones of other nations in that the former were somewhat smaller, typically featuring a shorter compass and only a single set of strings, being similar in size to the hand-held psaltery. Italian instruments employed cypress wood as the primary construction material, while the instruments of Northern Europe typically employed heavier woods such as poplar. Moreover, Italian instruments were generally known for being relatively lighter in weight, also maintaining a relatively lower string tension. In around 1580, the famed Flemish Ruckers family of builders revolutionized harpsichord design by introducing a heavier construction into the instrument, so as to produce a more resonant and balanced tone. In addition, they employed iron strings in the treble register with greater tension throughout, as well as multiple sets of strings. The Ruckers family are historically recognized as one of the most esteemed manufacturers of harpsichords and virginals, and were based in Antwerp, which stood as the centre of harpsichord production during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Their instruments are unique in their designs, and are lauded for their innovative construction and high standard of quality; effectively, their instruments set the standard throughout Europe. The first instrument builders who settled in Antwerp were believed to have arrived from Germany in the early sixteenth century. While the Flemish harpsichords, and primarily those of Ruckers, served as the model for most other builders throughout Europe throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, each region introduced its own variations in proportion, design, construction, and tone. Italian harpsichords, for instance, were unique in their use of cypress wood for the case, soundboard, and bridge, and did not typically feature two manuals. While the Flemish employed a double manual for the purpose of transposition, the French builders were the first to adapt its usage in the mid seventeenth century to the control of different choirs of strings, allowing the player to alter the tone of the instrument. The French builders also extended the range of the Flemish instruments from four octaves to approximately five octaves. Interestingly, the French builders were also keen to work on reconstructions of older Ruckers instruments in processes referred to as grand ravalement and petit ravalement: the former consisted in a complete overhaul of the instrument, while the latter simply modified the keyboard and strings, occasionally increasing the range of the instrument. In both cases, the soundboard was generally preserved so as to maintain the original sound quality. As such, a number of French harpsichords were in fact modified Flemish harpsichords. As the manuals of the Flemish instruments were intended to aid in transposition, the lower manual was typically tuned a fourth below the upper. When the French builders repurposed the double-manual mechanism for controlling registration, the two keyboards were aligned such that the upper manual was tuned exactly one octave above the lower. German builders extended the instrument’s disposition to include a 16’ and 2’ set of strings; this was not a common feature in historical harpsichords, but resurfaced in the construction of revival harpsichords in the twentieth century. German builders, who were primarily trained as organ builders, likely incorporated these additions in order to extend the tonal range of the instrument, with some even employing three manuals. French harpsichords and English harpsichords were distinguished primarily in terms of their sound: in much the same manner as each nation’s pianos were distinguished, English harpsichords were known for their robust and full tone, while French instruments were characterized as having a more subtle and refined tone. The shapes of the instruments also varied: Italian harpsichords featured a wide angle at the case’s end, with a strongly concave bentside; German harpsichords did not feature a pointed end, but rather continued the bentside all along the instrument; while Flemish, French, and English harpsichords featured a narrow angle at the case’s end, with a weakly concave bentside. Notable harpsichord builders include the Blanchet family and Pascal Taskin (1723 – 1793) of France, whose instruments often serve as the model for modern harpsichords, the Dulcken family of the Netherlands, Jacob Kirkman (1710 – 1792) of England, and Vido Trasuntino (1522 – 1606) of Italy. Most harpsichords employed a range of somewhere in between four and five octaves. Occasionally, smaller instruments were given a “short” octave in the bass notes, replacing a few of the lowest notes with more common ones of a lower range. Historically, harpsichords were tuned to A=415 Hz, which is approximately one semitone lower than the modern practice of A=440 Hz. Certain exceptions are practiced in the repertoire of French Baroque music, in which the acceptable tuning is A=392 Hz, approximately another semitone lower than A=415 Hz. In the modern era, tuning of instruments is based on A, however historically it would have been referenced from either a C or F pitch. In the mid twentieth century, the early music revival produced a number of builders who supported a return to the creation of historically accurate instruments, basing their design principles and materials of construction on those historical models and writings still in existence. Revival harpsichords were lauded for their durability and depth of tone, which is often regarded as being richer than in historical instruments, though the majority of well-built historical harpsichords are capable of producing a very lush tone quality. Revival harpsichords remained in development until the end of the twentieth century, and by mid century, manufacture of these instruments had become focused in Germany, with the majority of factories and workshops dedicated to the construction of revival harpsichords founded by either German-born or German-based builders. Basic differences between revival and historic harpsichords include, among many others: solid construction and larger proportions in the former, and thinner proportions in the latter; plywood or chipboard panels and veneered exterior in the former, and hand-painted solid wood throughout with highly decorative designs or images in the latter; heavy cases with rigid internal bracing and occasionally featuring metal frames in the former, and thinner cases that never feature metal frames and have a relatively lighter bracing for string tension in the latter; thicker soundboard that is often laminated in the former, and a thinner wooden soundboard that is often decorated in the latter; coupling and registration via pedals in the former, and via levers attached to the name board in the latter; bone, quill, or leather plectra in the former, and typically Delrin plectra in the latter; yellow brass strings or overspun strings in the bass and hard steel strings in the treble in the former, and red and yellow brass strings in the bass and soft iron wire strings in the treble in the latter; and, less even stringing, bulkier music stands and lid sticks, more secure fallboard, larger compass, more complicated jacks and larger dampers, more varied disposition that often includes a 16’ rank of strings, larger hitch pins and nut pins, and slightly wider and heavier keys, similar to those of a piano, in the former. Moreover, revival harpsichords were typically mass produced in factories and contained serial numbers, whereas historical harpsichords were made in low production, often just as individual examples of a particular design. Revival harpsichords were also extended into the realm of electricity, with several builders producing electric versions that replaced the soundboard with a set of magnetic pickups. A number of harpsichords produced by the Blanchet family as well as Taskin remain extant, with many serving as the models for historical recreations.Users/PerformersEspecially throughout England, the term ‘virginal’ was actually used to describe an array of stringed keyboard instruments including harpsichords, virginals, spinets, and even clavichords. In fact, most composers of early keyboard music did not specify a particular instrument for which the music was optimal, except, perhaps, occasionally in the case of organs. As such, written keyboard music could be performed on virtually any keyboard instrument of the time, with the player making practical decisions about how to execute the piece based on the features offered by the instrument in use. There is a great deal of information regarding composers of early keyboard music, with the most well known group of composers belonging to the virginal school, which was based in England in the late Renaissance and included the famed composer William Byrd (about 1540 – 1623). Other composers of early keyboard music who lived on the European continent include François Couperin (France, 1668 – 1733), Jean-Philippe Rameau (France, 1683 – 1764), Domenico Scarlatti (born in Italy, lived in Spain, 1685 – 1757), Girolamo Frescobaldi (Italy, 1583 – 1643), Giovanni Picchi (Italy, 1571 – 1643), Samuel Scheidt (Germany, 1587 – 1684), Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (The Netherlands, 1562 – 1621) and, of course, Johann Sebastian Bach (Germany, 1685 – 1750). With the advent of the revival harpsichord in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the emergence of the historically-informed early music revival in the mid twentieth century, a modern performance practice that was tailored specifically to the instrument began to flourish. The revival harpsichord was popularized by the Polish-French harpsichordist Wanda Landowska (1879 – 1959), who regularly performed on an instrument manufactured by Pleyel in the 1920s. A number of early twentieth century composers produced works for revival harpsichords, the most notable being the French composer Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963), who had established a working relationship with Landowska. Along with Poulenc, other contemporary composers to have written for harpsichord include Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975, Russian), Alfred Schnittke (1934 – 1998, Russian), Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945, Hungarian), Michael Nyman (born 1944, London, United Kingdom), Philip Glass (born 1937, Baltimore, USA), Elliott Carter (1908 – 2012, American; in his Double Concerto of 1961 for harpsichord, piano, and two chamber orchestras and his Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord of 1952), György Ligeti (1923 – 2006, Hungarian; in his Continuum of 1968), Josef Tal (1910 – 2008, Israeli; with his Concerto for harpsichord & electronic music of 1964), John Cage (1912 – 1992, American; with his HPSCHD of 1969 for harpsichord and tape), and John Zorn (born 1953 in New York, USA). A number of contemporary composers have also composed works for the instrument in reference to historical models and styles, including Grant Colburn (born 1966 in Wisconsin, USA), Hendrik Bouman (born 1951 in the Netherlands), and Fernando De Luca (born 1961 in Rome, Italy).

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