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Martin Skowroneck
(Franz Hermann) Martin Skowroneck (21 December 1926, in Berlin – 14 May 2014, in Bremen) was a German harpsichord builder, one of the pioneers of the modern movement of harpsichord construction on historical principles. Life and career He completed his secondary education in 1947, then embarked on musical training at the Musikschule in Bremen, from which he received his diploma in 1950 as a teacher of flute and recorder. During his student years, he had begun to make his own recorders, as he was dissatisfied with existing instruments. He then began making recorders for other players. In 1952, he was asked to restore a clavichord that had been badly damaged in the war; this led him to build his own clavichord, then instruments for other people. His first harpsichord dates from 1953. Skowroneck had no formal training as a builder; he learned his craft instead by inspecting existing instruments. At first these were modern, ahistorical instruments, but he soon developed a strong i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harpsichord Makers
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism that plucks one or more strings with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic. The strings are under tension on a soundboard, which is mounted in a wooden case; the soundboard amplifies the vibrations from the strings so that the listeners can hear it. Like a pipe organ, a harpsichord may have more than one keyboard manual, and even a pedal board. Harpsichords may also have stop buttons which add or remove additional octaves. Some harpsichords may have a buff stop, which brings a strip of buff leather or other material in contact with the strings, muting their sound to simulate the sound of a plucked lute. The term denotes the whole family of similar plucked-keyboard instruments, including the smaller virginals, muselar, and spin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grove Music Online
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theory of music. Earlier editions were published under the titles ''A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', and ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''; the work has gone through several editions since the 19th century and is widely used. In recent years it has been made available as an electronic resource called ''Grove Music Online'', which is now an important part of ''Oxford Music Online''. ''A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' ''A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' was first published in London by Macmillan and Co. in four volumes (1879, 1880, 1883, 1889) edited by George Grove with an Appendix edited by J. A. Fuller Maitland in the fourth volume. An Index edited by Mrs. E. Wodehouse was issued as a separate volume in 1890 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Historical Harpsichord Makers
This page presents a graphical timelines, listing historical makers of the harpsichord and related instruments such as the virginal, spinet and clavicytherium. The makers are grouped according to which regional building tradition they belong. Graphical timeline overview Below is an overview of arguably the most important harpsichord makers whose names are known today, but the list is by no means exhaustive. Some of those listed were founders and members of influential harpsichord building dynasties. Others are known only through one or two instruments that have serendipitously survived, but are included because these instruments have proven a popular inspiration to modern builders who copy them. Some of the makers who started the historically informed harpsichord revival are also included. Notes on overview * Makers whose dates of birth or death are unknown are marked with an asterisk (*). In such cases, the time period indicated by the graphic is demarcated by the earliest or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortepiano
A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is used to refer to the mid-18th to early-19th century instruments for which composers of the Classical era, especially Haydn, Mozart, and the younger Beethoven wrote their piano music. Starting in Beethoven's time, the fortepiano began a period of steady evolution, culminating in the late 19th century with the modern grand. The earlier fortepiano became obsolete and was absent from the musical scene for many decades. In the 20th century the fortepiano was revived, following the rise of interest in historically informed performance. Fortepianos are built for this purpose in specialist workshops. Construction The fortepiano has leather-covered hammers and thin, harpsichord-like strings. It has a much lighter c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsichords, the plectra are attached to the jack mechanism. Plectra wielded by hand Guitars and similar instruments A plectrum for electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars and mandolins is typically a thin piece of plastic or other material most commonly shaped like a pointed teardrop or triangle, though the size, gauge, shape and width may vary considerably. Banjo and guitar players may wear a metal or plastic thumb pick mounted on a ring, and bluegrass banjo players often wear metal or plastic fingerpicks on their fingertips. Many guitarists use fingerpicks as well. Guitar picks are made of a variety of materials, including celluloid, metal, and rarely other exotic materials such as turtle shell, but today delrin (a synthe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dulcken
The Dulcken family were Flemish harpsichord makers of German origin. Joannes Daniel Dulcken (21 April 1706 – 11 April 1757) was born in Wingeshausen, the son of Georg Ludwig Dulcken (died Wingeshausen, before 1752). In 1736 he was in Maastricht, but by 1738 he had moved with his wife Susanna Maria Knopffell and their son to Antwerp where they became members of the Reformed church. He became an alderman in 1744, and lived in Hopland. He travelled to England in 1750 to sell two of his harpsichords. His will left all his harpsichord-making material to his son Joannes Dulcken; he died in Antwerp. He left a good reputation behind: Charles Burney claimed that, after the Ruckers family, 'the harpsichord-maker of the greatest eminence … was J. D. Dulcken'. He made single and double manual harpsichords, generally with a compass of five octaves (sometimes slightly less) and the common three registers; two 8' and one 4'. He decorated the soundboards with flowers and carved his in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruckers
The Ruckers family (variants: Ruckaert, Ruckaerts, Rucqueer, Rueckers, Ruekaerts, Ruijkers, Rukkers, Rycardt) were harpsichord and virginal makers from the Southern Netherlands based in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th century. Their influence stretched well into the 18th century, and to the harpsichord revival of the 20th. The Ruckers family contributed immeasurably to the harpsichord's technical development, pioneering the addition of a second manual; the quality of their instruments is such that the name of Ruckers is as important to early keyboard instruments as that of Stradivarius is to the violin family. In the 18th century, Ruckers instruments were often modified by French makers in a process known as ''ravalement'', to allow for an extended range and other additions. The Ruckers family The family probably originated in Germany. The earliest known member, Hans Ruckers, was from Weissenburg, according to documents from 1530 in the Antwerp city archives, and the similarly nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eight Foot Pitch
An organ pipe, or a harpsichord string, designated as eight-foot pitch (8′) is sounded at standard, ordinary pitch. For example, the A above middle C in eight-foot pitch would be sounded at 440 Hz (or at some similar value, depending on how concert pitch was set at the time and place the organ or harpsichord was made). Similar terms Eight-foot pitch may be contrasted with four-foot pitch (4′; one octave above the standard), two-foot pitch (2′; two octaves above the standard), and sixteen-foot pitch (16′; one octave below the standard).Hubbard (1965: 355, 361) The latter three pitches are often sounded (by extra pipes or strings) along with an eight-foot pitch pipe or string, as a way of enriching the tonal quality. The numbers just mentioned largely exhaust the possibilities for harpsichords, but in organs a far greater variety is possible; see Organ stop. These lengths can all be obtained by successive doubling because, all else being equal, a pipe or string that is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
