The Kirkman family (variants: Kirckman, Kirchmann) were
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
harpsichord
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 ...
and later
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
makers of
Alsatian origin, active from the 1770s until the late 1800s.
Members of the Kirkman family
Jacob Kirkman (4 March 1710 – 9 June 1792) was born in
Bischwiller,
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
and moved to England in the early 1730s. He worked for
Hermann Tabel, and married his widow in 1738. He became a British subject in 1755. He died in
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
and is buried in
St Alfege Church in Greenwich.
Abraham Kirkman (1737 – 16 April 1794), also born in Bischwiller, was Jacob Kirkman's nephew. In 1772 they formed a partnership. He died in
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
...
.
Joseph Kirkman I was the son of Abraham Kirkman, and followed his father in his craft, eventually going into partnership with him.
Joseph Kirkman II (c.1790 – 1877) was the son of Joseph Kirkman I and like him became an instrument maker, helping his father with the last harpsichord they made in 1809 (though the latest surviving today is dated 1800).
Kirkman harpsichords
Charles Burney
Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...
wrote a good deal about Jacob Kirkman, and
Fanny Burney
Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post as "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklen ...
described him as 'the first
harpsichord
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 ...
maker of the times'; he and
Burkat Shudi
Burkat Shudi (variants: Burkhart, Burkhardt, Schudi, Tschudi, Tshudi) (13 March 1702 – 19 August 1773) was an English harpsichord maker of Swiss origin.
Biography
He was born in Schwanden in the Canton of Glarus, and arrived in England in ...
dominated the production of English harpsichords in the second half of the 18th century, and many of their instruments survive today, though more than twice as many Kirkmans remain, leading
Frank Hubbard
Frank Twombly Hubbard (May 15, 1920 – February 25, 1976) was an American harpsichord maker, a pioneer in the revival of historical methods of harpsichord building.
Student days
Born in New York, Hubbard studied English literature at Ha ...
to describe them as being 'almost mass-produced'.
Like Shudi, Kirkman built three models of harpsichord: single manual instruments with disposition 8' 8' or 8' 8' 4' and double manual instruments with disposition 8' 8' 4' and lute stop. The inner construction of Kirkman harpsichords was based on the
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 stretch ...
-type 17th-century
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
harpsichord, though a distinctive outward appearance had been developed by English makers by the
1720s, featuring
veneer
Veneer may refer to:
Materials
* Veneer (dentistry), a cosmetic treatment for teeth
* Masonry veneer, a thin facing layer of brick
* Stone veneer, a thin facing layer of stone
* Wood veneer, a thin facing layer of wood
Arts and entertainment
* ' ...
ing inside and outside, detailed
inlay
Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with th ...
and
marquetry
Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case furn ...
in the keywell. Key dip was stopped at the by a rail at the far end, which has led to English harpsichords having a reputation for the worst touch of any school of harpsichord building.
![Harpsichord MET MUS1160B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Harpsichord_MET_MUS1160B.jpg)
Further innovations were made in later years; the buff stop was introduced c.1760, and was sometimes activated by a pedal on single manual instruments. The machine stop, dating from after 1765, was a mechanism worked by a hand stop and a foot pedal which caused various changes in registration, rather like the arrangements on an
organ. The 'nag's head swell' was a segment of the top lid shaped like an elongated
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
's head, which opened along the bentside when a foot pedal was pressed; this was later superseded by Schudi's Venetian swell, which worked similarly but was more like a modern organ swell mechanism (and named after its similarity in appearance to a Venetian blind). Extensions in range were also made, as high as
c', with reversed colour sharps and naturals from g upwards; this was perhaps due to musical demands or rivalry with Shudi, who had extended his harpsichords down to CC. Jacob Kirkman made an experimental
enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...
harpsichord for Robert Smith of
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, around 1757.
It was
Frank Hubbard
Frank Twombly Hubbard (May 15, 1920 – February 25, 1976) was an American harpsichord maker, a pioneer in the revival of historical methods of harpsichord building.
Student days
Born in New York, Hubbard studied English literature at Ha ...
's opinion that English harpsichords such as Kirkman and
Burkat Shudi
Burkat Shudi (variants: Burkhart, Burkhardt, Schudi, Tschudi, Tshudi) (13 March 1702 – 19 August 1773) was an English harpsichord maker of Swiss origin.
Biography
He was born in Schwanden in the Canton of Glarus, and arrived in England in ...
's 'are too good. The tone
..almost interferes with the music', though he didn't think the native repertoire was significant enough to warrant making copies. Others have pointed out that an English harpsichord player of around 1770 might well have had an exceptionally wide musical taste incorporating
Scarlatti,
Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera an ...
,
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
,
C. P. E. Bach
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...
,
J. C. Bach,
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
,
Arne
Arne may refer to:
Places
* Arne, Dorset, England, a village
** Arne RSPB reserve, a nature reserve adjacent to the village
* Arné, Hautes-Pyrénées, Midi-Pyrénées, France
* Arne (Boeotia), an ancient city in Boeotia, Greece
* Arne (Thessa ...
,
Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer.
Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest Eng ...
, and
Sammartini Sammartini is a surname, and may refer to the brothers
*Giovanni Battista Sammartini (c.1700–1775), Italian composer and oboist, younger brother of Giuseppe
*Giuseppe Sammartini
Giuseppe Francesco Gaspare Melchiorre Baldassare Sammartini (also Gi ...
.
The Kirkmans began building
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. Mo ...
s as they became more popular in the 2nd half of the 18th century; apparently Jacob Kirkman had encountered a piano as early as 1770 but the earliest he is known to have made is a
square piano
The square piano is a type of piano that has horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side, with the sounding board above a cavity in the short side. It is variously ...
dated 1775. The Kirkman firm continued to make grand and upright pianos throughout the 19th century and were taken over by Collard in 1896.
Sources
*Donald Howard Boalch, Peter Williams, Charles Mould: 'Kirkman
irckman, Kirchmann, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-05-21), http://www.grovemusic.com/
See also
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.
Grap ...
Further reading
*Donald Howard Boalch: ''Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord, 1440–1840'' (London, 1956)
*Raymond Russell: ''The Harpsichord and Clavichord'' (London, 1959)
*
Frank Hubbard
Frank Twombly Hubbard (May 15, 1920 – February 25, 1976) was an American harpsichord maker, a pioneer in the revival of historical methods of harpsichord building.
Student days
Born in New York, Hubbard studied English literature at Ha ...
: ''Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1965)
*Charles Mould: ''The Development of the English Harpsichord, with Particular Reference to the Work of Kirkman'' (
dissertation,
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, 1976)
See also
Finchcocks
Finchcocks is an early Georgian manor house in Goudhurst, Kent. For 45 years it housed a large, visitor-friendly museum of historical keyboard instruments, displaying a collection of harpsichords, clavichords, fortepianos, square pianos, organs ...
, who own many surviving Kirkman instruments.
External links
Harpsichord by Joseph Kirckman, London, 1798- in the collection of the
National Music Museum
The National Music Museum: America's Shrine to Music & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments (NMM) is a musical instrument museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. It was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkman
People from Bischwiller
Harpsichord makers
Piano makers
English musical instrument makers