Raymond Anthony Russell, , (27 May 192217 March 1964) was a British organologist and antiquarian. He was an expert on early keyboard instruments, and assembled an important collection which now forms the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

Life

Russell was born in London on 27 May 1922, the son of Gilbert Russell and his wife Maud, ''née'' Nelke. His father was from an aristocratic family related to the

Dukes of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV of England, ...

, his mother a noted patron of the arts. The family was rich; from 1934 they lived at

Mottisfont Abbey Mottisfont Abbey is a historical priory and country estate in Hampshire, England. Sheltered in the valley of the River Test, the property is now operated by the National Trust. 393,250 people visited the site in 2019. The site includes the histo ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Russell initially applied for registration as a conscientious objector, and was formally exempted from combatant service, but changed his mind. He enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers, where he reached the rank of captain. He had already begun collecting keyboard instruments in 1939, before hostilities began. Over the next twenty years he assembled a considerable collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...

s and harpsichords. His collection included instruments from all the main harpsichord-building areas of Europe: a number of English

spinet A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ. Harpsichords When the term ''spinet'' is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the ''bentside spinet'', described in this ...

s; early harpsichords and

virginals The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...

from Italy;

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; ...

instruments by the Ruckers; a late French instrument by Pascal Taskin; and a clavichord and harpsichord from North Germany, both by Johann Adolph Hass. Russell was an able harpsichordist, and became an expert organologist. He catalogued the keyboard instrument collection of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, and the collection of Benton Fletcher, now in Fenton House. In 1959 he published ''The Harpsichord and Clavichord: an Introductory Study'', with accurate and detailed analysis and descriptions of the instruments. Russell was an early advocate of a historicallyinformed approach to instrument-building, based on study of surviving historical examples, and a return to traditional methods of both performance and construction. His book influenced builders such as

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 ...

in this direction. Russell was also an expert on, and collector of, early treatises of medicine; towards the end of his life, he researched the antiquities of the island of Malta.

The Russell Collection

By 1960 Russell had decided to donate his collection to

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

, where it was to become the nucleus of a centre for research in keyboard

performance practice Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in which ...

and organology, but this plan was not completed by the time of his death. He died in Malta on 17 March 1964. In 1968, in his memory and in accordance with his wishes, his mother donated almost all his collection to the university, which later bought two more of his instruments; the donation also included his notes and his collection of documentary photographs. The twenty-one instruments constitute the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, which is housed in St Cecilia's Hall in Edinburgh.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Raymond 1922 births 1964 deaths Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Royal Fusiliers officers Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Organologists British harpsichordists English conscientious objectors

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

20th-century musicologists 20th-century classical musicians