Comments on: The Harpsichord in America 1884 – 1946

By: Lorraine Bodek

Lorraine Bodek — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:10:44 +0000

I own a Arnold Dolmetsch Octave Virginal dated 1923 (#51). English walnut; sound board painted by Mrs. Dolmetsch. John Challis purchased the harpsichord from Arnold Dolmetsch when he was a student. Challis rebuilt it in 1949–repairs/replacement made only to the strings and fret. Photograph of this virignal is in Dolmetsch and His Instrument – The Columbia History of Music through the Ear and Eye, Period I, Oxford University Press, London, 1930, which I have a copy of. The photo portrays Arnold Dolmetsch and his son, Rudolph, with the octave virginal.

Lorraine Bodek

By: Tom Canoles

Tom Canoles — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:48:00 +0000

May I inquire? Do anyone know if Claude Jean Chiasson could have build a harpsichord in 1952?

you may reply to

By: Paul Cienniwa

Paul Cienniwa — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:54:54 +0000

I’m afraid I am unable to answer any of these questions, hypothetical or otherwise. A new question: Does 192 Brattle Street still have the viol-cutout balusters designed by Dolmetch? (See second plate after p. 208 of Margaret Campbell’s “Dolmetch: the man and his work”.)

By: Bettina A. Norton

Bettina A. Norton — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:57:40 +0000

We are delighted to have been sent this information.

Your response prompts more questions:
In your research have you come across the name of the violin maker in Savin Hill who repaired Mr. Johnson’s viola “d/amour”?

Also, was “Mrs. Johnson” in New Hampshire, whose maid had enough instruments to clean as it was, his wife? Was the reason for his acquiescence to her “definite ‘No!””, to purchasing the 17th-c. portable organ, that she controlled the purse-strings? If he knew the history of that organ at the time, might it have been grounds for divorce?

You may know that Mr. Dolmetsch lived at 11 Elmwood Ave. (now, 192 Brattle St.).

By: Paul Cienniwa

Paul Cienniwa — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:53:12 +0000

Much of Morris Steinert’s collection was given to Yale University in 1900, establishing the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments. Some of the best keyboard instruments, however, went to Belle Skinner, and they were kept in her home in Holyoke, MA. In 1960, the Belle Skinner Collection of Old Musical Instruments, which included the Hass harpsichord in the article, was acquired by Yale.

The 1715 J.A. Hass instrument is currently listed as “ca. 1760” on the Yale Collection checklist (accession no. 4879). It is a very fine, playable instrument decorated in chinoiserie. It does indeed have “six sets of strings as follows: one sixteen foot, two eight foot, one four foot, and two of two foot.”

Yale also has the first Dolmetch-Chickering clavichord. It is labeled “No. 1”, made in 1906. It is also in fine playing condition.

There is still a 1798 Kirckman at the MFA. This is the one in the article.