Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading repeatedly
Review: A definiteve study by one of the leading exponents in the contemptorary rediscovery of the harpsichord. Strategically illustrated. Exhaustive bibliography. Reading this book will immerse you in the past practices of harpsichord-making, from sawyers and lumbering to varnishes and decorative painting. Amazingly juicy, written in a very engaging style. If you want to know the difference between the German and Flemish makers and their instruments, for example, you will find out about them here. I first read this book when I built a harpsichord kit in my teens. For a kid who hated history, I could not put this down. Hubbard exposes the reader to a well-hidden side of music-making. Stay away if you hate anything baroque or eloquently descriptive.

Rating:
Summary: The definitive history of harpsichord making
Review: A definiteve study by one of the leading exponents in the contemptorary rediscovery of the harpsichord. Strategically illustrated. Exhaustive bibliography. Reading this book will immerse you in the past practices of harpsichord-making, from sawyers and lumbering to varnishes and decorative painting. Amazingly juicy, written in a very engaging style. If you want to know the difference between the German and Flemish makers and their instruments, for example, you will find out about them here. I first read this book when I built a harpsichord kit in my teens. For a kid who hated history, I could not put this down. Hubbard exposes the reader to a well-hidden side of music-making. Stay away if you hate anything baroque or eloquently descriptive.

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading repeatedly
Review: Frank Hubbard had an amazing combination of talents. As a harpsichord builder, he was one of the principal founders of present-day harpsichord-building practice, which produces superior instruments by imitating the masters of long ago. Hubbard was also a fine scholar: thoughtful, careful, endlessly knowledgeable, and often witty.

Hubbard's book, though nonfiction, has a kind of plot: he documents a slow-moving miracle of instrument-making that took place in Europe over a period of several centuries. Hubbard follows the important changes in building practice as the centers of innovation shifted from Italy, to Flanders, to France, and finally to England and Germany.

This book is a beautiful example what can be accomplished by scholars in the humanities--it's careful, rigorous detective work. Hubbard's endless labors made possible the lovely authentic harpsichords we enjoy today.

This is not a book for everyone, but if you're one of the many people who once put together a harpsichord kit, I'm almost certain you will enjoy this book.