A History of the Harpsichord (review)

Despite the revival of interest in the harpsichord during the last thirty years, there have been few books describing the general history of the instrument. Such pioneering works as those by Raymond Russell (The Harpsichord and Clavichord [London: Faber and Faber, 1959; New York: W.W. Norton, 1973]), and Frank Hubbard (Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974]) have both been superseded in many respects by the recent work of specialist authors. The amount and depth of specialization we have seen during the last thirty years in this area of study makes it a daunting task for any single author to attempt a general history of the harpsichord. In recognition of this situation, Edward L. Kottick makes clear his large debt to specialist authors (myself among them) at the beginning of his acknowledgements. Through extensive citation in endnotes he enables the reader to understand the source of most of the material presented. What Kottick is perhaps too modest to have stated more clearly is that he has also traveled widely to study instruments, and his breadth of understanding of the subject has not been achieved simply by reading other author's works.

Having himself been part of a research team in the acoustics of the harpsichord (connected with Zuckermann Harpsichords International), and having built many instruments over the years, he might well have produced a technical treatise on instrument making. But this history is devoted to presenting a description of seven centuries of harpsichord making, four centuries more than Hubbard and in a book some 130 pages longer. Kottick's approach is for the nontechnical reader, giving a thorough account of the different types of instrument and their compasses and dispositions with their stylistic characteristics. He clearly intends that not even the novice should be left behind through lack of knowledge. Thus, the front inside covers are devoted to drawings of the structure of harpsichords with exploded views and labeling of parts. In his history of instruments he describes the essential constructional features, albeit virtually without dimensions, but does not indicate to what extent these constructional variants might influence the tone since this is not intended to be a book on harpsichord making.

According to Kottick's definition, "harpsichord" includes both virginal and spinet, yet clavichords are also occasionally mentioned or depicted and the discussion of Bartolomeo Cristofori is extended to include his invention of the piano. This is perfectly defensible since his oeuvre as a harpsichord maker cannot be completely understood without the piano.

Even when indebted to others for most of the detailed material, the author of a general history still has to organize a large amount of information. Kottick has chosen to combine the geographical and chronological approaches, with the overriding structure provided by sections divided into centuries. Kottick also interprets the material rather than just repeating it, and his ideas are neither extravagant nor capricious. When he referees disputes he shows a commendable grasp of the issues involved and provides a succinct and mostly accurate account, even when dealing with intricate and extensive material. He is usually impartial and reliable and only occasionally does his own preference for certain arguments lead him to overemphasize some pieces of evidence.

Kottick briefly sets the historical and social scene in which music was made and this adds considerably to an understanding of why harpsichords were built. Occasionally, though, it seems as if his analysis is guided somewhat anachronistically by twentieth-century concepts, such as his suggestion that "few craftsmen were able to dominate the field" (p. xx), as if market share and productive output were a significant goal of the workshop's enterprise. He speculates on the possible number of harpsichords made in areas from which we now have few surviving instruments. Here the calculation of output is based on ideas of continuous production and specialization which may be well off the...