William Richmond Dowd (February 28, 1922 - November 25, 2008) is an American harpsichord maker and one of the most important pioneers of the historical harpsichord movement.
Video William Dowd
Life and career
Born in Newark, New Jersey, he studied English literature at Harvard, graduating with AB in 1948. He and his friend, Frank Hubbard, built a clavichord when they were both graduate students; this led them both to decide to abandon their intended career as an English teacher instead of being a harpsichord builder, basing their methods on historical principles. They split up for their internships; Dowd works in the Detroit workshop, John Challis, who learned from Arnold Dolmetsch. At this time, Challis is a leading harpsichord builder in the United States.
In the fall of 1949, Dowd and Hubbard jointly set up a workshop in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1955, Hubbard had abandoned research trips around Europe, studying the original instrument, while Dowd continued the new development and recovery of antique instruments. He works in standard design based on harpsichords from Pascal Taskin, which is becoming widely used by professional players.
Their combined business ended in 1958, and Dowd set up a workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts along the lines of history, producing about twenty instruments per year until 1988. From 1971 to 1985, there was a workshop in Paris under his name that produced a number same. instrument, which he runs with Reinhard von Nagel. His favorite model is the two-man harpsichords based on the French instruments Blanchet and Taskin, including the Ruckers harpsichords adapted by the grand ravalement process.
The Dowd instrument has long provided a benchmark for reliability in terms of general tuning and stability, construction hygiene, and for the influence they have on successful generations of builders. He was the first builder to seriously consider the 18th-century German instrument of Michael Mietke (in contrast to his Hubbard counterpart). The instruments are used in performances and recordings by artists such as Gustav Leonhardt, Isolde Ahlgrimm, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Igor Kipnis, Bob van Asperen, and many others.
He died in Reston, Virginia, in November 2008.
Maps William Dowd
Works published
- Classification System for Ruckers and Couchet Double Harpsichords ; in the American Society of Musical Instruments (1978)
- Blanchet Workshop Merge Tool ; at The Historical Harpsichord: Monograph Series in Honor of Frank Hubbard , ed. Howard Schott (Stuyvesant, NY, 1984)
- Haney, H: Portrait of a Builder , The Harpsichord, (1971-2) (about William Dowd)
Notes and references
- Howard Schott: 'Dowd, William (Richmond)', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-05-18), http://www.grovemusic.com/
See also
- List of historical harpsichord builders
External links
- Elaine Comparone played Scarlatti in a 2-man harpsichord made by William Dowd in 1968.
- Harpsichord William Dowd in 1966 - once owned by Ralph Kirkpatrick; restored by Carey Beebe
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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