Dowd Double Manual Harpsichord
date: label: date made
content: 1980
name: label: maker
content: Dowd, William R.
label: maker
content: Dowd, William
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This harpsichord, number 267, was made by William Dowd in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1980. It is a double manual harpsichord with a compass of FF - f3, and a disposition of 2 x 8’, 1 x 4’. This instrument has a spruce soundboard with a gilt rose with a harp-playing and and the initials “WD,” and ebony-covered naturals and bone-capped accidentals with pear wood arcades. The name board is inscribed: “WILLIAM DOWD BOSTON.” It is a replica of the instrument made in Paris in 1730 by Nicolas Blanchet and his son, François Etienne. This harpsichord was commissioned by the Smithsonian in 1967 but not accessioned until 1980 because the maker wished to take every advantage of new research about instruments of the Blanchet family.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The inseparable outer case is painted grey-green with gold leaf bands. The soundboard painting, by Sheridan Germann, is copied from an original Blanchet harpsichord of 1730. The trestle stand has four turned legs and is painted grey-green.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Dowd spent many years working in the French style, producing dozens of harpsichords, many based on the Taskin instrument of 1769 in the Yale University Collection. It was in the early 1960s, when Dowd was already recognized for his substantial production of these instruments that he was asked to restore several Smithsonian harpsichords, including those by Burkat Shudi and Johannes Daniel Dulcken.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Musical instrument curator John Fesperman indicated, “It is due to the integrity and constant quality of his work that fine harpsichords, bearing his coveted rose and nameboard, now exist in dozens of music schools and universities, as well as in the hands of many fine performers. The musical debt owed by hundreds of musicians and scholars to this creative maker is very great. The musical satisfaction gained by all who play or hear these harpsichords is still greater.”
label: Description (Brief)
content: The harpsichord is currently used in concerts on featured on recordings by the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Recordings currently available can be found at the following link:
label: Description (Brief)
content: www.smithsonianchambermusic.org
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Harpsichords
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0274.01
label: catalog number
content: 1980.0274.01
label: accession number
content: 1980.0274
objectType: label: Object Name
content: harpsichord
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)