{"id":231877,"date":"2025-05-09T02:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T02:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/art\/a-john-brown-harpsichord-for-sale\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T02:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T02:28:10","slug":"a-john-brown-harpsichord-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=231877","title":{"rendered":"A John Brown Harpsichord for Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The spruce soundboard of the harpsichord built by John Brown, with wildflowers painted by Richard Platt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Most of the readers on this blog know John Brown as a chairmaker and writer. But as I have gotten to know his family and friends, I\u2019ve learned he was much more. I knew JB was a boatbuilder, and his cuttyhunks still fetch good money. He was also a jet pilot, a fine art painter and a man of letters. But I didn\u2019t know that he ever built musical instruments. One of JB\u2019s sons has to part with a harpsichord made by the late John Brown. If you are interested in Baroque-era instruments, please read on.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Christopher Schwarz<\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a unique opportunity to own a harpsichord made by the great John Brown, decorated with British wildflowers by renowned artist and musicologist Richard Swaby Platt<\/a>, a great friend of JB. Though JB was of course best known as a chairmaker, magazine columnist and author of the seminal book \u201cWelsh Stick Chairs,\u201d he built other things, too \u2013 including this Flemish-style harpsichord, which started out as a kit from harpsichord revolutionary Wolfgang Zuckermann<\/a> (though JB made it his own).<\/p>\n

The instrument is currently owned by JB\u2019s son Ieuan Einion, a writer and musician who lives in France. \u201cI don\u2019t really want to part with it because of its sentimental value to me but I\u2019m running out of space (it is one of seven keyboard instruments I have, including three harpsichords),\u201d writes Ieuan. \u201cI would be happy for it to go to someone who appreciated JB\u2019s work and philosophy, and wanted part of his history; a serious musician who wanted a light, easily transportable instrument might be better advised to look elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked Ieuan to describe the instrument, as I know little about this form. \u201cJB\u2019s harpsichord was built from the kit that WZ produced after his move to England, not using the sides provided by Zuckermann, but replacing them with solid teak on the straight sides (15m thick) and laminated teak on the bent side (2 X 7mm glued). This has the effect of turning an Italian harpsichord into more like a Flemish one,\u201d he writes. \u201cItalian harpsichords were extremely light and were fitted into a heavier outside case from which they could be removed. The single most important development in Flemish instruments was that the soundboard was joined to the outer case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teak, which had been destined for high-end boatbuilding, adds some heft; the JB harpsichord weighs 40-45kg, Ieuan estimates. It is 86 cm wide, 22 cm deep and 190 cm long. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are 54 keys BB \u2013 e\u201d \u2013 with brown naturals (cherry?) and black accidentals (ebony or grenadilla?). It has two sets of strings (referred to as 2 x 8\u2032), which can be engaged independently or together, and a lute stop. It can be tuned to A = 415 hz or A = 440 hz.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cZuckermann\u2019s great achievement was making a hitherto specialist instrument into a project achievable by the home builder, which is probably what attracted JB to it, accompanied by his love of baroque music,\u201d writes Ieuan. \u201cWe played one of JB\u2019s favourite works, the Telemann viola concerto with the family band at his memorial event in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe JB harpsichord has not been played since the 1990s and will require a good service from someone who knows what they\u2019re doing, mostly fine tuning and replacing where necessary the plectra, checking the dampers etc (maybe two-three days work for someone who knows what they\u2019re doing).\u201d<\/p>\n

Ieuan is asking U.S.$20,000. Interested parties, please click here<\/a> to send him an email.<\/p>\n

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The spruce soundboard of the harpsichord built by John Brown, with wildflowers painted by Richard Platt. Most of the readers on this blog know John Brown as a chairmaker and writer. But as I have gotten to know his family and friends, I\u2019ve learned he was much more. I knew JB was a boatbuilder, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[238,32959,3201,1146],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-231877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-brown","tag-harpsichord","tag-john","tag-sale"],"yoast_head":"\nA John Brown Harpsichord for Sale - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=231877\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A John Brown Harpsichord for Sale - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The spruce soundboard of the harpsichord built by John Brown, with wildflowers painted by Richard Platt. 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