Music Encyclopedia:
William (Richmond) Dowd |
(b Newark, nj, 28 Feb 1922). American harpsichord maker. He was in partnership with Frank Hubbard at Boston, but later established his own workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1958), building c 20-22 harpsichords a year on historical models; a workshop in Paris (from 1971) produces 20-24 a year. Most are two-manual harpsichords based on those of the Blanchets, Hemsch and Taskin. Dowd's instruments are in wide use by leading players.
| Wikipedia: William Dowd |
William Richmond Dowd (born 28 February 1922) is an American harpsichord maker.
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 to their both deciding to abandon their intended careers as teachers of English and instead to become harpsichord builders, basing their methods on historical principles. They separated for their apprenticeship; Dowd worked at the Detroit workshop of John Challis, who himself had learnt from Arnold Dolmetsch. At this time, Challis was the leading harpsichord builder in the USA.
In autumn 1949 Dowd and Hubbard jointly founded a workshop in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1955, Hubbard had left on research trips around Europe, studying original instruments, while Dowd continued the new builds and restoration of antique instruments. He worked out a standard design based on the harpsichords of Pascal Taskin, which was to become much used by professional performers.
Their joint business came to an end in 1958, and Dowd established a workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts along historical lines, producing around twenty instruments a year until 1988. From 1971 to 1985, there was a workshop in Paris under his name producing a similar number of instruments, which he ran with Reinhard von Nagel. His favoured models were two-manual harpsichords based on the French instruments of Blanchet, Hemsch and Taskin, including Ruckers harpsichords adapted by the grand ravalement process.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dowd, William Richmond |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Harpsichord maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 28 February 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "William Dowd" at WikiAnswers.
Copyrights:
 |
 | Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "William Dowd". Read more |
