Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums [Hardcover]

Edward L. Kottick (Author), George Lucktenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 22, 1997

"Information for when you travel. By country and city, you are guided to the best instrument collections in Europe. For each site is provided a substantial discussion of the instruments, location, address, and hours of admission. There are abundant black and white (many full-page) photos, a glossary of terms associated with earlier instruments, and an index of makers." —Piano & Keyboard

Growing out of the authors' visits to 47 collections in Europe, this lively guidebook offers intimate glimpses at a great variety of instruments. It focuses on the more important and unusual holdings in each museum, such as the Cristofori pianos in Rome and Leipzig and the earliest known English double-manual instrument—a 1700 harpsichord by Tisseran, now in Oxford. In addition, the authors provide travelers with essential information for each museum.

Editorial Reviews

Review

OInformation for when you travel. By country and city, you are guided to the best instrument collections in Europe. For each site is provided a substantial discussion of the instruments, location, address, and hours of admission. There are abundant black and white (many full-page) photos, a glossary of terms associated with earlier instruments, and an index of makers.O NPiano & Keyboard Growing out of the authorsO visits to forty-seven collections in Europe, this lively guidebook offers intimate glimpses at a great variety of instruments. It focuses on the more important and unusual holdings in each museum, such as the Cristofori pianos in Rome and Leipzig and the earliest known English double-manual instrumentNa 1700 harpsichord by Tisseran, now in Oxford. In addition, the authors provide travelers with essential information for each museum.

About the Author

EDWARD L. KOTTICK, Emeritus Professor of Musicology at the University of Iowa, is author of The Harpsichord Owner's Guide. A builder himself, he writes a regular column in Continuo magazine for owners and builders.
GEORGE LUCKTENBERG, Adjunct Professor of Music and Artist-in-Residence at Reinhardt College, has been director of the Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Awards since 1980.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press; First Edition edition (May 22, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253332397
• ISBN-13: 978-0253332394
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,389,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book would greatly please a harpsichord buff (and no one else), July 27, 2009

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55anonymous55 "55anonymous55" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums (Hardcover)

What a curious book! To write it, the authors first spent years leading groups of American tourists through the great musical instrument museums of Europe, with the purpose of examining all the historical keyboard instruments they contain (harpsichords, clavichords, and fortepianos). This book simply describes what they found: city by city, museum by museum, instrument by instrument.

I recommend this book for for readers who already love early keyboard instruments and have already have read good general overviews, such as Frank Hubbard's _Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making_ or Kottick's own _A History of the Harpsichord_. While such books give you the big picture, this book gives you the raw data, as it were. It's the same field from a bottom-up rather than a top-down perspective. Of course, the book would be an excellent guide to follow if you want to do the same kind of musical tourism yourself. I've only been to two of the museums the authors describe, but I deeply enjoyed both visits and I'd like to go to more of them.

The book does contain a few dull passages, but the authors generally succeed in enlivening the list format with appreciative and knowledgeable descriptions, anecdotes, and the occasional catty remark.