Books
A monograph about the 1789 harpsichord by João Batista Antunes (collection of the Museu da Música in Lisbon, inventory number MNM 0373), co-authored with Prof. Gerhard Doderer.
This book provides information about the history of the instrument, its place in the Portuguese tradition of keyboard instrument building and many details about its construction and the restoration. It includes about 40 images, a detailed drawing of an original jack, a plan of the instrument as well as a CD recording of the sonatas by Alberto Gomes da Silva, played on the restored instrument by João Paulo Janeiro.
Bilingual (Portuguese and English), 112 pages.
To get a copy, write me an email (refer to the bottom of this page for the address).
Essays
The series of essays "Ruminations on harpsichord building" takes a scientific approach to certain aspects of the workings of a harpsichord. It is essentially a short course in basic engineering as it relates to harpsichords and it shows how theories of physics apply in practice. The science that I use will be limited to discoveries dating from the Age of Reason (which is arguably also the age of the harpsichord), although I may occasionally steal a few ideas from the early 19th century.
Five chapters are available for download below. These five will be published – in revised form – together with another six chapters in the form of a book, planned to appear in the course of 2022.
1. Hitch-pins
We start with something very simple: the bass hitch-pin rail of a French or German harpsichord. What can we do to prevent it cracking? An introduction to Newton's First and Third Laws.
2. Jacks
An analysis of the forces on the tongue of a jack, in which we get to deal with a rotating object.
3. Quills (1)
A discussion of a method to enhance the lifetime of bird quill, with a flavour of material engineering.
4. Quills (2)
We continue our quest for a reliable use of bird quill. This time we focus on how design decisions affect its lifetime and on the practice of voicing, for which we use a fair dose of structural analysis.
5. Case
How does the case of a harpsichord react to the tension of the strings? Exploring the relation between stress and deformation.
Praceta Dom João I, loja 57A, 2785-379 Caparide, Portugal
