- Frank Hubbard
Frank Twombly Hubbard (
15 May 1920 -25 February 1976 ) was an Americanharpsichord maker, a pioneer in the revival of historical methods of harpsichord building.tudent days
Born in New York, Hubbard studied
English literature atHarvard , graduating with AB, 1942 and AM, 1947. One of his friends wasWilliam Dowd , who had an interest in early instruments, and together they constructed aclavichord . This connection, with his interest as an amateur violinist in violin making and the location of his library reading stall near the stacks holding books on musical instruments, led to Hubbard's interest in the historic harpsichord.While pursuing graduate study at Harvard, Hubbard and Dowd both decided to leave to pursue instrument-making. In 1947, Hubbard went to England, and became an apprentice at the workshop of
Arnold Dolmetsch inHaslemere . Not learning much about the historic harpsichord, he went to Hugh Gough in London in 1948, with whom he worked for a year. During this time, he was able to visit the collections of early keyboard instruments around Europe and study instruments of historical makers. He studied theviola da gamba with Edgar Hunt at theTrinity College of Music in order to get the subsistence allowance that theG.I. Bill offered, though with his instrument-making, he had no time to practise.Historical harpsichords
He returned to the USA in 1949 and founded a workshop with Dowd building harpsichords on historical principles, rather than the 20th-century modern (now known as 'revival') style practised by virtually all professional makers, such as
Robert Goble . They found work performing restorations of harpsichords in public and private collections which helped them improve their own practises of design and construction. In 1958 the partnership ended and Hubbard formed his own workship on the Lyman estate inWaltham , Dowd opening a larger workship in Cambridge.From 1955–1958, with a
Fulbright Fellowship ,American Philosophical Society Grant and Belgium American Educational Foundation CRB Fellowship, he was able to examine many more instrumental collections in Europe. From 1967 to 1968, he set up the restoration workshop for the Musée Instrumental at theParis Conservatoire . In the 1970s, he taught courses at Harvard andBoston University . At the time of the publication of his book, "Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making", in 1965, Ralph Kirkpatrick wrote that "he unquestionably knows more about the history and construction of harpsichords than anyone alive today".He developed a harpsichord in 1973 based on a
Pascal Taskin instrument of 1769 which was sold as ado-it-yourself kit, semi-finished. For this endeavour, he was partnered by Lawrence C. Erdmann. By 1975, approximately 1000 of these instruments had been produced.An amateur violinist, he also restored a number of early violins to their original state and made early (pre-Tourte) bows for instruments of the
viol and violin families.He has been described as "agentleman of the 18th and 20th centuries, anAnglophile andFrancophile who seemed to disapprove of most things German and Italian."Fact|date=June 2007 He died inWellesley, Massachusetts .Hubbard's thoughts on the harpsichord
About the revival of
authentic instruments forearly music :cquote|This man, this composer from the past, had a talent greater than anything I will ever have. He used the means at his disposal in an imaginative way that staggers my imagination. Therefore, the only word I can apply is arrogance to the people who feel they can devise a harpsichord more suitable to his music than the instrument he had, because he wrote his music for that harpsichord. That's why I feel so strongly that one should attempt to return to the original instruments.To enter the past to this extent is anything but sterile; it is extremely creative. This is essentially what I am trying to do. To do my part in reviving this music. And every so often I see that people are making steps in this direction. Someone like
Gustav Leonhardt comes along who has a completely new approach when compared with early 20th century approaches, to let's say, the unmeasuredprelude s of Couperin or the very free 17th century music. There are now groups of musicians approaching this music much as it was approached during the time that it was written.The ideal harpsichord sound:
Bach and Scarlatti's instruments:cquote|We have no reason to connect
Bach with those large instruments fromHamburg that immediately spring to mind when we think of German instruments. My feeling is that Bach probably was playing on instruments of the Saxon school. We should think of his instrument as not being very different from that ofRameau orCouperin . The Saxon instruments had a tendency to be 2x8', 1x4' doubles, and were very similar in many ways to instruments in the Franco-Flemish tradition.We always used to think of
Scarlatti as par excellence the harpsichord composer; play him on aSteinway grand and no question it's terrible. But I am not so sure that some of the qualities that you hear in afortepiano might not be desirable for Scarlatti.What we still don't know about the history of the harpsichord:
Books
*Frank Hubbard: "Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making" (
Harvard University Press , 1965);ISBN : 0674888456 - the authoritative work on the history and construction of the harpsichord when it was published.
*Frank Hubbard: "Harpsichord Regulating and Repairing" (Tuner's Supply Inc., 1962);ASIN : B0007DXD2C*"Reconstructing the Harpsichord", The Historical Harpsichord: a Monograph Series in Honor of Frank Hubbard, ed. Howard Schott (Pendragon Press, 1983), 1–16
ources
*Howard Schott: 'Hubbard, Frank (Twombly)', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed
2007-06-08 ), http://www.grovemusic.com
* [http://www.hubharp.com/fh_biography/fh_iview.htm Interview by Hal Haney] in "Harpsichord", vol.5, no. 1, April 1972.
* [http://www.harpsichord.org.uk/EH/Vol1/No4/Hubbard.pdf Interview by Tom McGeary] in "The English Harpsichord Magazine", vol.11, no.4, April 1975
* [http://www.hubharp.com/fh_biography/fh_perfection.htm Habit of Perfection] - Tribute to Frank Hubbard by Michael Steinberg in theBoston Globe , February 1976External links
*http://www.hubharp.com/ - Hubbard Harpsichords
* [http://www.hubharp.com/fh_biography/frank.htm About Frank Hubbard]Persondata
NAME=Hubbard, Frank Twombly
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Harpsichord maker
DATE OF BIRTH=15 May 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH=New York City ,USA
DATE OF DEATH=25 February 1976
PLACE OF DEATH=Wellesley, Massachusetts ,USA
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