Russell Collection of Early
Keyboard Instruments

HD5-JG1763.29: Double-manual harpsichord,
Jean Goermans/Pascal Taskin. Paris, 1763/83-84.

Record Notes

The two double-manual harpsichords used in this recording form part of the Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments at the University of Edinburgh, and are among the finest and most famous Parisian harpsichords in the world. This CD marks the first time that these two stunningly beautiful instruments have been heard together on a digital recording. The coupling of these two instruments to play these suites by Gaspar LeRoux is opposite for a number of different reasons. As well as their clear musical similarities and differences, and the musical links that they have with one another, the instruments and their makers are also linked in several non-musical ways.

Pascal Taskin, whose work is represented in both of these instruments, is certainly one of the finest harpsichord builders of all times. Taskin was born sometime between 1723 and 1729 in Theux in the Province of Liege, now a part of Belgium. From Theux he came to work in Paris in the atelier of François-Étienne Blanchet II. After the death of Blanchet in April 1766, he became a journeyman (maître) harpsichord builder, married Blanchet's widow, and took over Blanchet's workshop in the Rue de la Verrerie. He was the court harpsichord builder to both Louis XV and Louis XVI, and he died at Versailles in February, 1793. His instruments span the period in which the piano became popular and, at the time of his death, there were equal numbers of pianos and harpsichords under construction in his workshop.

Jean Goermans was the founder of a family, originally of Flemish origin, of harpsichord and piano builders. He came to Paris and lived on the rue de la Verrerie, the same street where Pascal Taskin was living and working for Blanchet. Thus these two instruments originated within a few years of one another (1764 and 1769) and it is probable that they were actually built on the same street in Paris. Goermans had at least seven children and suffered extreme financial hardship as a result of the expenses of their education. Some of these children became musicians and some, in turn, stringed keyboard instrument builders.

The Russell Collection's 1769 double-manual harpsichord by Pascal Taskin first came to the attention of the world in 1959 with the publication of Raymond Russell's book The Harpsichord and Clavichord, (Faber and Faber, London, 1959). A glowing description of the instrument and its maker was given along with photographs of the instrument and some of its action parts. Just six years later Frank Hubbard published his Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making, (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1965), also with many details of this instrument including a plan view drawing and details and drawings of the action. Hubbard's enthusiasm and preference for French instruments in general, and the 1769 Taskin in particular, is undisguised: He gives a third more space to the description of the French school of harpsichord building than to the Flemish school, and almost twice as much as to the English and German schools. Hubbard was convinced that a French double-manual harpsichord, typified by the 1769 Taskin, with its beautiful sound, large compass, delicate touch, reliable action and elegant decoration was a kind of 'universal' instrument suitable, in his view, for most of the historical stringed keyboard instrument repertoire. For him it was the first choice as a model for copying by any serious harpsichordist or harpsichord maker. The result of these two publications, and the strength of opinion in favour of the large French double-manual harpsichord at the beginning of the 'authentic instrument' revival, is that the Russell Collection 1769 Taskin has become one of the most famous and copied instruments from any collection in the world.

The 1764 instrument by Jean Goermans was originally built, like the 1769 Taskin harpsichord, with the classic French disposition having two 8' and one 4' stops on the lower manual and one 8' stop on the upper manual, all using quill plectra. The disposition of the Goermans harpsichord was then later altered by Taskin in 1783/84 by adding to the lower manual an extra row of 8' jacks quilled in soft peau-de-buffle leather plectra, and by adding a knee-lever or genouillère mechanism to the instrument to change the registration. This allowed the registers to be turned on and off without lifting the hands from the keyboards, and also allowed a gradual 'swell' effect whereby the delicate sound of the peau de buffle all on its own could be increased gradually one register at a time to the full 2x8',1x4' in quill and then brought back again to the single peau de buffle.

At the time that Taskin and Goermans were working in Paris, harpsichords by the Ruckers and Couchet, built over a century earlier in Antwerp, were being altered and updated to given them a contemporary compass and disposition. These altered harpsichords sold for prices 10 times or more those of the locally-produced new instruments. In such a financial climate, much counterfeiting and faking of Ruckers and Couchet instruments occurred. In the case of the 1764 instrument Taskin obliterated Goermans' signature from the instrument, altered Goermans' rose to look like the rose of Ioannes Couchet, stained the soundboard dark brown to try to make it look as old as a Couchet, and probably sold it off as a Couchet instrument at a great profit. Pascal the Rascal!

The two instruments used here are among the finest surviving harpsichords in the world and two of the most copied and most famous harpsichords, known universally to harpsichord makers and players alike. The 1769 Taskin instrument has a particularly rich and sonorous bass and an elegant, sweet treble. The Goermans harpsichord of 1764 is more delicate and sophisticated, and has a more even and balanced tone across the range of the instrument. The instruments do have qualities that are somewhat different, but the hand of Taskin is clearly evident in both and draws the sound of the two together. What is evident from listening to the music of Le Roux played on them is that they both have an extremely beautiful and exciting sound, each enhanced by hearing the two instruments together.

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