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Double Manual French Harpsichord by Kevin Fryer, San Francisco 2001
After Vaudry, 1681
Commissioned by the Seattle Baroque Orchestra
The inspiration for the case painting of this instrument came from designs for embroidered
fabrics for Versailles by Daniel Marot. The palette is minimal: yellow and green with gold
applied sparingly. The client, Kevin, and I all agreed that because the walnut of the lid
was so beautiful we would leave it natural, and set if off with a thin black stripe
punctuated with occasional fleurs-de-lys.
The soundboard painting is taken from the surviving original, and employs only the
pigments available at the time. The “rose” which sits in the hole in the soundboard
is also copied from the original, and is made of hand-cut parchment. It is three tiers
deep, each tier consisting of two or three layers of parchment.
The elaborate table stand was designed by Kevin, but is based on a harpsichord stand
which was destroyed during the bombing of Rotterdam in WWII. He was able to extrapolate
all the dimensions and proportions from the only surviving photograph of the instrument.
The stand breaks down completely for purposes of moving the instrument. Each leg unscrews
and is then fitted horizontally inside the apron. The stand was built by San Francisco
woodworker Matthias Murer, and ebonized by Kevin Fryer.
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