CLAVICHORD INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Clavichord International Press is a small Private Press focusing on publications of clavichord-related subjects. CIP came to life in 1997 as a branch of the Nederlands Clavichord Genootschap (Dutch Clavichord Society) on the occasion of the launch of the journal 'Clavichord International'. CIP has released two more publications since.

PUBLICATIONS
Clavichord International
Restoration Report Hubert 1772
The Hubert Clavichord Data Book
Stemming & onderhoud van het clavichord (out of print, see alternative!)

All current publications can be ordered from:
Clavichord International Press
E-mail: kv@cipress.nl

CLAVICHORD INTERNATIONAL

FRANCIS KNIGHTS, editor
Regular co-operators: Lothar Bemmann, John Collins, Paul Simmonds, Miklós Spányi.
27 x 21 cm, 64 pages per volume. Two issues per year, May and November.
Subscription rate: Euro 18,- (individuals), Euro 26- (institutions). These prices include postage (Priority Mail) but not bank charges.
Volume I appeared in 1997, and all back issues are still available.

Clavichord International is aimed at both the expert and the amateur. It includes interviews, articles on historic clavichords and restoration practice. Italso deals with repertoire and composers, including a piece of (usually unpublished) music in each issue. There are CD and music reviews, and a list of current evens and reports from the clavichord societies all over the world.

FOR MORE INFORMATION (including the Contents of all Volumes) CLICK HERE
FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS CLICK HERE

RESTORATION REPORT HUBERT 1772

KOEN VERMEIJ
29 x 21 cm, 18 pages, 59 photographs, spiral-bound
ISBN 90-73029-08-2, year of first publication: 1999
Price: Euro 15,- + P&P

This report gives an account of the restoration of the Hubert 1772 clavichord in D-Bad Krozingen. It is one of the three large unfretted instruments left by this maker, and actually the only one in playing order. The report goes into details about considerations that have led to certain actions or non-actions. It lists all the work done and provides many 'before-and-after' pictures. Also this book forms a welcome addition to the description of this very clavichord in the Hubert Clavichord Data Book (see below), which deals with this restoration in a general way only.

FOR INFORMATION & ORDERS CLICK HERE

THE HUBERT CLAVICHORD DATA BOOK

KOEN VERMEIJ
30 x 22 cm, 280 pages, 683 photographs, hardback with internal spiral binding
ISBN 90-73029-10-4, year of first publication: 2000
Price: Euro 100,- + P & P

Introduction to the book by Darryl Martin
(derived from a review in Clavichord International, Vol. IV, No 2, November 2000)
The publication of 'The Hubert Clavichord Data Book' has been long awaited by most researchers and makers of clavichords, and its unveiling at the recent British Clavichord Society Meeting in Edinburgh is most welcome.
The book itself is hardback with internal spiral binding. This has the advantage of both providing a solid cover which will be able to cope with the regular use that many people will subject it to, as well as opening flat on the bench or table. It has been published using ' Multiple Original Printing ', in which each copy is in effect an original printed straight from computer to final paper. The paper is high quality, as is the print, which is slightly raised from the page, giving a sumptuous feel. As stated in the introduction, the book is specialised and unlikely to have a large print run, and the method allows for updating.

There are three sections to the book: *an Introduction, taking some 20 pages; *the data itself which forms the bulk of the book; *and 25 pages of tables at the back. Finally there is a postscript, in which Vermeij emphasises there is still work to do on Hubert, and that the publication of the Data Book is merely the start.

The book is - as the title says - a Data Book. Thus there is little interpretation of information, but rather raw measurements. All eighteen surviving instruments have been measured and listed, in addition to the small portable instrument dated 1776 which was lost during the last war. Normally, a large collection of figures makes daunting reading, however the book is layed out in a fashion that makes following the measurements a very simple process. Each instrument has been catalogued in exactly the same manner and the information presented in a logical format. The right hand page gives the data - complete with useful diagrams to show exactly what has been measured; and often 'icons', which, coupled with the code found in the introduction, make comprehension very simple Once the reader is familiar with the codes, they become second nature. The right third of the page is for various notes which clarify the measurements. The left hand page has various photographs, often six or more a page, which are referred to in the notes, giving a clear pictorial illustration of things which still may be unclear.

As a researcher who also tends to make a very large number of measurements of an examined instrument I might be biased towards the approach used, but wearing another hat - that of a maker - I attempted to follow a description in the book to see if the information was in any way either inadequate or superfluous. Using a description of an instrument I am unfamiliar with, I found I was able to generate enough information to allow me to make a reproduction of its basic form.
The tables at the rear allow comparisons to be made at a glance, giving the reader a familiarity with the various changes that Hubert made from instrument to instrument, and also provoking questions. As Vermeij says, there is still much work on Hubert still to do, and this book constantly provides things for future researchers to consider.

Despite the author's insistence that the book concentrates on the data in the form of measurements a reader who carefully follows the Guide to the Description Model (pages 21 to 26) will find much information which serves as a general decription of Hubert clavichords. This section accomplishes more in its simple manner than most authors are able to achieve with pages of text. Any reader should thoroughly familiarise themselves with the Guide before attempting to read individual descriptions.
At the rear of the book is a page giving the terminology used for the various parts of a clavichord. This appears designed to be separated to have alongside the desciptions. The terminology is very logically ordered and I hope that the terms will become accepted and used in all descriptions of clavichords

In summing up, the book has been worth the wait. It will, I hope, be purchased by all makers, researchers, museums, and even hopefully players who have an interest in Hubert clavichords. Given the maker's instruments, which many twentieth century people consider to be the finest surviving examples of clavichords, it is a book whose importance cannot be overestimated, and will hopefully lead on to further research on Hubert's instruments, and equally thorough research of the instruments by other finer historical makers.'

Press voices:
Charles Mould in the Galpin Society Journal LIV, 2001
'Koen Vermeij has published a work of monumental importance to those who research, make, restore and play the clavichord. Though the book is devoted to only one maker there is much here to be gleaned on aspects of keyboard practice sush as measurement, preservation and instrument design for those whose interest is less specialised.'
'Your reviewer's admiration is unbounded for the author, whose presentation of this book, its thoroughness, its readability and clarity make it a milestone in the examination of the work of one maker. One trembles to think how much time and care has gone into the publication of this meticulously documented study. It is a work for the specialists, but at the same time it gives many insights into the general craft of clavichord making. I warmly commend it to anyone interested in the clavichord and not just those who are devotees of the work of Hubert.'

Lewis Jones in FoMRHI Quarterly, No. 103, April 2001, Communication 1747.
'Vermeij's study represents a milestone in the systematic documentation of the work of a single keyboard instrument maker, and though it will be essential for makers and players of that instrument, its value as an example of such documentation extends its value to all serious students of instrument history and design.'

Wilhelm Erlewein in Instrumentenbau Report No 32, November 2001
'Diese Veroffentlichung wird [...] bei Instrumentenbauern, Musikwissenschaftlern, und Liebhabern auf grosses Interesse treffen. Dem Verfasser darf man fuer seine akribische Arbeit hohes Lob aussprechen.'

FOR INFORMATION & ORDERS CLICK.HERE

STEMMING & ONDERHOUD VAN HET CLAVICHORD
TUNING & MAINTENANCE OF THE CLAVICHORD

KOEN VERMEIJ
21 x 21 cm, 22 pages, 8 photographs, bound in a paper cover.
ISBN 90-73029-01-5, year of first publication: 1992

This bi-lingual guide to tuning and maintaining clavichords is out of print and will not be reprinted either, as meanwhile an alternative has been published.

CLAVICHORD TUNING & MAINTENANCE
by PETER BAVINGTON is far more deep-going on the subject of both tuning and maintenance of the clavichord.
It can be ordered from Keyword Press (http://www.keywordpress.co.uk) by clicking HERE
The price is GBP 18.00 plus post and packing.