European Furniture and Decorative Arts

Note:

This harpsichord, built by Goff and Cobby in 1961, was played by Maestro Raymond Leppard beginning in the early 1960s as well as by Thurston Dart and George Malcolm at annual jamborees at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Leppard notes in his memoir Music Made Me: "Tom Goff became one of the great harpsichord makers of our time, tho' he only made fourteen of them. I count myself very fortunate to own one he made for me and still more fortunate to have known and counted him a friend for many years...Most of his seven pedals had half-hitches which controlled subtle dynamic changes and enabeled the most remarkable colouration of the sound. This involved the most delicate setting of the plectra, the whole made more easily regulated by being built around a metal frame that, unlike the wooden frames of the 18th century, remained stable through all changes of humidity and temperature."

Maestro Raymond Leppard (1927-2019), Commander of the British Empire, was an internationally recognized composer, conductor and scholar of Baroque music, as well as a Grammy-winning recording artist. Born in London, Leppard grew up in Bath where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys’ School, now the Beechen Cliff School. He studied harpsichord and viola at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he would go on to become Lecturer and Fellow before making his debut at Wigmore Hall in London in 1952. He also helped establish and was long associated with the English Chamber Orchestra.