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Bernard Brauchli, Alberto Galazzo, and Judith Wardman, editors. De clavicordio VIII: The Clavichord on the Iberian Peninsula; Proceedings of the VIII International Clavichord Symposium, Magnano, 5-8 September 2007. Mag nano: Musica Antica a Magnano, 2008. 250 pp.: 56 color illus., 29 black-and-white illus., 24 tables. ISBN: 978-88-900269-5-9. k55,00 (soft cover).
Biennial conferences held in the village of Magnano under the auspices of the International Centre for Clavichord Studies bring together musicologists, instrument builders, performers, collectors, and enthusiasts in ideal circumstances for sharing information and insights. The resulting Proceedings, which do not take account of the regularly accompanying recitals and instrument exhibitions, are an invaluable resource for everyone concerned with clavichords and historical keyboards generally. While focused nominally on Iberian topics, the 2007 symposium also touched on other regions as well as on current technical research projects. Lavishly illustrated, mostly with clear color photographs, and furnished with ample bibliographies and an index of names (with a redundant, misprinted entry for Hanserik [sic] Svensson, p. 249), the present volume expands upon subjects broached in previous issues and opens new areas for further investigation.
A survey of its contents discloses wide diversity among the nineteen major contributions (all in English, with Italian abstracts; some are translated from other languages). Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of the pioneer early-instrument builder and performer Arnold Dolmetsch, Uta Henning gathers personal impressions of Dolmetsch and his so-called Bach clavichord, and Peter Bavington describes Dolmetsch's impressive clavichord output before 1914; he errs, though, in remarking (p. 40) that John Challis's clavichords made after about 1930 have two bridges on the soundboard, because Challis's later models have just one.
Macario Santiago Kastner's centenary is marked by tributes from persons who knew this scholarly musician and pedagogue well: family members offer...