Harpsichords, Clavichords, Violins, and Fortepianos by Keith Hill

What's New? Finished in December of 2007, this fortepiano is based on Cristofori's 1726 piano. However, notice that it has 6 octaves, a compass of CC to c''''. Like the 1726 original, this piano is double strung in Brass from the bass to the top note, it has a Cristofori action (with a few changes I have made to make the action more reliable, quieter, and easier to play and most especially to regulate) with parchment ring hammers using only one layer of voicing leather for the top four and a half octaves and two layers for the lowest one and a half octaves, light wood damper jacks with leather dampers, and all the basic design features of the 1726 instrument including the pinblock with the nut on the underside and a fully functioning Una Chorda. How this piano differs from the original of 1726 besides the fact it has 6 octaves is that I have included a means of raising the dampers, pedals (because a 6 octave range is more suited to playing the music of later Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Chopin all of which require the use of pedals) for the dampers and the una chorda, and two metal gap spacers. Until this instrument, no previous maker, to my knowledge, has taken Cristofori's basic design and expanded it to a full 6 octaves. Silbermann, both Heinrich and Gottfried expanded the 4 octave Cristofori design to a full 5 octaves but no one since thought to extend that down to low CC and up to high c''''. And from what I have seen and heard most piano makers appear to have abandoned brass stringing in favor of the stronger iron strings. Why? I can only guess, because iron really sounds inferior to brass for pianos, in my estimation. Curiously, I have found that I have no problems getting enough fullness and volume in my trebles even when the instrument is only double strung in brass. And I have also found that the brass wire in these pianos stays in tune far better than does iron in any Viennese fortepiano I have encountered. It is not unusual to have the instrument stay well in tune for 6 weeks. How it sounds for Chopin and Brahms is something you can judge for yourself in the following recordings. Because the pianist is sightreading, the pianist wishes to remain anonymous. The recordings were made in my music room using my recording equipment prior to shipping the instrument to Scandinavia. Click here for a Sound Sample to hear a Chopin Prelude on this new 6 octave Cristofori piano* Click here for a Sound Sample to hear Chopin's "Rain drop" Prelude on this new 6 octave Cristofori piano* Click here for a Sound Sample to hear a Chopin Etude on this new 6 octave Cristofori piano* Click here for a Sound Sample to hear a Brahms Intermezzo on this new 6 octave Cristofori piano*

Click here for a Sound Sample of one of my Taskin Harpsichords* Click here for a Sound Sample of one of my more recent Taskin Harpsichords* Since I began building instruments, I have made more than 385 instruments for professional musicians and serious amateurs alike. Most of these harpsichords, clavichords, violins, guitars, and fortepianos continue to serve music as I intended them so to do when I made them. My chiefest aim has always been to build sounds which inspire a way of playing that deeply moves and excites listeners. This aim can be realized only by acoustical work of the highest quality. I define quality as anything which makes my instruments more like the antique instruments. Click here for a Sound Sample of my Lute*

Now that I have achieved my personal goal of a reliable mastery over sound, I am able to produce the kind of sound I could only dream of 35 years ago. It is that skill and understanding that I am able to bring to each and every instrument I make. It is this skill and understanding which makes my instruments unique in our time. That is what I have to offer. Click here for a Sound Sample of my most recent 16' Harpsichords* The cardinal signs of a Hill instrument are: powerful tone, gorgeously vocal trebles, solid and resonant basses, beauty of tone color, intensely musical behavior of sound, flexibility of touch and color, and a singing and affectively "loaded" tone. Why are these traits necessary? It is obvious that players and composers in the 18th century demanded instruments possessing these qualities to be made so that they would aesthetically support their musical conceptions and intentions. How do we know this? CPE Bach states explicitly in his Versuch to "Play from the Soul, not like a trained bird...endeavor to avoid everything mechanical and slavish". J.J.Quantz in his On Playing the Flute explains to musicians that "musical execution may be compared with the delivery of an orator..." and that musicians and orators should aim "to make themselves masters of the hearts of their listeners, to arouse or still their passions, and to transport them now to this sentiment, now to that". Click here for a Sound Sample of my most recent Lute Harpsichords* Click here for a Sound Sample of one of my Italian Harpsichords* Click here for a Sound Sample of two of my Italian Harpsichords being played together in this 15th Contrpunctus from the Art of Fugue*

I understand that they meant these things literally, rather than hopefully. Therefore, I build my instruments with the sole aim of creating sounds which enhance and support (meaning: to make reasonable, logical, and beautiful) a highly expressive, highly flexible, highly affective, highly inflected, powerfully communicative, yet balanced style of playing. Playing that is, in a word, soulful. Click here for a Sound Sample of one of my Cristofori inspired Fortepianos* My goal now is to do everything in my power to encourage a return again to a sane, meaningful, highly expressive, masterful way of playing great music and creating great art. It is to this end that my instrument making is dedicated. Click here for a Sound Sample of one of my Guarneri inspired Violins* Indeed, it is also to this end that my decorations and canvas paintings are dedicated. So I hope you will take the opportunity to visit those sites as well while you are at this site. Just click on the Art Gallery Button to the left or the Decorations Button for the instrument decorations. Click here for a new Sound Sample of my most recent Lautenwerk* KEITH HILL - Instrument Maker I wish to acknowledge the fine playing of the many players whose playing you hear on all my websites. They are: Tim Burris-Lute, Robert Hill-Harpsichord, Cristorfori Pianoforte, Graf Fortepiano, Clavichord and Lautenwerk, Marianne Ploger-Cristorfori Pianoforte, Graf Fortepiano, Elizabeth Farr-Harpsichord, Lautenwerk, and 16' Harpsichord, Mitzi Meyerson-Harpsichord, Shigetoshi Yamada-Violins, Michael Behringer-Harpsichord, Eckhart Kuper-Lautenwerk, and Mauricio Aguiar-Violin Click here for a Sound Sample of one of my Lautenwerks, or Lute Harpsichords* Click here for another Sound Sample of my Lautenwerk, or Lute Harpsichords*

Click here for a Sound Sample of one of my Friederici inspired Clavichords* *(Here's a trick to hear the sound sample and view the site at the same time. 1.Click on the sound sample to download it. 2.Then, download one of my other sites on your browser, in effect, opening a new window. 3.Click on the SITE button, at that site, relating to this site. 4. Once you have this site accessed from the new page and window, you can to view the site and listen to the downloading sound sample for it.)