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Welcome to Thomas Power Harpsichords, makers of fine instruments intended for players who appreciate the touch and sound of traditional harpsichords and those wishing to approximate as closely as possible an authentic (beautiful!) historically accurate performance.
Our harpsichords come from a passion for Baroque music and a love for the truth. After the study of the original instruments and building techniques, we have thoughtfully adapted some some specific aspects of the instruments to more fully fit them to the needs of the modern player, but at the same time remaining as close as possible to the originals, thereby retaining the characteristics (technical and musical) that make those instruments so revered.
The accurate and informed choice of woods, the development of highly accurate building methods and the applied knowledge from many years of research and experimentation give our harpsichords a very high degree of stability, consistently precise action and tuning. This combines with an unmistakably rich, dark and beautiful sound
Our comitment is to make keyboard instruments that sound and look as close as possible to the originals, trying to reproduce techniques from the past, and listening very carefully to the instruments as they come together. Each instrument will have slightly different tendancies and character and one must listen in order to make the most of the best of these characteristics. The instruments are made almost entirely from raw materials, with very few exceptions, in order to retain as much control as possible over the final look and, most importantly, sound of the instrument.
It is also very important to take into account that, very often, people who buy a harpsichord from us need an instrument that is suitable for a wide repertioire. For this reason, we will, on request, build our reproduction instruments with wider compass, standard diapason and/or derlin plectra.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at our addresses or via email for any further questions and, of course, you are very welcome to visit us at the workshop on the Prinsen Eiland in the beautiful city of Amsterdam!
Our services
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The Manufacturing Process
Construction of a harpsichord begins with selecting the wood based on the type of harpsichord witch has to be made. Different kinds of wood are used depending on the model and style, and they certainly affect the sound quality of the finished instrument. The wood must be aged for... |
The soundboards of seventeenth century Flemish and french harpsichords, spinets and virginals were frequently decorated with painted flora, fauna, and ornamental motifs. Such decoration is very specific to this part of the instrument.
The case, lid and stand vary widely according to period and origin, and even...
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A large part of our work is in restoring and maintaining instruments from original to modern reproductions, not limited to just the harpsichord but just about any early keyboard instrument, be it a spinet, muselaar, clavichord, virginal, pleyel etc.. In restoring historical instruments we will obtain as much information as we can, from drawings...
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In our woorkshop we make many diferant types of stands and chairs, witch match the harpsishords from diferant styles. If you have ideas about the design for your stand or chair,dont hesitate to contackt us,we will be happy to descuss it with you. |
Biography
Thomas Power was born in the southeast of Ireland in the town of Waterford. At 21, after six years in aprecticeship training at a cabinetmakers workshop, he left Waterford and came to Amsterdam to start his own furnature making business. His...
Products
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Of course, with a fully equipped workshop and many years of experience, we can reproduce almost any instrument from any period. Below are some examples of instruments we have built. There are many possibilities regarding design etc. and many customers have specific... |
Building your own instrument can be a wonderful, cathartic, consuming, frustrating, enlightening, terrifying and ultimately rewarding pursuit. Making an instrument from scratch is something that requires special tools and not something easily accomplished at home, let alone in a well equipped... |
There are an almost infinite number of designs for stands and chairs. Each tradition and time period had their own styles and idiosyncrasies, according to fashion at the time. We do take great care in correctly matching stands to instruments according to their design... |
All of our instruments come supplied with a matching music desk. You can leave the design to us or contact us with a design you have in mind. Take a look at some of the examples below. |