Mill Talk: The Greater Boston School of Harpsichord Building

Mill Talk: “The Greater Boston School of Harpsichord Building”

Opening: “Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History” Special Exhibition

(6:00 PM Exhibit Opening, 7:00 PM Discussion)

presented by Mark Kroll, Professor emeritus , Boston University

Join us for the kickoff of our very special exhibition, Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History, which will examine the story of Frank and Diane Hubbard, founders and operators of Hubbard Harpsichords manufacturers of instruments and kits for almost 50 years. Through their work, Greater Boston became a center of the revivial of the harpsichord as an instrument and Early Music as a genre. Mark Kroll has written the definitive book on chronicling this important period of music history and collected dozens of firsthand accounts of the principal players, workers, and artisans associated with the ‘Big Three’ harpsichord shops in Greater Boston – Hubbard in Waltham, William Dowd and Eric Herz, both in Cambridge.

Kroll will give a talk that sets the context in which the Hubbards’ shop at the Lyman Estate carriage house expanded to the old Cotton Picker Building of the Boston Manufacturing Factory site on Moody Street. Hubbard Harpsichords pioneered the use of DIY kits that became popular in the 1960s and 70s, many of which were built in this mill complex.

This Mill Talk marks the grand opening of Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History, a special exhibition on the artisanship, industry, and art of designing and building harpsichords, exemplified by those of the Hubbard shop. This three-month exhibition will include a full harpsichord, wood-bending frames, tools and materials of the trade, and imagery from the Hubbard shop that centers the workers who created instruments and kits for decades on site. Over the course of its installation, the program will include music, informational talks, panel discussions, and other special events to bring this almost-forgotten part of Waltham’s and Greater Boston’s music history back to the forefront.

Speaker Bio: Professor emeritus Mark Kroll, Boston University

Mark Kroll’s distinguished career as a performer, scholar and educator spans a period of more than fifty years. He has appeared in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia as a recitalist and chamber musician, winning critical praise for his expressive playing and virtuosity. He has also performed as concerto soloist with the world’s major orchestras and served as harpsichordist for the Boston Symphony from 1979-2008. Kroll’s extensive list of recordings includes the music of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Biber, Duphly, Balbastre, Royer, Schubert, and Hummel; a 10-disc set of the complete pièces de clavecin of François Couperin; critically acclaimed CDs of contemporary harpsichord music; and Dutilleux’s Les Citations with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players.

Equally active as a scholar, Kroll has published eight books— Bach, Handel and Scarlatti: Reception in Britain 1750-1850; The Cambridge Companion to the Harpsichord; Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe; Playing the Harpsichord Expressively; The Beethoven Violin Sonatas; Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Musician and His World (a second edition and a Slovakian translation were published this year in Bratislava); The Boston School of Harpsichord Building; and an annotated facsimile of part III of J. N. Hummel’s piano treatise—plus numerous chapters and articles, and scholarly editions for Bärenreiter, Ut Orpheus and A-R Editions. His book, Contemporary Harpsichord Music Since 1900, is in preparation.

A dedicated educator, Kroll is Professor emeritus at Boston University, where he served for twenty-five years as Professor of Harpsichord and Chair of the Department of Historical Performance. He teaches and lectures worldwide and has been visiting professor and guest lecturer at Northeastern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale and Princeton Universities, and others throughout the United States.

Links:

Mark Kroll: Person Website

The Boston School of Harpsichord Building (2019) Edwin Mellen Press

Host or Publisher Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation