The Moermans Flemish Double: Background

Over the past year the rubbings and photographs taken in London have been used as the basis for a newly designed harpsichord to be built by Zuckermann Harpsichords International in Stonington. Drawn by R. P. Hale, and built by the Zuckermann shop with Peter Watchorn's input and musical finishing.

In the early 1990s, Peter Watchorn travelled to London to visit the celebrated British collector of early keyboards, Dr. J. Rodger Mirrey. The reason for this visit was to undertake the first thorough measurement of one of the most fascinating Flemish harpsichords to survive from the middle of the 17th century, a large two-manual instrument signed on the jack rail by Hans Moermans, Antwerp, 1642. Over the course of two weeks the instrument was carefully measured, photographed and a precise "rubbing" was taken of the interior of the case. The Moermans is an especially fascinating instrument, since it is an early example (perhaps the earliest surviving) of an "expressive" double, that is, a harpsichord whose two manuals are designed to complement each other and provide tonal variety. This is in contrast to the two-manual instruments made by the great Ruckers family that survive in their original state, which were essentially two single-manual harpsichords (each with 8' and 4' registers) housed in one case, with keyboards tuned a fourth apart.

Peter Watchorn's curiosity had been awakened by his long familiarity with a fine 1584 single-manual instrument also signed "Hans Moermans", which is in private ownership in Boston. John Koster, who examined both the single and the double in 1972, established that both instruments were definitely products of the same shop, perhaps made by father and son. Deepening the mystery, a third harpsichord, unsigned but dated 1729 surfaced in Brussels. This harpsichord, bearing the same "H M" rose as the 1584 single and the 1642 double, is a full five-octave harpsichord in the late Flemish style of J. D. Dulcken and his pupil Ioannes Bull. Perhaps there was a Moermans dynasty that spanned several centuries, from 1579 (when Hans Moermans the Elder was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke) until 1729 or later. And perhaps the 1642 instrument provides an essential missing link between the era of Ruckers and the late 18th century Flemish instruments.

Tonally, this instrument reveals a direct link between the 16th and 17th century harpsichords by the Ruckers family and the impressive mid-18th century instruments by Johannes Daniel Dulcken. It is the first time in many years that an important but relatively unknown original harpsichord has been re-discovered and copied in such detail, and the resulting instrument provides a highly effective "universal" harpsichord: as useful for the music of William Byrd and John Bull as it is for J. S. Bach, Handel and Scarlatti. Its solo registers are beautifully sensuous and clear, while the chorus is grand and imposing.