Dolmetsch, Arnold

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Dolmetsch, Arnold (b Le Mans, 1858; d Haslemere, 1940). Swiss musician and maker of old instr. Taught vn. Dulwich Coll. 1885–9. Restored old instrs., made his first lute 1893, clavichord 1894, hpd. 1896. Worked on early kbd. instr. at Chickering's pf. factory, Boston, Mass., 1902–9; in charge Gaveau's hpd. dept., Paris, 1911–14. Settled in Eng. at Haslemere, Surrey, 1917, establishing workshop for manufacture and repair of clavichords, hpds., viols, lutes, recorders, etc., and founding (1925) annual fest. at which old mus. was perf. by himself and his family on authentic instr. His book The Interpretation of the Music of the 17th and 18th Centuries (1915) was the first comprehensive survey of its field.

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