INDUSTRIES 



Shudi's Venetian swell, which he afterwards 

 patented. 26 Roger Plenius had in 1750 de- 

 vised a swell imitated from the organ, which 

 consisted of gradually raising or lowering by 

 a pedal movement a portion of the top or 

 cover of the harpsichord. Shudi improved 

 upon this by a swell on the principle of the 

 Venetian blind. 



John Broadwood, who had married Shudi's 

 daughter Barbara, was taken into partner- 

 ship by his father-in-law. A harpsichord 

 exists dated 1770, with the names of Shudi 

 and Broadwood as makers, but Shudi made 

 harpsichords alone after that date. About 

 1772 he retired to a house in Charlotte 

 Street, leaving the business in the hands of 

 his son-in-law; he died on 19 August 1773. 

 His son, the younger Burkat Shudi, then 

 joined John Broadwood in partnership until 

 1782, when he retired; he died in 1803. A list 

 of thirteen existing harpsichords made by this 

 firm is given in Grove's Dictionary of Music? 7 

 The price of a single harpsichord about 1770 

 ranged from thirty-five to fifty guineas, that 

 of a double harpsichord with swell was eighty 

 guineas. 



Tabel's other pupil, Jacob Kirchmann or 

 Kirkman, obtained a success and reputation as 

 a harpsichord maker quite equal to that of his 

 eminent rival Shudi. A curious story is told 

 by Burney of Kirkman's rapid courtship of 

 Tabel's widow, whom he wooed and married 

 in one morning, just a month after her hus- 

 band's death. With the widow he secured 

 also the business and the stock-in-trade. 

 Kirkman was of high repute not only as a 

 maker but also as a musician. He was 

 organist of St. George's, Hanover Square, and 

 the author of several compositions for the 

 organ and the pianoforte which he published 

 himself at the sign of the ' King's Arms' in 

 Broad Street, Carnaby Market (now Broad 

 Street, Soho). The rivalry of the two 

 makers extended to their patrons, King 

 George favouring Kirkman and the Prince of 

 Wales, who was notoriously on ill terms with 

 his royal father, patronizing Shudi. Burney 

 relates another anecdote of Kirkman, by which 

 he is said to have retrieved his fortunes when 

 ruin threatened him through a sudden freak of 

 fashion. The guitar suddenly rose into favour 

 among ladies of fashion, who sold their harpsi- 

 chords for what they would fetch. Kirkman 

 bought them up at a nominal price, and suc- 

 ceeded in stopping the rage for the new 

 favourite by giving a large number of guitars 



16 See specification, 1 3 Apr. 1 769, of patent 

 granted 1 8 Dec. 1768, no. 947. 

 " 1883, iii, 490. 



to girls in milliners' shops and ballad-singers 

 in the streets whom he taught to strum an 

 accompaniment. This had the effect of dis- 

 gusting the fashionable ladies, whose favour 

 soon returned to the more costly harpsichord. 

 Kirkman died in 1778 and left a fortune of 

 nearly ^200,000 ; he had no children, but 

 was succeeded in business by his nephew 

 Abraham, whose son Joseph followed him. 

 Harpsichords were made by this firm so late 

 as 1798, which date appears on an instrument 

 also with the name ' Josephus Kirckman.' 



In the hands of Tabel and his pupils 

 Shudi and Kirkman the harpsichord reached 

 its highest point of excellence in compass, 

 tone, and power. The increase of power 

 was obtained chiefly by the greater length of 

 Shudi and Kirkman's harpsichords, which 

 measured nearly 9 ft., whilst those of Ruckers 

 were from 6 ft. to 7^ ft. long. Kirkman 

 added a pedal to raise a portion of the top or 

 cover. Both makers used two pedals ; one 

 for the swell, the other by an external lever 

 mechanism to shut off the octave and one of 

 the unison registers, leaving the player with 

 both hands free. The English makers did 

 not adopt the practice of decorating the cases 

 with beautiful paintings, a practice which 

 caused many fine Flemish harpsichords to be 

 broken up when out of repair. 



Many contrivances were invented by English 

 harpsichord makers to produce sonority of tone 

 and do away with the jarring noise of the 

 quills plucking the string, but it must suffice to 

 mention here the improvements effected by 

 John Joseph Merlin. He was born at Huys 

 in the Low Countries in 1735, and came to 

 England in the suite of the Spanish ambas- 

 sador in 1760. For several years he was 

 director of Cox's Museum in Spring Gardens, 

 where in 1 768 he exhibited many of his curious 

 inventions. He afterwards exhibited at his own 

 museum in Princes Street, Hanover Square, 28 

 a great variety of musical instruments and 

 remarkable pieces of mechanism designed and 

 constructed by himself. In I774 29 he took 

 out a patent for an improved harpsichord, in 

 which he is described as a mathematical in- 

 strument maker living in Little Queen Ann 

 Street, Marylebone. His patent was for a 

 ' compouwd harpsichord in which, besides the 

 jacks with quills, a set of hammers of the 

 nature of those used in the kind of harpsi- 

 chords called pianoforte are introduced in 

 such a manner that either may be played 

 separately or both together at the pleasure of 

 the performer, and for adding the aforesaid 



'83 



" Busby, Concert Room Anecdotes, ii, 137. 

 19 iz Jan. 1774, no. 1081. 



