Martin Skowroneck

(Franz Hermann) Martin Skowroneck (21 December 1926, in Berlin – 14 May 2014, in Bremen) was a German harpsichord builder, one of the pioneers of the modern movement of harpsichord construction on historical principles.

He completed his secondary education in 1947, then embarked on musical training at the Musikschule in Bremen, from which he received his diploma in 1950 as a teacher of flute and recorder. During his student years, he had begun to make his own recorders, as he was dissatisfied with existing instruments. He then began making recorders for other players.

In 1952, he was asked to restore a clavichord that had been badly damaged in the war; this led him to build his own clavichord, then instruments for other people. His first harpsichord dates from 1953.

Skowroneck had no formal training as a builder; he learned his craft instead by inspecting existing instruments. At first these were modern, ahistorical instruments, but he soon developed a strong interest in the instruments of the historical period, leading him to study (among others) the harpsichords kept in the musical instrument museum of Berlin. He also studied historical documents shedding light on how the old instruments were built. Skowroneck did his pioneering studies at much the same time that in America, the builders Frank Hubbard and William Dowd were doing comparable work, but he was unaware of their studies and his accomplishment was quite independent. Harpsichord scholar Edward Kottick describes Skowroneck's work as follows:

[His instruments] were built uncompromisingly in the mode of the antiques, with practically no concessions to modernity. His cases were made of plank wood, with classical case framing; he used wood, rather than brass or plastic for his upper and lower guides, and like the antiques, his jacks had no adjustment screws; his keyboards were light and of harpsichord proportions, and he rejected the use of pedals. Skowroneck, in other words, immersed himself in the building practices of the antiques and did his best to emulate them. He succeeded brilliantly.

Skowroneck soon achieved a strong reputation, notably in becoming the builder of the favorite instrument of the celebrated harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt.

...
Wikipedia