Harpsichord Sales, 1600–2010

Comments

[Mark Coonan]

So was it the Rolling Stones, the Addams Family, or both that caused the spike in 1966?

[Jack]

I can imagine in households all across the US and UK in 1965 after hearing "For Your Love" by the Yardbirds: "Ma, I wanna play the harpsichord!"

[Bob Berrit and the Bobster Cat]

its misinformation! sort the scale out - no y axis definition and the x axis is non linear - load of rubbish.

[Steve Auerweck]

Sadly, Bob is right. But to the extent there is truth here, I'd like to credit William F. Buckley Jr.

[Deke]

Yes and Rick Wakeman deserve some of the blame.

[Felix]

It was actually a revival in early music from about 1968 onwards, inspired by such figures as David Munrow in England and Gustav Leonhardt in France and Germany. The harpsichord was not only used as a solo instrument but as an accompaniment to baroque orchestras, in particular with a closely followed revival in the music of Bach, Vivaldi and Handel. The Early Music revolution has slowly dissipated as it has been absorbed into the mainstream of modern day classical music.Like the revival of harpsichord playing in Europe in the late 1930's there was also an concomitant revival in the construction of harpsichords in the 1960's and 1970's.Without this revival there would have been fewer players of modern harpsichords

[Scottdwt]

How did you get the harpsichord sales from 1600?

[Christopher D. Lewis]

I would love to hear where this data came from, it seems grossly inaccurate to me (as a harpsichordist!)

[tdk]

I would say Liberace was the cause for the spike.

[Samuel Brown]

I think the spike in sales is due to a scrunch in the scale of the units on the x-axis...

[andy]

It's a joke, people, jesus christ...

[The Googles]

I liked the part where he posted the chart. Here's another.

[J. L. Wood]

What sources did the author use to derive the sales figures?

[Claudio Di Veroli]

A spike over 1966 (representing in the graph a few years before and after) is to be expected due to the kits that both Hubbard and Zuckermann sold in significant numbers at the time. However, it can never be so huge. As for the accuracy of the graph, suffice to say that there is no scale on the Y axis ...

[Robert Brooke]

The spike in sales is easy to explain. Frank Hubbard and William Dowd had by then publicly put the nail in the coffins of the modern "revival" harpsichords typified by Sperrhake, Neupert, Sabathil, et al. One demonstration to any harpsichord afficionado of the difference in sound and touch between the two camps would have had him rushing to sell his German factory instrument and to replace it with a Hubbard or a Dowd harpsichord. Hubbard's book,"Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making", is copyrighted one year previously and would have had its own influence as well.

I single out Hubbard and Dowd as they are the most well-known representatives of the new breed of builders who were returning to historical precepts. There were many others as well, to whom I do a disservice by omitting their names here.

I think that perhaps Zuckermann kits may be adding to the ilustrated spike but the kits, even well-built, were, in 1966, even worse than the "revival" harpsichords.

[kirill knorosov]

this is supposed to be humorous, not accurate, you pedantic weirdos. of course no one has any idea how many harpsichords were sold in the 1600s and i'm pretty damn sure no one was buying any around 1850.

[Vic]

Love it. Even funnier with the clueless chiming in. You mean, you could just make up a graph like that? Is that legal?

[a smiling dog]

This is the best thing. Ever.

[Content Writer]

Bahahahaha, I love it when something funny is made funnier by comments

[Alvy]

Clearly the spike in sales is due to the widespread infestation in 1965 of Ohrwurm, an invasive species that could decimate a harpsichord in a matter of weeks. Without this tragedy (which was blamed on musicians traveling frequently from the UK to America), "Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making" would have caused only a small bump in the graph.