Ruckers

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For the street basketball ball court in New York City, see Rucker Park.

The Ruckers family was perhaps the most famous line of Flemish harpsichord makers, based in Antwerp in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Their instruments were prized for their tone quality. They contributed greatly to the harpsichord's technical development, pioneering the use of a second manual on the instrument. Many Ruckers instruments were later modified by French builders in the eighteenth century in a process known as ravalement, where the case, keyboard, and soundboard were carefully rebuilt to extend the instrument's range and expressive capabilities. Since the prestige of Ruckers instruments led to many French builders marketing their own instruments as modified Ruckers, it is not entirely certain how many Ruckers instruments still survive. Regardless, their harpsichords continue to be extensively studied, copied, and played today.

[edit] References

Hubbard, Frank: Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1965
O'Brien, Grant: Ruckers: a Harpsichord and Virginal Building Tradition. Cambridge (England), Cambridge University Press, 1990