Instrument Collection

The School of Music has a large and growing collection of period instruments, including original examples, as well as modern copies. The Baroque organ by the Dutch firm Reil is permanently installed in the Adam Concert Room, and there is also a small transportable continuo organ by William Drake. Among the collection of other historical keyboards is an original 18th century English harpsichord by Jakob Kirckmann, a French double harpsichord, a fretted clavichord and a particularly fine copy of a Viennese fortepiano after Anton Walter ca 1798.

Other Baroque instruments include a flute, oboe, bassoon, viola, an original 18th-century cello, natural trumpets and sackbuts. Natural horns (including an ornately decorated original by an anonymous French maker c.1800) and a clarinet represent the Classical period.

The NZSM offers courses in performance practice, and has used the instruments in productions of Henry Purcell's King Arthur, Campra's Les Fêtes Vénitiennes,  Eccles' Semele, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo.

Our instruments provide a valuable resource for students interested in rediscovering timbres familiar to Baroque and Classical period composers. Those wishing to use period instruments should contact Douglas Mews.

Keyboards

Two manual and pedal organ	Reil 1993
Continuo Organ	William Drake 1983
French double harpsichord	David Rubio 1982 (after Taskin 1769)
English harpsichord	Jakob Kirckman 1758
Flemish harpsichord	Zuckermann Kit
Viennese fortepiano	Derek Adlam 1991 (after Anton Walter, c.1798)
Fretted clavichord	John Barnes

Strings*

Baroque cello	Anon. 18th cent.
Baroque viola	Adrian Studer

Woodwind

Baroque flute	Ardall Powell
Baroque oboe	Guntrum Wolf (after Scherer, c.1750)
Baroque bassoon	Guntrum Wolf (after Eisenmenger,1st half 18th-century)
Classical clarinet
Cornett	Monk

Brass

Natural horn	Anon., Strasburg c.1800
Natural horn	John Webb
Natural trumpet	Egger
Natural trumpet	John Webb
Narrow-bore trombones (sackbuts' alto, tenor and bass)	Meinl and Lauber

* The New Zealand School of Music is also very privileged to have two fine violins, (one attributed as ca 19th century Hungarian and the other as ca 18th century Italian). Clare Galambos-Winter, who was in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years, gifted the instruments to the School for use by promising students.

Feedback | © 2007 NZSM | Last Updated: December 7, 2007