Arnold Dolmetsch Clavichord, Haslemere

The case of this beautiful instrument is made of solid walnut with gold leafed moldings with an inscription found on the underside of the lid. Inscription reads "PLUS . FAIT. DOUCEUR. QUE. VIOLENCE", - More is achieved by peace than by violence.

What makes this instrument is its maker, Arnold Dolmetsch. This French-born musician and instrument maker spent much of his working life in England and established an instrument-making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey. He was a leading figure in the 20th-Century revival of interest in Early Music.

Dolmetsch's great gift was that, in a period when early music was virtually ignored except for academic study, he had both the imagination and the musicianship to take a musical work which had become a museum piece and make it speak to the people of his own time in a language intelligible to them. Today, the performance of early music has taken its place as a subject for serious study: Dolmetsch's pioneering work helped to lay the foundation for such a development.