Christian Zell (or Zelle) (c. 1683[1] – 13 April 1763) was a German harpsichord maker.
He was probably a pupil of harpsichord maker Michael Mietke. The first mention of him is in 1722 in the register of citizens of Hamburg, the city where he was to spend the rest of his life. In that year, he took over the workshop of instrument maker Carl Conrad Fleischer after marrying his widow; they had three children.
The harpsichord played by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos on her 1996 album Boys For Pele and the subsequent Dew Drop Inn Tour is a replica of the 1728 Christian Zell harpsichord although without the elaborate paintings. It was made by Robert Goble & Son.
↑ An entry in the register of deaths and burials at the Jacobikirche in Hamburg states he was 79½ when he died, though there is no record of his exact birth date.
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism that plucks one or more strings with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic. The strings are under tension on a soundboard, which is mounted in a wooden case; the soundboard amplifies the vibrations from the strings so that the listeners can hear it. Like a pipe organ, a harpsichord may have more than one keyboard manual, and even a pedal board. Harpsichords may also have stop buttons which add or remove additional octaves. Some harpsichords may have a buff stop, which brings a strip of buff leather or other material in contact with the strings, muting their sound to simulate the sound of a plucked lute.
Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco was an Italian maker of musical instruments famous for inventing the piano.
A fortepiano, sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is used to refer to the mid-18th to early-19th century instruments, for which composers of the Classical era, especially Haydn, Mozart, and the younger Beethoven and Hummel, wrote their piano music.
The Ruckers family were harpsichord and virginal makers from the Southern Netherlands based in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th century. Their influence stretched well into the 18th century, and to the harpsichord revival of the 20th.
Zell may refer to:
Johann (Georg) Andreas Stein was an outstanding German maker of keyboard instruments, a central figure in the history of the piano.
Pascal-Joseph Taskin was a Holy Roman Empire-born French harpsichord and piano maker.
Alan Curtis was an American harpsichordist, musicologist, and conductor of baroque opera.
Jean-Henri Hemsch, known in German as Johann Heinrich Hemsch, was a French harpsichord maker of German origin.
Robert Goble (1903–1991) was an English harpsichord builder.
Johann Adolph Rudolph Hass, usually known as Johann Adolph Hass, was a German maker of clavichords, harpsichords and possibly organs. He was the son of Hieronymus Albrecht Hass, also a maker of keyboard instruments.
Michael Mietke was a German harpsichord and harp maker.
Burkat Shudi was an English harpsichord maker of Swiss origin.
The harpsichord was an important keyboard instrument in Europe from the 15th through the 18th centuries, and as revived in the 20th, is widely played today.
Alastair McAllister is an Australian harpsichord builder known for his historical integrity, design and workmanship, and for producing modern copies of instruments that closely match their prototypes in sound and touch. At the age of 15, he became inspired by the Baroque after hearing the music of Domenico Scarlatti. Working closely with his colleague, Mars McMillan, he founded Harpsichord Makers of Melbourne in 1967, in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill, and by the early 1970s he had become a full-time harpsichord builder. McAllister and his colleagues have created instruments patterned after the work of Henri Hemsch, Burkhardt Schudi, Johannes Daniel Dulcken, the Ruckers family, Christian Zell and Johann Heinrich Harrass, among others, and he has trained or influenced Australian builders such as Marc Nobel, Andrew Bernard, Alan Todd, Jean-Louis Cocquillat, and Richard Schaumloeffel.
(Franz Hermann) Martin Skowroneck was a German harpsichord builder, one of the pioneers of the modern movement of harpsichord construction on historical principles.
Albert Delin was a harpsichord maker in the Austrian Netherlands.
Antoine Vater was a notable harpsichord maker in Paris of German origin.
Girolamo Zenti was an Italian harpsichord maker and organ builder in the 17th century. He is known as the probable inventor of the bentside spinet and for having traveled unusually extensively to practice his trade at the courts of Europe, including Rome, Florence, Paris, London and Stockholm.
The Gräbner family were German harpsichord-, clavichord-, organ- and eventually piano makers from the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century. They are best known for their harpsichords, which represent a mid-german style of building, distinct from the better known northern style as represented by Hass, Mietke and Zell. The Gräbner family ran the most prominent instrument making workshop in Dresden, and were purveyors of harpsichords and organs to the court of Saxony. J.S. Bach was aquatinted with members of the Gräbner family and Christian Heinrich Gräbner studied organ playing under Bach.
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