SØRLI Lautenwerke and Harpsichords

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KEYBOARD MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Steven Sørli began his harpsichord making career as an apprentice of the famous Boston harpsichord maker, Frank Hubbard in 1971. He quickly became skilled in all facets of the craft and was especially gifted in the art of decoration. Steven set up his own workshop to design, make and adorn harpsichords individually from scratch. His construction process relies on intuition and ingenuity to ensure a serviceable and singular work of art. The sound qualities achieved by Mr. Sørli are often described as having a distinctive antique tone. Innate artistic abilities contribute to a tasteful blend of color and form that add a complimentary balance to the tonal shades. In 1982 he was awarded a craftsman's fellowship grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Over 57 instruments have left his workshop and are scattered throughout the United States and abroad.

At the turn of the century, Mr. Sørli began the exciting task of researching and designing the long neglected lute-harpsichord or lautenwerk. There are many words and spellings of this lute-strung instrument including lautenwerke, lautenwerck, lautenclavicymbel and theorbenflugel (theorbo-harpsichord). An example of the plural form is lautenwerke or lautenwerken. This type of instrument was originally fitted with gut strings and sounds very much like a lute or nylon-strung guitar. The response to this revival of the lautenwerck has been quite positive.

The lautenwerk models that have emerged from the Sørli shop reveal a refreshing texture of sound, action and visual beauty. Steven uses fluorocarbon strings which produce a slightly brighter tone than real gut. The bass octave is fitted with copper-wound nylon to provide a deep resonant effect. The decor incorporates the natural beauty of the woods used and all the finishes are organic and non-toxic.

The latest model, a clavicytherium, quickly became the center of attention at the June 2009 Boston Early Music Festival Exhibition. The upright instrument (pictured here) is inspired by the oil painting "Marcantonio Pasqualini Crowned by Apollo" by Andrea Sacchi (1641). It has one choir of 8' gut or synthetic gut strings with a range of GG-d3. The total height is 81" and takes up only a 36" by 18" floor space. The sound from the small soundboard just above the keyboard was frequently described as "magical" at the Boston Festival. The sound has a sweet, hollow, vocal quality that radiates out from both sides of the soundboard when the back lid is open. This instrument sounds more like a lute than any of the other lautenwerk models. Place your order early for one of the musical sensations of the century. Listen to 20 minutes of this unique sound in the Sound Samples Page.

The action of all instruments can be custom-designed to suit your requirements, ranging from very light to a more tracker-action feel. The standard decor includes birds-eye maple key tops with carved key fronts, walnut sharps, stained and painted case, intricate parchment or gilt cast rose, elegantly turned legs and tasteful music desk. Also included are plastic jacks (wooden optional), unique transposing system (allowing some jacks with no dampers), regulating tools and precision hygrometer. Harpsichords can be made to withstand a humidity range of 40%-90% or 10%-65%. Many standard models are available to order and the customer is encouraged to custom-order an instrument to suit their specific needs. Delivery time is now about one year for a custom-made harpsichord. Check the Available For Sale page for the instruments currently available for delivery.

New this year is the Celestial lautenwerk. This 64" single manual instrument has an extra soundboard sitting on edge at the top of the wrest plank. The 8' and 4' strings pass right through the soundboard and on to the tuning pins. It has a strong bright sound and resembles a lute remarkably.

Also available is a 94" Theorbenflügal single manual with an extended keyboard range of 66 notes (AAA-d3). It has one 8' lute choir and one 4' lute choir. Reposition your hands down an octave and you instantly have 16'and 8' choirs. There is an extra rank of jacks for the 8'/16' choir. Both ranks of jacks can be engaged simultaneously to imitate the sound a lutenist produces when using a strong pluck. There are also 40 sympathetic metal strings to provide a rich resonance. The 18th century English harpsichord builder, Shudi, built a series of harpsichords with a similar wide keyboard range from CC to f3. It is likely that these were made to allow the use of the 16' effect for continuo and improvisation playing.

Gut-Strung Clavicytherium

"Marcantonio Pasqualini Crowned by Apollo"