12 Facts About Arnold Dolmetsch

Eugene Arnold Dolmetsch, was a French-born musician and instrument maker who spent much of his working life in England and established an instrument-making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey.

Arnold Dolmetsch was a leading figure in the 20th-century revival of interest in early music.

Arnold Dolmetsch studied music at the Brussels Conservatoire and learnt the violin with Henri Vieuxtemps.

Arnold Dolmetsch was employed for a short time as a music teacher at Dulwich College, but his interest in early instruments was awakened by seeing the collections of historic instruments in the British Museum.

Arnold Dolmetsch left England to build clavichords and harpsichords for Chickering of Boston, then for Gaveau of Paris.

Arnold Dolmetsch went on to establish an instrument-making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey, and proceeded to build copies of almost every kind of instrument dating from the 15th to 18th centuries, including viols, lutes, recorders and a range of keyboard instruments.

Arnold Dolmetsch's 1915 book The Interpretation of the Music of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries was a milestone in the development of 'authentic performances' of early music.

Arnold Dolmetsch settled in Dulwich and was active in the cultural life of London.

Arnold Dolmetsch was responsible for rediscovering the school of English composers for viol consort, leading to Sir Henry Hadow's tribute that Dolmetsch had "opened the door to a forgotten treasure-house of beauty".

Arnold Dolmetsch was largely responsible for the revival of the recorder, both as a serious concert instrument, and as an instrument which made early music accessible to amateur performers.

Arnold Dolmetsch went on to promote the recorder as an instrument for teaching music in schools.

Arnold Dolmetsch encouraged the members of his family to learn the skills of instrument-making and musicianship and the family frequently appeared together in concerts, playing instruments constructed in the Arnold Dolmetsch workshops.