Harpsichord News
Nunc Dimittis
Hugh Percival Henry Gough died at his home in New York City on April 14 at age 81. Born in Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England, on 31 January 1916, Gough studied clavichord with Arnold Dolmetsch before World War II and worked with the early instrument pioneer as a volunteer apprentice on weekends. After war service, Gough established his own workshop in London, where he constructed various types and styles of early keyboard instruments including Silbermann's exotic cembal d'amour (a type of clavichord), and 19th-century Viennese fortepianos. In 1958 Gough spent six months at the Hubbard and Dowd shop in Massachusetts. In autumn 1959 he set up his studio in New York City, where he worked for the rest of his career.
Gough eschewed publicity about his instruments; thus, save for those friends and professionals who knew him, he remained a relatively-unknown figure in the harpsichord world. During the latter part of his career, Gough turned away from plucked keyboard instruments to devote himself to the gentler clavichords and lutes. In his 1969 book The Modern Harpsichord: 20th-Century Instruments and their Makers, Wolfgang Zuckermann closes his section on Hugh Gough with Gough's "recent" words, "I've been purified; I have nothing whatever to do with harpsichords. When are you going to be purified?"
