Oldest surviving playable harpsichord

[Bill Raymond]

The oldest surviving harpsichord that remains playable is apparently located in (of all places) Vermillion, South Dakota. Folks are trying to raise money to have this instrument recorded by an acclaimed harpsichordist and medieval and renaissance music expert. They need to raise funds for travel expenses of the player who resides in Switzerland and a recording engineer from Germany plus other expenses of producing a commercial recording. A description of their efforts and link to their donation site: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/reco ... -vicens--2

[Karl Wicklund]

Maybe off topic, but the National Music Museum where this instrument is preserved is definitely worth a visit. It's on the university campus in Vermillion. http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/

[Bill Raymond]

Thanks for that link, Karl. I spent about 40 years in Minneapolis, MN and visited the Black Hills of South Dakota on a number of occasions, and never would have imagined that South Dakota could have such a museum.

[Karl Wicklund]

I stopped in there last summer, and was overwhelmed with the sheer number of instruments. Everything from a traveling collection of Adolph sax horns to a fully reproduced luthier shop (maybe nothing revelatory about that for many folks here) to a full gamelan set to... I couldn't take it all in in the few hours I had that afternoon. Definitely calls for a return trip.

[Jim McConkey]

I have known about the museum for decades. I very seldom get to that part of the country, and it has been my luck that the museum has been closed every time I have been there. One of these days...

[Bill Raymond]

If you'd only told me 30 yrs ago...