His handcrafted harpsichords will star together in ‘rare’ concert

Wearing shorts, flip-flops and with reading glasses perched on the end of his nose, Rob Brooke was in his garage this week on 18th Avenue West, surrounded by power tools, the smell of wood and his two cats, Louie and Joey.

On a table before him was the gently curved wood frame of a harpsichord, the passion of his retirement years. His hands went over the frame lovingly.

“This is a kit keyboard,” explained Brooke, who is in his early 80s but looks in his 60s. Someone bought the kit, probably for several thousand dollars, and couldn’t finish it, so he hired Brooke to do it.

“Mine are so much nicer,” Brooke whispered with a smile. “When you do it yourself you can make sure it is perfect, or at least as perfect as you are capable of making it anyway.”

Not many people have as their hobby or side income the harpsichord, which was the electric guitar of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

But Brooke has made nearly 30 harpsichords from scratch in his garage since 2010, all with just a vague design in his mind, the look of those built by 17^th-century Italian builder Giacomo Ridolfi.

“His work is wonderful,” said Susan Brooke, his wife and biggest fan.

Four of Brooke’s handmade harpsichords will be played at the same time during The Sarasota-Manatee Bach Festival’s “Multiple Harpsichord Concertos by J.S. Bach” concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Christ Church, 4030 Manatee Ave. W.

“It’s a rare occasion when one can hear Bach’s concertos for multiple harpsichords,” said Richard Benedum, music director at Christ Church. “Even getting them all tuned is a big challenge. And this performance will be doubly special because all the instruments are built by the same builder, and therefore are essentially a ‘matched set’ of instruments.”

Brooke has wondered what four of his instruments would sound like playing together in a concert.

“I had heard two,” he said.

The Festival thought his desire had merit and took him up on a concert.

“The Festival made this happen,” Rob Brooke said. “I anticipate it’s going to be amazing.”

Harpsichord passion began in the 1960s

At the age of 18, Brooke, who had taken piano lessons through childhood, went to Europe with the U.S. Army and there saw his first harpsichord. It took his breath away, much like a car enthusiast seeing their first Ferrari.

“I already knew the sound because I had heard harpsichord music on records,” Brooke said. “But seeing one, well, it lived up to my expectations. I was entranced with it.”

Over the years, Brooke researched the harpsichord and learned that it wasn’t as complex to build as a piano, and not under the same constraints.

“A piano has tremendous tension,” Brooke said. “It has to have cast iron frames to hold the string tension. The harpsichord is more like a guitar in terms of the string tension. In fact, it’s got just thin wires for strings. I realized it was an entirely cottage industry capable instrument to make.”

The harpsichord has a softer sound than the piano, Benedum said.

“The tone is silvery,” Benedum said. “The instrument is sort of the marriage of a guitar and a harp. The strings are plucked.”

Benedum says it’s incredible that Brooke has basically learned his harpsichord craft on his own, without a long apprentice career.

“It’s really extraordinary what he has done,” Benedum said. “He came to building later in life, but he was already an experienced woodworker, having built flying airplanes in his garage. His craftsmanship is unbelievable. He has a sense of the fine adjustments for instruments. One would think he has an opus of thousands of instruments but he has not built that many.

“He is a treasure for our area,” Benedum added. “We’re pleased to feature four of his instruments.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 5:15 PM with the headline "His handcrafted harpsichords will star together in ‘rare’ concert."