The Goermans (or Germain) family were French

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

makers of Flemish origin. Jean Germain I (or Joannes Goermans, as he signed his instruments) (1703 – 18 February 1777) was born in Geldern, Western

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, and is known to have been working as a harpsichord maker in

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by 1730, where he remained for the rest of his life. He had seven children: his daughter Jeanne-Thérèse was a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist and friend of

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...

's patron La Pouplinière. He retired in 1773 after starting to suffer from paralysis. At his death he was very rich, owning property worth 195,000

livres Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * F ...

. His workshop was taken over by his son-in-law Jean Liborius Hermès. Jean Germain II (1735 – c.1795) was the eldest son of the above, and became known as a dealer of harpsichords and harps as well as a harpsichord teacher. He lived in Paris. He dealt mainly in Flemish '' ravalements'' of

Ruckers The Ruckers family (variants: Ruckaert, Ruckaerts, Rucqueer, Rueckers, Ruekaerts, Ruijkers, Rukkers, Rycardt) were harpsichord and Virginals, virginal makers from the Southern Netherlands based in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th century. Their influe ...

instruments, popular in France at the time; the adaptations to the original harpsichords included knee levers for changing stops, and an enlarged range. In 1778 he advertised a Ruckers ravalement which went as far as 'producing the effect of the

Flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

Oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

and Vox humana'. Jacques Germain (variants: Jacob Germain, Jacobus Goermans, Jacques Goermans) (c. 1740 – 8 April 1789) was the son of the first Jean Germain and followed him into the craft of harpsichord-making, living his life in Paris. He established a workshop in his father's house, becoming a

master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

maker in 1766. He made

fortepiano A fortepiano is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1700 up to the early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is used to ref ...

s after public taste started to favour them, and was an important early French maker of the instrument. After his death, Hermès took over the business as he had done with his father's. The production of pianos and harps continued until Hermès's death in 1813. Surviving Goermans harpsichords are in the French style; one of the most notable is the Goermans/ Taskin in the Russell Collection,

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, which has been very highly praised for its excellent sound and used by leading modern harpsichordists such as Trevor Pinnock for recordings of the French

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

repertoire. A notable oddity produced by Jacques Goermans in 1782 was a harpsichord with 21 keys to the

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

using a tuning system suggested by Jean-Benjamin de la Borde.

Sources

*Sheridan Germann: 'Goermans ermain, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-05-20), http://www.grovemusic.com/

External links

Harpsichord by Jean Goermans/Pascal Taskin, Paris, 1763/1783-1784
- in the Russell Collection

Sources

See also

External links

See also