Les ma�tres d'art

Von Nagel’s workshop was founded in 1963 by Reinhard Von Nagel as a ebony cabinet / joinery. Since 1970, Reinhard Von Nagel and his partners now make instruments, and more particularly harpsichords in a historical making style. An intense activity grows in the workshop. Researches on old harpsichords in every collection through Europe and America are launched. Plans of old and recent harpsichords are drawn. Prototypes are made. The staff training plays an important part in the life of workshop. A system of permanent training is set up. The first harpsichord - based on an instrument signed by Pascal Taskin, Paris 1770, is used for the first time for a workshop concert in May 1972. William is the soloist of this first “concert dans les Copeaux” (“concert in the middle of shavings”), an original method regularly used until nowadays. Other instruments are created. Harpsichords of the French, Flemish, Italian and German Schools. At the same time, Reinhard Von Nagel organizes classes that attract apprentices from all over the world in the old Prieuré de la Madeleine de Traisnel. The influence of the VON NAGEL workshop is guaranteed by the presence of its instruments in more than 30 countries over the world : Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Northern America, Latin America, Japan and Australia. Prestigious orders and more humble orders follow one another. They are all made with the same rigor. Some of the most famous contemporary harpsichord players, the Music Schools, Orchestras, and radio stations honour the VON NAGEL workshop with their trust. And so, at the end of the year 1999, almost 900 instruments throughout the world are the proofs of the VON NAGEL workshop’s activities. Some of the most famous instruments owe thei celebrity to the painters who decorated them : Marc Chagall in 1980, Pierre Alechinsky and Jiri Kolar in 1986 and Olivier Debré in 1990 allied their genius to the workmanship of the VON NAGEL workshop.