Musical Instruments Built by Robert L. Walker

This is a photo documentation of the 2 harpsichords and forte piano built by Robert L. Walker. He built 2 additional harpsichords. One had been given to Kennith Cooper, a well known harpsichordist. The other was sold to a friend. I vaguely remember that he did significant work on another - either refurbished it or finished a kit. The three shown here were at the house in Tesuque when he died. The harpsichords were built from Hubbard kits while the forte piano was built from information and photos from the Smithsonian. We recently donated the French Double to Santa Fe Pro Musica.

Bob's instruments were borrowed a few times each year for concerts in the Santa Fe, NM area by such groups as Pro Musica and the Santa Fe Opera. He also took one to the Grand Canyon nearly every year for the Grand Canyon Music Festival.

I will try to add more photos later that give more of an overview.

We have sent the Forte Piano to a cousin in Illinois. His wife and children can play it and that way we keep one instrument in the family. There are a few pictures below of the start of that move. Previous moves around New Mexico, and to the memorial service at Caltech, were done by ourselves and friends using our Suburban. The instruments weight about 200 lb so they are not too hard to handle.

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Click on the image for a screen size version. The "full size" version is larger (not available in web versions).

Kenneth Cooper playing one of Bob's harpsichords. I believe this is at the Grand Canyon. I also believe this is the harpshichord that was given to a harpsichord player since the decoration does not quite match the double shown below.