Hugh Gough (2)

Hugh P. Gough (31 January 1916, Heptonstall, Yorkshire — 14 April 1997, New York City, USA) was a distinguished British-American maker, restorer, researcher, and collector of musical instruments, such as harpsichords, clavichords, early fortepianos and lutes, and one of the Galpin Society co-founders. He had lived and worked in the United States since 1958. Gough grew up and lived in the UK until his mid-forties, earning a degree in economics from the University College London in 1937. Hugh became interested in early music in his student years and took clavichord lessons from renowned musicologist and instrument maker, Arnold Dolmetsch (1858—1940). Hugh built his first clavichord in 1932 and began making harpsichords by 1935. He served in the Royal Air Force and turned to instrument-making professionally after the Second World War. In 1949, one of Gough's early students and assistants, Frank Hubbard, opened a harpsichord workshop with William Dowd in Boston, USA. Some musicologists cited Hugh Gough for almost singlehandedly reviving the interest in antique fortepianos; he gave a notable lecture at the Royal Musical Association in 1951, "The classical grand pianoforte," presenting a few restored instruments. In 1958, Hugh Dough relocated to the United States, briefly working at Hubbard & Dowd shop in Massachusetts before settling in New York City and opening his independent studio in Greenwich Village. He collaborated with Telemann Society Orchestra, playing percussion on the 1966 LP on Turnabout and providing a virginal for the more experimental "electronic crossover" album, Baroque In Bits With The Moog, on Amphion in 1972. Dough became a notable dealer of antique instruments, establishing Hugh Gough, Inc. and procuring rare exhibits for several notable museums, including the Museum Of Fine Arts Boston, the Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York, The Schubert Club, St. Paul, and National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota. His personal collection featured the 1757 "Alma Rosé" violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini. Gough was also active as a concert promoter, presenting many novel artists to the New York scene, such as Gustav Leonhardt, Concentus Musicus Wien, and Alarius-Ensemble.