Name Joaquim Antunes | ||
Joaquim Jose Antunes (1731–1811) was a Portuguese harpsichord maker who lived in Lisbon. Other members of his family were also harpsichord and piano makers.
Juliao Antunes was the father of Joaquim Jose; he was a maker of string instruments for the royal chapel.
Manuel Antunes (1707–1796) was the brother of Joaquim Jose and was also an instrument maker; they shared a workshop.
Joao Baptista Antunes (fl.1825–1865), was the grandson of Manuel and became a maker of keyboard instruments.
There are four Antunes instruments still in existence. Two single manual harpsichords with disposition 8' 8' are signed by Joaquin Jose: one dated 1758, now in the Museu da Musica, Lisbon and one dated 1785, now in the Finchcocks collection, Goudhurst, Kent. Their other existing instruments are signed only 'Antunes', probably because they were made by Manuel and Joaquin Jose working together. These are a grand piano, very similar to their harpsichords in design and construction with an action like that of Bartolomeo Cristofori, made in 1767, now in the National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota and a harpsichord similar to the others made in 1789 in the Museu da Musica, Lisbon.
The existing instruments have been readily seized upon by harpsichordists as the ideal instruments upon which to play the music of Portuguese and Spanish baroque composers such as Carlos Seixas and Manuel Blasco de Nebra. These recordings use Antunes instruments: