Beethoven on an Original Fortepiano in the 1930s: Arnold Dolmetsch, Ruth Eyre and a Stodart Instrument of 1790

Arnold Dolmetsch is well acknowledged in the historiography of the early-music movement for his contributions to the revival of instruments such as the recorder, viola da gamba, clavichord, harpsichord and numerous others.From the 1890s until his death, based variously in London, Boston, Paris and Haslemere (Surrey, United Kingdom), he engaged in reconstructing them, rediscovering their playing techniques, and unearthing and editing early repertoire to perform with his family and circle.His diverse range of activities has been the focus of a wide range of literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as I have discussed in a recent reappraisal of his life and work ('Rediscovering Arnold Dolmetsch: Going Back to the Sources of the Early Music Revival', Early Music 51/2 (2023), 275-291).Prominent studies include a detailed biography by Margaret Campbell (1917-