Tulipwood descant recorder with felt bag, by Robert Goble, Haslemere, 1939

Descant recorder of tulipwood with brown felt bag

Given by Prof. Patrick Lawther CBE

This instrument was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in May 2006 by Prof. Patrick Lawther (1921-2008), for whom Robert Goble (1903-1991) made this instrument in 1939. At that time, Lawther was a school master, semi-professional musician and founder member of the Goble Recorder Trio. After the war, he studied medicine and later became an eminent specialist in respiratory diseases at St Bartholemew's Hospital, London.

Robert Goble (1903-1991) was a pupil of Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940), a pioneer of the Early Music Revival and friend of William Morris. Goble made this instrument in 1939, when he had a workshop in Haselmere, before moving to Headington, Oxford, in 1947. Like the Carl Dolmetsch Tenor Recorder (W.12-2006) this instrument serves as a bridge between the 'Pre-Raphaelite' world of Arnold Dolmetsch's Early Music Revival and the explosion of popularity in Early Music that took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

The descant is the highest-pitched recorder, a soft-sounding wind instrument, widely used in ensembles until about 1780. From about 1890 this instrument was resurrected, largely through the efforts of Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940), a pioneer of the Early Music revival. A former pupil of Dolmetsch, Robert Goble (1903-1991) made this instrument in 1939 for Patrick Lawther (1921-2008), a founder member of the Goble Recorder Trio.

W.13:1, 2-2006