Pascal Taskin

Pascal-Joseph Taskin (27 July 1723 – 9 February 1793) was a Belgium-born French harpsichord and piano maker.

Pascal Taskin, was born Theux near Liege, he worked in the workshop of the Blanchet family in Paris where he lived most his life, though little is known of his activity until the death of François Étienne Blanchet II in 1766, when he married his widow and joined the guild as a master instrument-maker, taking over the supervision of the Blanchet workshop.

The continuity between the Blanchet and Taskin traditions is indicated by the note Taskin attached to his new instruments:

pascal taskin, Facteur de Clavessins & Garde des Instruments de Musique du Roi, Eleve & Succes- seur de m. blanchet, demeure Même Maison, rue de la Verrerie, vis-à-vis la petite porte de S. Merry, a. paris

Taskin inherited Blanchet's title of facteur des clavessins du Roi, and became keeper of the King’s instruments when Christophe Chiquelier retired in 1774. He set up a workshop in Versailles with his nephew Pascal Joseph Taskin II (1750–1829) in 1777 in order to carry out the latter role; his other nephews Henry Taskin and Lambert Taskin also worked for him, though little is known of them. Pascal Joseph II went on to work in the Blanchet workshop in 1763 and, like his uncle, married into the family in 1777 with his wedding to François Etienne Blanchet II's daughter. Pascal Taskin was succeeded after his death in 1793 by his former master's son, Armand François Nicolas Blanchet, whom he had brought up himself.

Pascal Taskin built on and refined the already excellent Blanchet harpsichord-making tradition. He is credited with introducing genouillères (knee-levers) with which to control the stop combinations, and a new register of jacks using peau de buffle (soft buff leather) plectra, instead of the usual quill, in 1768.

He continued the common French practise, pursued successfully by Blanchet, of making ravalements of Ruckers and Couchet harpsichords, which involved rebuilding the 17th century Flemish instruments, which were highly valued for their sound quality, to suit the modern French tastes. Like other makers of the time, he resorted to selling 'Ruckers' harpsichords which had very few original parts, or none at all, such was the premium associated with the name by then; his last known instrument, a double dated 1788, has a rose signed "Andreas Ruckers" and a Flemish-style painted soundboard. Unlike other makers, his instruments were always of excellent quality, whether passed off as Ruckers or not.

He began to build fortepianos with Blanchet in the 1760s, probably originally modelled after those of Gottfried Silbermann, with a Bartolomeo Cristofori-type action. None of his early pianos survives; the earliest date from the late 1780s and have a very simple action without escapement, which he devised in order to reduce friction. These instruments have luxuriant veneering of the Louis XVI style. Another instrument he made was the Armandine, a large psaltery with gut strings resembling a harpsichord without a keyboard, in 1790 for Anne-Aimée Armand (1774–1846); a surviving example is in the Musée de la Musique, Paris. Taskin's workshop became more occupied with piano production and the importing of English square pianos in the 1770s and 1780s, but not to the detriment of harpsichords; his death inventory of 1793 shows an equal number of each instrument under construction.

There are seven of his double manual harpsichords still in existence; they are prime examples of the late French school of harpsichord building, with a warm and rich tone, range of FF–f''', and disposition of 8' 8' 4' and buff stop. His 1769 double and the 1763/1783–1784 Goermans/Taskin (which Taskin tried to pass off as a Couchet by filing away the initials 'JG' to 'IC') have both been praised as ideal instruments for the late French baroque repertoire such as the works of Rameau and Armand-Louis Couperin. The Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments houses a 1770 double. These instruments have been studied and copied many times by modern makers.