David K. wrote:

"My guess is that he used what was available for the recording--either it was his own instrument, or it was in the studio, or whatever.  Perhaps Tilman S. or others may know."

I did some asking... Of course, he who remembered all the details _really_ well is gone, and this was all well before my own time. What my mom and I think we remember hearing is that the Neupert that GL apparently* used for the first recording of Art of the Fugue was his own.

The question of 'why Ammer', on the other hand, might have to do with Leonhardt's job in Vienna between '52 and '55, and perhaps just simply been a matter of availability of these instruments there. What I do know is that accessibility to satisfying historical-style harpsichords in Vienna in the fifties was in fact a serious problem, especially for young, non-mainstream performers (Leonhardt was 24 in 1952). 

It's correct that there are three Goldberg recordings by Leonhardt. The Dowd he used for the last one is actually housed not too far from here, in Göteborg, and it's in great shape; I played a house concert on it a few years ago.

Tilman

* Peter Watchorn writes in his _Isolde Ahlgrimm, Vienna and the Early Music Revival_, p 118 that Leonhardt's Art of the Fugue was also recorded on an Ammer. No way for me to find out which is which...is Peter on this list? perhaps he recalls...

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