Joel van Lennep

Joel van Lennep, 84, of Rindge, N.H., passed away at home on October 15, 2025 with his wife and daughter by his side. Joel lived bravely and with determination following a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease in 2013. He was born on August 4, 1941, in Boston, M.A. to William van Lennep and Martha Richardson van Lennep. He was raised in Cambridge, M.A. and graduated from Tufts University.

Joel’s profession was making historical instruments for performance—including spinets, clavichords, and harps, but primarily lutes, vihuelas, and baroque guitars. His love of Renaissance music inspired him to build and play his first lute in the early 1960’s. As a builder, his collaboration with Hopkinson Smith was especially important, and his instruments have also been cherished by many friends and performers around the world through concerts and recordings.

Joel’s love of music led him to help found Convivium Musicum, a Boston area Renaissance choir in which he sang for more than twenty years. The friendships he developed over his years in the choir were lasting and important and he took pride in the fact that Convivium has continued to flourish.

After meeting in the Boston area and sharing a love of early music, Joel married Jane Hershey in 1981 and they lived in Rindge, N.H., for over forty-five years. In 1987, they welcomed their daughter, Eliza. Joel loved being a father and took great pride and comfort in his daughter’s joys and successes, including her marriage in 2023 and the birth of her own daughter in 2024. Joel also had a close friendship with his younger brother, Van.

Joel had a sharp wit and an enduring sense of humor. He was a master of the English language and had an insatiable curiosity—especially about music and world history, languages, astronomy, geography, and Islamic carpets. Joel also loved to prepare cuisine from the Asian Continent and bake decadent cakes to share with friends and family.

Joel is survived by his wife, Jane; their daughter, Eliza van Lennep and her husband Daniel McLean, and granddaughter, Madeline; his brother William (Van) and wife Susan Van Lennep; and brothers and sisters in law, Susan and Robert Johnston and Elizabeth and Richard Van Kleeck, and his niece and nephews, Anneke, Toby, Evan, and Andrew.

We are grateful for the care Joel received in his final months and days from the nurses at Cheshire Medical Center, from Hospice and Community Services, and his home health aides. He was truly happy in the presence of these generous caregivers. We thank everyone who cared for Joel, treating him with kindness and respect and for laughing at his jokes.

Donations in Joel’s memory can be made to: Convivium Musicum, 9 Hood St, Quincy, MA 02169; to Cheshire Medical Center, Development Office, 580 Court Street, Keene, NH 03431, or to: Hospice and Community Services, 312 Marlboro Street, Keene, NH 03431.

A memorial gathering to remember Joel will be held at 2pm on January 3, 2026 at the Friends Meetinghouse, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge, M.A., reception to follow.