Dictionary:
harp·si·chord (härp'sĭ-kôrd', -kōrd')  |
A keyboard instrument whose strings are plucked by means of quills or plectrums.
[Alteration of obsolete French harpechorde, from Italian arpicordo : arpa, harp (from Late Latin harpa, of Germanic origin) + corda, string (from Latin chorda, from Greek khordē).]
harpsichordist harp'si·chord'ist n.| How Products are Made: How is a harpsichord made? |
Background
The harpsichord is the distinguished, classical ancestor of the piano. Its shape, described as a large wing shape, was developed hundreds of years before the similar shape of the grand piano. But the operation of the harpsichord and its history are far different from those of its descendant.
The piano player makes music by fingering keys that strike tightly stretched strings within the piano, and by pushing pedals with the feet that change the dynamics (loudness, softness, and length of tone) of the struck strings. Within the harpsichord, the back of the key is attached not to a hammer but to a vertical jack that has a vertical slot containing a swinging tongue. The tongue grips a plectrum, or pick. As the player's finger strikes the key, the jack rises, and the plectrum lifts up and plucks the string. As it falls back past the string, the swinging tongue moves to pass the string without touching it and producing a sound. A lightweight spring pushes the tongue back to its original position so the plectrum is ready to pluck the string with the next stroke of that key. In the first 500 years or so of the harpsichord's history, the plectrum was a quill from the wing of a turkey, eagle, raven, or crow; later plectrums were made of leather or plastic. After plucking the string (which is not as tightly bound as a piano string), the jack has a release device that returns it to the rest position. The harpsichord's tone depends on where the string is plucked along its length, and the material composing the plectrum. The harpsichord does not have pedals to modify its dynamics; after the string is plucked, its sound dies quickly. Large harpsichords were better able to produce changes in dynamics, but did not come close to the range of dynamics possible with a piano.
The apparent limitations of the dynamics of the harpsichord caused composers who wrote for the harpsichord to be creative, and skilled players can also enhance the dynamics to a certain degree. Composers used music filled with trills and other ornamentation to make a more continuous sound. Players learn to make joined and detached sounds called legato and staccato. While the lack of dynamics seems to limit the harpsichord, the instrument also has a uniquely beautiful tone that is prized by professional musicians and other admirers who want the elegant instrument in their homes and even purchase kits for constructing their own harpsichords.
The cases of harpsichords are beautifully shaped and, historically, have been elegantly ornamented and painted. But the case is also critical to the sound. The case has five parts: the long straight side to the player's left is the spine; the short end is also straight and is called the tail; the bentside to the player's right forms a long, gentle curve (like the underside of the wing shape); another short, straight piece called the cheek is immediately to the player's right; and the bottom, which closes the instrument, forms both a structural and acoustic base for the keyboard. The wrest plank is another wooden component that holds the keyboard in place so it is seated on the bottom. The case must provide the strength to resist the tension of the strings, so, internally, the case contains a bracing system to balance the tensions.
History
The history of the harpsichord is distinguished by type of instrument, the century in which it was made and played, and national school. The national schools of the greatest importance are French, Italian, German, Flemish, and English. The harpsichord's close relatives include the clavicymbalum, the virginal, the lautenwerk, the clavichord, the spinette, and, of course, the later instrument, the piano. The first of these—the clavicymbalm—is mentioned in documents dating from 1397 in Padua, Italy. The oldest clavicymbalm that still exists was built in Bologna, Italy, in 1521. The earliest instrument called a harpsichord was mentioned in 1514. It was short in length, had a thick case, and was a so-called single manual, meaning it had one set of keys. Instruments called double manuals that had two sets of keys like a modern organ and stops, also like an organ, were known at about the same time. For example, a harpsichord listed among the expenses for the court of England's King Henry VIII in 1530 was called "a pair of virginals in one coffer with four stops." The sets of manuals were matched internally with sets of strings called choirs; that is, a single manual had a single choir, and a double manual was connected to a double choir of strings.
Venice, Italy, and Antwerp, Belgium, were two centers of production of harpsichords in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Venetian style had a long, thin body that was made of cypress wood and had an ornately decorated outer case. The Venetian instrument had either a single 8-ft-long (2.4-m-long) choir or two choirs measuring 8 ft (2.5 m) in length (the length of the choir plus the depth of the keys was the approximate total length of the harpsichord). The Flemish school based in Antwerp was led by the Ruckers family. They built both harpsichords and virginals that had thicker bodies, painted cases, and double choirs and manuals. The Ruckers's harpsichords were valued for their beautiful resonance and tone and were exported all over Europe. In England and France, the Ruckers creations were popular and copied. The French Blanchet family made its own versions of the Ruckers harpsichord that were even more elaborately painted and lacquered; by 1750, they were the official harpsichord makers for the royal court of France.
The Germans also made prized instruments. Hamburg was their center of manufacture, and they favored large, heavy instruments with extra registers, pedal-type keyboards, and as many of five choirs of strings plucked by three sets of manuals. These instruments were the ones favored by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), perhaps the greatest composer for, and friend of, the harpsichord. English-style instruments lacked the painting and ornamentation of the Continental styles and had cases faced with walnut or oak veneer.
By the early 1800s, the harpsichord had fallen out of favor and the piano was becoming increasingly popular. From 1809 until well into the twentieth century, harpsichords were not played in Europe or America. As an industry, harpsichord making simply vanished until the present, modern revival in which instrument builders pride themselves on reproducing the great historic harpsichords of the national schools and, primarily, of the eighteenth century.
Raw Materials
Wood is the chief material composing a harpsichord. Wood from the American trees basswood and yellow poplar, Northern European linden, and the European tulip poplar are used to make harpsichord cases for most types except German harpsichords. The cases of German-style instruments are made entirely of pine; American makers use Ponderosa pine. Harder woods including oak, maple, walnut, beech, and spruce are used for structural supports inside the cases.
Traditionally, soundboards are made of Norway spruce, which grows over much of the European continent as far south as the Apennine mountains in Northern Italy. An American species, the Ingleman spruce, is similar to the Norway spruce and is sometimes used in the United States. Fir trees are also used occasionally. Many American makers import the Norway spruce, but supplies are becoming more limited as pollution threatens the spruce forests.
Other materials include ebony, basswood, and ivory for the key tops. Animal glues are used (modern synthetic glues do not work as well), and metal is used for the strings. Brass wire is drawn in a wrought process; harpsichord makers work with local brass founders to make sure the manufacturing process is correct. Other hardware includes wood screws, turning pins that are made by a European supplier, parts of the harpsichord action like jacks and jack slides that are purchased in large quantities, hooks that are also common to piano-making, and "roses" (ornamental pieces that cover the opening in the soundboard).
To finish harpsichords, the natural wood may be varnished and polished, but the outside of most harpsichords is painted, and painting begins with laying down a gesso finish. Gesso is a mixture of finely ground chalk and glue. Colored paints are usually so-called "Japanned colors" made of pigment and oil that is applied over the gesso and that produces a high gloss. Many coats may be used. The leather rose is gilded, and gilt work may also be a part of the painted trim or other ornamentation.
Design
Design of a harpsichord is based exclusively on tradition and existing, historical instruments; that is, there is no such thing as a new harpsichord pattern, style, or sound. Harpsichord builders do make adjustments to existing designs, but most of these are out of necessity because historic materials are not available or are not desirable. For example, lead-based paints were used to decorate harpsichords in the past, and these are no longer desirable for health and environmental reasons.
To reproduce an existing harpsichord, for example, an instrument made in Paris in 1707, the harpsichord maker obtains drawings and measurements from the museum or institution where the 1707 model is presently housed. Museum experts have often restored historic instruments and used modern techniques to analyze the harpsichord's construction. X rays are useful in identifying types of internal fasteners, and fiber optics can be employed to look through the rose and into the guts of the instrument.
If data does not exist, the builder may request permission to do a detailed examination of the instrument. The builder makes drawings of every visible part of the instrument, starting by measuring the width and then proportioning the other parts. The builder has to keep in mind that the 1707 harpsichord was built on the old inch system, so any information that may be available from original construction must be converted to measurement systems in use today. The original builders did not have paper readily available to document each construction and probably relied on memory or a master book of guidelines. By simply proportioning, the modern maker can measure the parts of the case (including width, length, string length, and internal geometry) to within ±0.03 in (±1 mm); this is well within tolerances for modern handiwork. There is no need to be more precise than the original; sometimes a builder can overwork a design or restoration and spoil it by being too exact.
The Manufacturing Process
The harpsichord maker's shop resembles that of a cabinet maker, and harpsichord construction has a lot in common with ship building and cabinet making. The process of steaming wood and forming it to specific curves is part of the shipbuilder's art of constructing the curved prow of a ship. The process of carving and fitting the smaller pieces of the harpsichord requires the skills of a cabinet maker or master woodworker. The shop is also filled with cabinet-making tools like planes, chisels, rasps, and files. The major difference between the shops of a modern harpsichord builder and one from the eighteenth century is the presence of electrically powered tools, particularly band and table saws, in the present-day shop.
Other smaller pieces are also cut and curved by steam bending in sets of smaller jigs while the bentside is being made. The other sections of the case are straight; these include the tail, the cheek, the front end, the wrest plank (the heavy slab of wood crossing the top of the instrument and connecting the spine to the cheek), and the corner keys (strengthening blocks that are used to reinforce the case corners) that are cut, flattened, and fitted together by hand. When the case sides have all been assembled, the outline of the harpsichord is complete.
In another distinct operation, the key blanks and key frames are cut. The frames are constructed with mortise and tenon joints. Most of the harpsichords reproduced today are "double manuals," meaning they have two keyboards. A detailed key-board pattern is marked on the single piece of wood used for each keyboard. The pattern shows the positions of the holes in the keys as well as the shape of the keys. The holes are drilled, and the keys are finished along their fronts before they are cut. The sharp cuts are marked, and the platings (surface coverings) for the natural keys are glued onto the blanks before the keys are cut using a band saw. Concentration and remarkable skill are needed for key-making because 1,008 holes are required for a set of two key-boards and the harpsichord keys have narrower spacing than those on a piano. The cross cuts along the fronts of the sharps are made and trimmed, the plating for the sharps is trimmed, and the fronts of the naturals are undercut so they have lighter weight and better balance in the frames.
The naturals are mounted on the key frames and leveled. The keys for the sharps are then fitted between the naturals and leveled. The sharp rise (the raised part of the sharp keys) is glued onto each sharp last. The platings on harpsichord keys also differ from those on pianos. French, German, and Flemish instruments have ebony or boxwood platings on the naturals and ivory on the sharps. Only Italian instruments seem to favor white or ivory naturals and black sharps. This difference, along with the narrower key spacings, makes it impossible to use factory-made piano keys for harpsichords.
To finish the keys, felt is glued onto the back of the keys, cut apart between each key, and trimmed. The upper keys have weights in the ends and are guided by pins through slots in the keys. The guide system for the lower keys is a rack in the back with a pin in the back of each key that fits through a slot in the rack. Piano bridge pins can be used in harpsichords as hitch pins, piano center pins work as bridge pins, and zither pins are used as harpsichord tuning pins.
The harpsichord is strung and the jacks that pluck the strings are installed before the keys are mounted in the instrument and connected to the jacks to complete the instrument action. The instrument is voiced (tuned) with minor trimming of the tip of the plectra and adjustment of the action.
Quality Control
The harpsichord is a creation by artists for artists. Harpsichord makers are highly skilled wood workers, painters, and artists in many supporting crafts; they also play the instrument themselves and hold great reverence for fellow musicians who lovingly reproduce the music of great composers who wrote works unique to the harpsichord's sound. Their ability to channel this respect back into every aspect of construction of a single harpsichord is highly effective quality control.
Byproducts/Waste
Harpsichord makers typically produce different models in the styles of the national schools and various eras in harpsichord history. The manufacture of harpsichord kits for the home craftsman is a separate industry, and most harpsichord makers do not also make kits, although they may well have learned the craft from experimenting with kits. They also do not supply their hand-made harpsichord parts to others; parts (like jacks, key felt, or wire) can be either purchased from specialized suppliers or the harpsichord maker produces his or her own parts for private use.
Waste is very limited. Some wood scrap is generated, but the value of these rare woods prompts wood workers to use them efficiently. There is also little waste of paint, gesso, and other finishing supplies because they are hand-mixed in the quantity needed. The key to the production of a beautiful musical instrument is to be especially careful early in the process so that tiny mistakes do not multiply and create difficulties in completing construction or in voicing and playing the instrument.
Safety is an issue in the operation of electrically powered tools and in the surface finishing of harpsichords. Caution with the electrical supply and tools like power saws and sanders is essential. When dust is generated during wood working, craftspeople wear masks and sometimes respirators. All painting is done in a ventilated paint room.
The Future
The harpsichord's future seems secure for the moment. The development of the harpsichord kit has fostered a new group of enthusiasts who love the voice of the instrument, the opportunity to use their own skills in handcrafting such a project, and the chance to own a grand piece of musical history. A wide range of persons buy harpsichords from professional builders out of similar appreciation. About 25 professional harpsichord builders are active in the United States, and about 100 instruments per year are made in the United States for universities, orchestras, other music organizations, and private players.
According to harpsichord maker John Phillips (a self-taught builder who began with harpsichord kits), the greatest potential threat to the future of the harpsichord is the level of musical culture, especially in the United States. Music education in schools is being cut because of cost, and there is no doubt that private music training is expensive for most families. But it is through music education beginning at an early age that children come to appreciate fine music and explore less familiar instruments like the harpsichord. Hope rests in the fact that, once heard, the evocative sound of the harpsichord is seldom forgotten.
Where to Learn More
Books
Bragard, Roger, and Ferdinand J. De Hen. Musical Instruments in Art and History. New York: The Viking Press, 1967.
Clemencic, Rene.Old Musical Instruments. Translated by David Hermges. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1968.
Crombie, David. Piano. San Francisco: Miller-Freeman, 1995.
Dearling, Robert, ed. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments. New York: Schirmer Books, 1996.
Hubbard, Frank. Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965.
Kottick, Edward L. The Harpsichord Owner's Guide: A Manual for Buyers and Owners. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1987.
Ripin, Edwin M., Denzil Wraight, and G. Grant O'Brien, et al. Early Keyboard Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1989.
Sachs, Curt. The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1940.
Unger-Hamilton, Clive. Keyboard Instruments. Minneapolis: Control Data Publishing, 1981.
Zuckermann, Wolfgang Joachim. The Modern Harpsichord: Twentieth-Century Instruments and Their Makers. New York: October House, Inc., 1969.
Other
A Harpsichord Primer. http://www.bigduck.com (January 2001).
John Phillips Harpsichords. http://www.home.earthlink.net/-jplectra (July 2000).
Peter Tkach, Harpsichord Maker. http://www.tkach-harpsi.com (June 2000).
Zuckermann Harpsichords International. http://zhi.net/kits/tour.html (June 2000).
[Article by: Gillian S. Holmes]
| Music Encyclopedia: Harpsichord |
A stringed keyboard instrument, distinguished from the clavichord and the piano by the fact that its strings are plucked, not struck. The earliest known reference to a harpsichord is from 1397, in Padua (‘clavicembalum’); a Minden altarpiece of 1425 is the earliest known representation. The harpsichord remained in use to the late 18th century for solo keyboard music, and primarily as a continuo instrument in chamber and orchestral music and opera. It fell into disuse by c1810; its modern revival dates from the 1880s. (For illustration, see Keyboard instruments.)
The heart of its mechanism is the jack, a slender slip of wood which stands on the back of each key. The top of the jack carries a plectrum of quill, leather or plastic in a pivoted tongue; when the key is depressed, the jack rises and the plectrum is forced past the string, plucking it (a releasing mechanism permits the jack to return without plucking the string again). A piece of cloth in a slot next to the tongue damps the string's vibrations and silences it. A padded bar (the jackrail) prevents the jack from flying out of the instrument when the key is struck.
Although this mechanism is capable of producing a sensitive legato or staccato, changes in dynamics are possible only if the harpsichord has special devices or if each key has additional jacks and strings which may be engaged at will. Many harpsichords have at least two sets of strings, one at normal pitch (8′) and one an octave above (4′).
A typical 18th-century northern European harpsichord has two manuals, three sets of strings (2 × 8′, 1 × 4′), three registers and a manual coupler. Foot-or knee-operated devices for dynamic and register changes appeared in the late 1750s; most instruments had a ‘lute stop’, plucking close to the nut and producing a nasal timbre, and a ‘buff stop’, dampening the overtones of the 8′ string. Compasses increased from three octaves in the 15th century (some chromatic notes were omitted in the lower octave), to four in the 16th (C-c‴), and five by the 18th (F′-f‴).
No 15th-century harpsichords apparently survive, but representations show short instruments with thick cases. Most surviving 16th-century instruments are from Italy, where the main centre was Venice. Most instruments had an 8′ register (or 1 × 8′, 1 × 4′) and thin, slender cases of cypress, with a separate, decorated outer case. Their sound had a marked ‘attack’ and shorter resonance than later Flemish instruments.
The most important centre in northern Europe was Antwerp, where the Ruckers family worked for a century from 1579. Their instruments had long stringing, thicker cases (usually painted) and by the 1590s two manuals. Harpsichords falling between the Italian and Flemish types were made in France, Germany and England in the 17th century; several French two-manual instruments with unpainted walnut cases survive. This type was succeeded in the 1690s by a national variant of the Ruckers type with French keyboard and action. The soundboards and cases were painted or lacquered in fashionable styles. Blanchet founded the most important dynasty of Paris harpsichord makers: his workshop was inherited by Taskin in 1766.
English harpsichord-building in the 18th century was dominated by Shudi and Kirckman whose instruments, in veneered oak cases, had a rich, powerful tone. In 18th century Germany, the centre was Hamburg; some instruments have complex dispositions, including 2′ and 16′ registers and, in one case, three manuals. An unusually long model was evolved by J. D. Dulcken of Antwerp, the leading 18th-century maker in the Low Countries.
With the invention of the pianoforte and its propagation in the later 18th century, the harpsichord seemed to be superseded. After the last Kirckman was produced in c1809, it was not revived until the late 1880s when Arnold Dolmetsch presented Renaissance and Baroque music on original instruments in London. He built his first harpsichord in 1896, and soon workshops were established in Boston, Paris and Haslemere. Pleyel and Erard in Paris also produced instruments; after 1923 a new Pleyel model incorporated an iron frame holding thick strings at high tension on which Wanda Landowska in Berlin trained a generation of harpsichordists. Hubbard and Dowd in Boston were the first to construct harpsichords to historical principles; they were soon widely followed although modern concert instruments continued in use in Germany. Instruments in kit form, pioneered by W. J. Zuckermann in 1960, have assisted the growth of interest.
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: harpsichord |
For more information on harpsichord, visit Britannica.com.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: harpsichord |
Bibliography
See F. T. Hubbard, Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making (1965); W. I. Zuckermann, The Modern Harpsichord (1969); L. Palmer, Harpsichord in America (1989).
| Fine Arts Dictionary: harpsichord |
A stringed keyboard instrument much used in the baroque era in music. The keys of a harpsichord move small devices that pluck the strings; the strings are not struck with hammers, as in a piano. Thus, although harpsichords often look much like pianos, their characteristic tinkly sound is unlike that of the piano, and a harpsichordist cannot change the volume of the sound by striking the keys harder, as a pianist can.
| Word Tutor: harpsichord |
A harpsichord sounds very different than a piano because the strings are plucked instead of hit.
| Wikipedia: Harpsichord |
 Harpsichord in the Flemish style |
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| Keyboard instrument | |
|---|---|
| Other names | it: Clavicembalo fr: Clavecin |
| Hornbostel-Sachs Classification | 314.122-6-8 (Simple chordophone with keyboard sounded by a plectrum) |
| Developed | Late Middle Ages |
| Related instruments | |
| Musicians | |
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each key is pressed.
Also in the harpsichord family are the smaller virginals, the muselar (also muselaar) virginals and the spinet (but not the clavichord or piano which are hammered instruments).
The harpsichord was widely used in baroque music. It became less popular following the invention of the piano, but its distinctive sound is sometimes still used in contemporary music. The heimishe harpsichord is used in the synagogue for Jewish madrigals.
Contents |
Harpsichords vary in size and shape, but they all have the same basic functional arrangement. The player depresses a key pivoted in the middle of its length, which causes the far end of the key to rise. This lifts a jack, a long strip of wood, to which is attached a small plectrum (a wedge-shaped piece of quill or, nowadays plastic), which plucks the string. When the key is released by the player, the far end returns to its rest position and the jack falls back. The plectrum, mounted on a tongue that can swivel backwards away from the string, passes the string without plucking it again. As the key reaches its rest position, the string's vibrations are halted by the damper, a piece of felt attached to the top of the jack.
These basic principles are explained in more detail below.
Simply plucking strings produces a feeble sound: the sonority of the harpsichord arises from its design to amplify it. The strings pass over a bridge-like nut, a sharp edge supporting one end of their vibrating length, which is firmly attached to a soundboard, a thin panel of wood usually made of spruce or (in Italian harpsichords) cedar. The soundboard and case-construction efficiently transduces the vibrations of the strings into vibrations in the air. Also, in harpsichords with more than one choir of strings the vibrations of one string will invite its adjacent twin string to resonate in sympathy as long as the key is pressed. Some harpsichords have a 'damper off' position so that one choir of strings is undamped and may resonate freely in response to the tones played on the other choir(s).
Each string is held at the proper tension to sound the correct note. At one end, generally closest to the keyboard, each string is wound around a tuning pin, so that its tension may be adjusted by rotating the pin with a wrench (or tuning hammer). The tuning pins are held tightly in holes drilled in the pinblock or wrestplank, an oblong hard-wood plank. The other ends of the strings are fitted with twisted loopholes that pass over the hitchpins which are driven into the liner.
Many harpsichords have exactly one string per note. There are several reasons why it is sometimes an advantage to have more. When there are two choirs of strings at the same length, it is possible to arrange for them to give different tonal qualities, and thus to increase the variety of sound produced by the instrument. This is done by having one set of strings plucked closer to the nut (the bridge-like device that terminates the sounding length of the strings) than the other. Plucking close to the nut emphasizes the higher harmonics, and produces a "nasal" sound quality. When two strings tuned to be the same pitch, or to an octave apart, are plucked simultaneously by a single keystroke, the note is louder and richer than one produced by a single string. The qualitative distinction is particularly noticeable when the strings are tuned an octave apart.
When describing a harpsichord it is customary to specify its choirs of strings, often called its disposition. Strings at eight foot pitch sound at the normal expected pitch, strings at four foot pitch sound an octave higher, and sometimes harpsichords have the rare 16-foot pitch (one octave lower than eight-foot) or two-foot pitch (two octaves higher); sometimes one even encounters a thirty-two foot pitch (two octaves lower).
When there are multiple choirs of strings, the player is often able to control which choirs sound. This is usually done by having a set of jacks for each choir, and a mechanism for "turning off" each set, often by moving the upper register (through which the jacks slide) sideways a short distance, so that their plectra miss the strings. In simpler instruments this is done by manually moving the registers, but as the harpsichord evolved levers, knee levers and pedal mechanisms were invented that made it easier to change registration.
More flexibility in selecting which strings play is available in harpsichords having more than one keyboard or manual, since each manual can control the plucking of a different set of strings. In addition, such harpsichords often have a mechanism to couple manuals together, so that two can be used while actually playing on only one. The most flexible system is the French shove coupler, in which the lower manual can slide forward and backward, so that in the backward position "dogs" attached to the upper surface of the lower manual engage the lower surface of the upper manual's keys. Depending on choice of keyboard and coupler position, the player can select any of the sets of jacks labeled in figure 4 as A, or B and C, or all three. There are even harpsichords with a pedal keyboard. While these were mostly intended as practice instruments for organists, there are some pieces composed specifically for such.
The English dogleg jack system is less flexible, in that the manuals are immobile. The dogleg shape of the set of jacks labeled A in Figure 5 permits A to be played by either keyboard, but the lower manual necessarily plays all three sets, and the player cannot select just B and C as in the French shove coupler.
The use of multiple manuals in a harpsichord was not originally provided for the flexibility in choosing which strings would sound, but rather for transposition; for discussion see History below.
Harpsichords with pedal keyboards, to be played with the feet, were also manufactured, mostly as practice instruments for organists.
The case holds in position all of the important structural members: pinblock, soundboard, hitchpins, keyboard, and the jack action. It usually includes a solid bottom, and also internal bracing to maintain its form without warping under the tension of the strings. Cases vary greatly in weight and sturdiness: Italian harpsichords are often of light construction; heavier construction is found in the later Flemish instruments and those derived from them (see History, below).
The case also gives the harpsichord its external appearance and protects the instrument. A large harpsichord is, in a sense, a piece of furniture, as it stands alone on legs and may be styled in the manner of other furniture of its place and period. Early Italian instruments, on the other hand, were so light in construction that they were treated rather like a violin: kept for storage in a protective outer case, and played after taking it out of its case and placing it on a table.[1] Such tables were often quite high - until the late 18th century people usually played standing up.[1] Eventually, harpsichords came to be built with just a single case, though an intermediate stage also existed: the "false inner–outer", which for purely aesthetic reasons was built to look as if the outer case contained an inner one, in the old style.[2]. Even after harpsichords became self-encased objects, they often were supported by separate stands, and some modern harpsichords have separate legs for improved portability.
Many harpsichords have a lid that can be raised, a cover for the keyboard, and a stand for music.
Harpsichords have been decorated in a great many different ways: with plain buff paint (e.g. some Flemish instruments), with paper printed with patterns, with leather or velvet coverings, with chinoiserie, or occasionally with highly elaborate painted artwork.[3]
The terms used to denote the various members of the harpsichord family are now standardized. This was not so in the harpsichord's heyday.
In modern usage, "harpsichord" can mean any member of the family of instruments. More often, though, it specifically denotes a grand-piano-shaped instrument with a roughly triangular case accommodating long bass strings at the left and short treble strings at the right. The characteristic profile of such a harpsichord is more elongated than a modern piano, with a sharper curve to the bentside.
The virginals is a smaller and simpler rectangular form of the harpsichord having only one string per note; the strings run parallel to the keyboard which is on the long side of the case.
A spinet is a harpsichord with the strings set at an angle (usually about 30 degrees) to the keyboard. The strings are too close together for the jacks to fit between them. Instead, the strings are arranged in pairs, and the jacks are in the larger gaps between the pairs. The two jacks in each gap face in opposite directions, and each plucks a string adjacent to a gap.
A clavicytherium is a harpsichord with the soundboard and strings mounted vertically facing the player, the same space-saving principle as an upright piano.[4]
Since the strings run vertically, the jacks move horizontally, making the action of clavicytheria more involved than in a harpsichord.
Some of the earliest harpsichords for which we have evidence are clavicytheria. One surviving example from the late 15th century is kept at the Royal College of Music in London.[4] The clavicytherium may have been one branch of the early development of the harpsichord action (see below, History), that was almost entirely surpassed by the horizontal harpsichord which has the advantage of being able to rely on gravity to return the jacks to their rest position.
Clavicytheria were occasionally made throughout the historical period. In the 18th century particularly fine clavicytheria were made by Albertus Delin, a Flemish builder.[5].
Ottavini are small spinets or virginals at 4' pitch. It is thought that harpsichords at octave pitch were more common in the late mediæval and early renaissance, but lessened in popularity in the later renaissance. However, ottavini remained very popular as domestic instruments in Italian states. In England, Samuel Pepys makes many mentions of his "tryangle" in his diary, which references the usual shape of these instruments. In the Low Countries, ottavini were commonly paired with 8' virginals. Encased in a small cubb under the soundboard. The ottavino could be removed and placed on top of the larger virginal, making an effect like unto a double manual instrument. These are usually called 'mother-and-child'[citation needed] or 'double' virginals.[6]
Several harpsichords with unusual keyboard layouts, such as the archicembalo, were built in the 16th century to accommodate variant tuning systems demanded by compositional practice and theoretical experimentation.
On the whole, earlier harpsichords have smaller ranges and later ones larger, though there are many exceptions. The largest harpsichords have a range of just over five octaves and the smallest have under four. Usually, the shortest keyboards were given extended range in the bass with a "short octave".
Tuning pitch is often taken to be a=415 Hz, roughly a semitone lower than the modern standard concert pitch of a=440 Hz. An accepted exception is for French baroque repertoire which is often performed with a=392 Hz, approximately a semitone lower again. Tuning an instrument nowadays usually starts with setting an A; historically it would commence from a C or an F.
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It has been suggested that Contemporary harpsichord be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
The harpsichord was most probably invented in the late Middle Ages. By the 1500s, harpsichord makers in Italy were making lightweight instruments with low string tension. A different approach was taken in Flanders starting in the late 1500s, notably by the Ruckers family. Their harpsichords used a heavier construction and produced a more powerful and distinctive tone. They included the first harpsichords with two keyboards, used for transposition.
The Flemish instruments served as the model for 18th century harpsichord construction in other nations. In France, the double keyboards were adapted to control different choirs of strings, making a musically more flexible instrument. Instruments from the peak of the French tradition, by makers such as the Blanchet family and Pascal Taskin, are among the most widely admired of all harpsichords, and are frequently used as models for the construction of modern instruments. In England, the Kirkman and Shudi firms produced sophisticated harpsichords of great power and sonority. German builders extended the sound repertoire of the instrument by adding sixteen foot and two foot choirs; these instruments have recently served as models for modern builders.
In the late 18th century the harpsichord was supplanted by the piano and almost disappeared from view for most of the 19th century: an exception was its continued use in opera for accompanying recitative, but the piano sometimes displaced it even there. 20th century efforts to revive the harpsichord began with instruments that used piano technology, with heavy strings and metal frames. Starting in the middle of the 20th century, ideas about harpsichord making underwent a major change, when builders such as David Bergmark Ley, Frank Hubbard, William Dowd, and Martin Skowroneck sought to re-establish the building traditions of the Baroque period. Harpsichords of this type of historically informed building practice dominate the current scene.
The first music written specifically for solo harpsichord was published around the early 16th century. Composers who wrote solo harpsichord music were numerous during the whole baroque era in European countries including Italy, Germany, England and France. Solo harpsichord compositions included dance suites, fantasias, and fugues. Besides solo works, the harpsichord was widely used for accompaniment in the basso continuo style (a function it maintained in operatic recitative even into the 19th century). Well into the 18th century, the harpsichord was considered to have some advantages over the piano.
Through the 19th century, the harpsichord was almost completely supplanted by the piano. In the 20th century, composers returned to the instrument, as they sought out variation in the sounds available to them. Under the influence of Arnold Dolmetsch, Violet Gordon-Woodhouse (1872–1951) and in France, Wanda Landowska (1879-1959), were at the forefront of the instrument's renaissance.
Concertos for the instrument were written by Francis Poulenc (the Concert champêtre, 1927–28), Manuel de Falla, Bertold Hummel,[7] Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, and Roberto Carnevale. Bohuslav Martinů wrote both a concerto and a sonata for the instrument, and Elliott Carter's Double Concerto is scored for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras.
In chamber music, György Ligeti wrote a small number of solo works for the instrument (including "Continuum"), and Henri Dutilleux's "Les Citations" (1991) is scored for harpsichord, oboe, double bass and percussions. Both Dmitri Shostakovich (Hamlet, 1964) and Alfred Schnittke (Symphony No.8, 1998) wrote works that use the harpsichord as part of the orchestral texture.
Harpsichordist Hendrik Bouman has composed pieces in the 17th and 18th century style, including works for solo harpsichord, harpsichord concerti, and other works that call for harpsichord continuo. Other contemporary composers writing new harpsichord music in period styles include Grant Colburn, Miguel Robaina, Fernando de Luca and Gianluca Bersanetti. The instrument also appears occasionally in production music both period and otherwise; a regionally notable example is the composition 'Rondo a Go-Go' by Andrew Adorian, an uptempo, late 60s library piece used for some years as part of the sign-off of television station WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts.
Examples of the harpsichord's use in popular music include The Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee", The Stranglers' "Golden Brown", Van Morrison's "Everyone," Yes' "Siberian Khatru," Elton John's "I Need You to Turn To", The Rolling Stones' "Yesterday's Papers."[8], New Kids on the Block's "Tonight (New Kids on the Block song)", R.E.M.'s "Half a World Away".[9], in Massive Attack's song Teardrop. In the television series "The Addams Family", Lurch the butler, a large, awkward, shambling figure, played the harpsichord, producing a comic contrast between his hulking persona and the delicate sound of the instrument.
The 'clavinova', an electronic keyboard instrument, has a sound similar to the harpsichord.
The type of instrument now usually called harpsichord in English is generally called a clavicembalo (sometimes in the corrupt form gravicembalo, both masculine) or simply cembalo in Italian, and this last word is generally used in German as well (Cembalo, neuter). The Dutch word is klavecimbel (neuter). The typical French word is clavecin (masculine), though in French historical sources the word épinette (feminine, cognate with English spinet) is sometimes used, in a global sense, meaning any instrument with a harpsichord-like action. The standard Spanish word is clavecín (masculine), with clavicémbalo as an alternative (along with the rarer forms clavicímbalo and clavicímbano; all masculine). The Portuguese words are espineta (feminine) and cravo (masculine, cognate with the element clav- in the Italian words for the instrument). And, finally, in Polish it is klawesyn (masculine), clearly a derivative of the French version.
| Français | English | Deutsch | Italiano |
|---|---|---|---|
| arc-boutant | upper brace | obere Gehäusestrebe | barra superiore |
| barre d’accroche | hitchpinrail | Anhängeleiste | corniche di attacco 8´ |
| barre d’adresse | nameboard batten | Namensleiste | listello superiore tastiera |
| barre de balancement | balance rail | Waagebalken | barra di bilanciamento |
| barre de fond | lower frame | untere Gehäusestreben | traversa del fondo |
| barre de table | rib | Rippe | catena |
| bec | plectrum | Kiel | plettro |
| béquille | lid stick | Deckelstock | bacchetta coperchio |
| boudin | 4´ hitchpinrail | Vierfuß-Anhängeleiste | supporto attacco punte 4´ |
| caisse | case | Gehäuse | cassa |
| chapiteau | jackrail | Prallleiste | coperchio salterelli |
| charnière | hinge | Scharnier | cerniera |
| chevalet | bridge | Steg | ponticello |
| cheville d’accord | tuning pin | Stimmwirbel | caviglie |
| clavecin | harpsichord | Cembalo | clavicembalo |
| clavier | keyboard | Klaviatur | tastiera |
| contre éclisse | liner | Resonanzboden-Auflageleisten | controfascia |
| contresommier | upper bellyrail | Oberdamm | controsomiere |
| corde | string | Saite | corda |
| couvercle | lid | Deckel | coperchio |
| diapason | rack | Kanzelle | guida a rastrelliera |
| échine | spine | Rückwand oder lange Wand | fascia dorsale |
| éclisse courbe | bentside | gebogene Wand | fascia curva |
| épinette | spinet | Spinett | spinetta |
| fond | bottom | Bodenteil | fondo |
| gorge | nameboard | Namenswand | tavola frontale |
| grande barre | cutoff bar | große Rippe | grande catena diagonale |
| joue | cheek | Wange | fascia corta |
| languette | tongue | Zunge | bilancero |
| levier de registration | stop lever | Registerhebel | leve comando registri |
| masse | upper bellyrail | Oberdamm | controsomiere |
| peigne | rack | Kanzelle | guida a rastrelliera |
| piétement | stand | Gestell | cavalletto |
| plectre | plectrum | Kiel | plettro |
| pointe | tail | Schwanzwand | fascia caudale |
| pointe d’accroche | hitchpin | Aufhängestift | punta di attacco |
| pointe de balancement | balance pin | Waagebalkenstift | punta di bilanciamento |
| pointe de chevalet | bridge pin | Stegstift | punta ponticello |
| pointe de sillet | nut pin | Stegstift | punta capotasto |
| portillon | fallboard | Verschlußbrett | coperchio frontale |
| pupitre | music desk | Notenpult | leggío |
| queue | tail | Schwanzwand | fascia caudale |
| rabat | flap | Deckelklappe | coperchio a ribalta |
| registre | register | Register | registro |
| sautereau | jack | Springer | salterello |
| sillet | nut | Stimmstocksteg | capotasto |
| sommier | wrestplank | Stimmstock | somiere |
| table d’harmonie | soundboard | Resonanzboden | tavola armonica |
| touche | key | Taste | tasti |
| virginal | virginal | Virginal | virginale |
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| Translations: Harpsichord |
Nederlands (Dutch)
klavecimbel
Français (French)
n. - clavecin
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μουσ.) αρπίχορδο, κλαβεσέν, κλαβεσίνο
Italiano (Italian)
clavicembalo
Português (Portuguese)
n. - cravo (m) (Mús.)
Español (Spanish)
n. - clavicordio, clave, clavecín
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - cembalo
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
大键琴
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 大鍵琴
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 하프시코드 (피아노의 전신인 건반 악기)
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) البيانو القيثاري بيانو قديم قيثاري الشكل
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 | Clavicembalo (music) |
| Clavecin (music) |
| Clavicytherium (music) |
 | Where does the harpsichord come from? Read answer... |
| Does a harpsichord have a soundboard? Read answer... |
| Who played a harpsichord? Read answer... |
 | What are the parts of a harpsichord? |
| What does a Harpsichord sound like? |
| How many keys are on a harpsichord? |
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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| Fine Arts Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Harpsichord". Read more |
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