"Brightly the keys, all twinkling, linked, all harpsichording, called to a voice to sing the strain of dewy morn..." James Joyce
The harpsichord is widely seen as the forerunner of the modern day piano, the main difference being its plucking mechanism, rather than hammers, which gives it its distinct sound, the sound of the Renaissance and the Baroque, signalling in a new dawn for early music.
Concert pitch at the time was 415 Hz, approximately a semitone lower than today, which is 440 Hz. The harpsichord it very sensitive to fluctuations in temperature and humidity, and needs to be tuned at least once a day. The tuning process only takes about 20 minutes on average, so it is a small price to pay, for a beautiful, clean tone.
Not only is the harpsichord an excellent solo instrument, for which many works (such as sonatas, suites, toccatas, variations and many more) were written by composers such as B. Sweelinck, J. S. Bach, his son C. P. E. Bach, D. Scarlatti, Handel and F. Couperin, but the harpsichord, alongside the Organ, Theorbo and Lute, plays a central role in the basso continuo in most Baroque ensembles.
The harpsichord forms the harmonic bridge between melody and bass, and its central role within the basso continuo is comparable to the modern keyboard’s function in a rock, pop or jazz band.
One of the main features of the Baroque style for harpsichord is ornamentation, such as trills, mordents, turns and tremolo, which are particularly prominent in the French Baroque with composers such as Francois Couperin and Rameau. Many such ornaments can also be found in the famous Well-Tempered Clavier (1722) by J. S. Bach.
As a favoured instrument of the bourgeoisie and royalty, the untimely end of the harpsichord was brought about by the people’s revolts of the French Revolution (1789 to 1799), harpsichords and clavichords were thrown out of the windows onto the streets of Paris in anger and burned!
With the revival of early music in the 1970s, more and more new harpsichords were built. Pioneers such as B. Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman and Nikolaus Harnoncourt reinvented Renaissance and Baroque style, and the harpsichord grew in popularity, and was once again seen on concert stages, and in chamber venues all around the world.
Today you can find harpsichords built in Flemish, French, Italian, Austrian and German styles all over the world. They all have their own individual character and tone. Historical performance practice has now become second nature for harpsichord players, and has influenced the way we approach modern keyboard instruments, and most importantly how we view the piano.
for: Harpsichord
Score
Item no.: 1109804
for: Harpsichord
Item no.: 111317
for: Harpsichord
Item no.: 108082
Frutti Musicali 5 (Urtextausgabe) (Urtext)
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Score
Item no.: 494125
for: 2 harpsichords
Score
Item no.: 648709
for: Harpsichord, strings
Score
Item no.: 648593
for: Harpsichord, strings
Score
Item no.: 690373
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Score
Item no.: 432746
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 5853
for: Organ (manuals) [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 5650
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 5554
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 6189
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 6094
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 5201
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 3150
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 3122
for: Harpsichord [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 2885
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 2762
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 2537
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1569
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 3656
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 3490
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 4285
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 4247
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 3983
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1646261
for: Harpsichord [organ manuals]
Music score
Item no.: 245964
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 321317
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 239788
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177123
for: Harpsichord
Item no.: 391237
(Urtext)
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 292316
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 296545
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177114
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 1346369
for: Harpsichord, strings, basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 109087
Piano music pre-classicism
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 352235
for Keyboard (Urtextausgabe) (Urtext)
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 549818
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177106
for: Harpsichord
Solostimme
Item no.: 1626544
aus dem Leutschauer Tabulaturbuch (1676)
for: Organ (manuals) [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 367521
for: Harpsichord
Buch
Item no.: 280071
for: Harpsichord
Buch
Item no.: 389116
Choralbearbeitungen für Orgel / Cembalo
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Item no.: 431001
for: Harpsichord
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 348688
for: Organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 558208
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 460268
for: Harpsichord [organ]
Music score
Item no.: 648703
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