Instrument
Harpsichord
The piano's plucked-string ancestor, and the Baroque era's essential keyboard.
The harpsichord looks similar to a small grand piano, but works on an entirely different principle: pressing a key triggers a small plectrum (traditionally a bird quill) that plucks the string rather than a felt hammer striking it. That plucking mechanism means a harpsichordist can't control volume through touch the way a pianist can - pressing a key harder doesn't make it louder - which is the main limitation that eventually led to the piano's invention and gradual replacement of the harpsichord by the late 1700s.
How it works
Each key raises a slim wooden jack with the plectrum attached; as the jack rises, the plectrum plucks the string, and as it falls, a hinge lets it slip back past without plucking again, while a felt damper silences the note. The sound is bright, crisp, and silvery, with a clear attack.
Instead of touch, harpsichord makers gave players other ways to vary the sound. Larger instruments have two keyboards (manuals) and several sets of strings that can be switched in and out with stops - adding a set tuned an octave higher for brilliance, or a "lute stop" that softens the tone. Players also create the impression of accents and dynamics through timing, ornaments, and how many notes they play at once.
The family
The harpsichord had smaller relatives. The virginal and the spinet are compact plucked keyboards, and the virginal was hugely popular in Elizabethan England. The clavichord works differently again: a small metal blade strikes the string and stays pressed against it, making a sound so quiet it was mostly used for private practice - but, uniquely, the player can control volume and even add a gentle vibrato.
The Baroque keyboard
Before the piano replaced it, the harpsichord was the essential keyboard instrument of the Baroque era, central to basso continuo practice: a harpsichordist would realize the harmony underneath a piece in real time from a shorthand bass line, functioning as the rhythmic and harmonic glue of countless Baroque ensembles. Often the harpsichordist also led the ensemble from the keyboard.
Bach's solo keyboard works, including much of The Well-Tempered Clavier, were originally written with the harpsichord (or similar instruments) in mind, decades before the piano became widespread. In France, François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote exquisite harpsichord suites, and in Spain, Domenico Scarlatti wrote 555 sonatas full of guitar-like brilliance.
The revival
After falling silent for more than a century, the harpsichord was revived in the early 20th century, led by the Polish harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, who inspired new concertos from Manuel de Falla and Francis Poulenc. Since the 1960s, the historically informed performance movement has made harpsichords a normal sight in Baroque concerts and recordings.
Essential harpsichord music
- Bach - Goldberg Variations (1741), written for a two-manual harpsichord.
- Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, with its spectacular harpsichord solo.
- Bach - Italian Concerto.
- Couperin - Pièces de clavecin, with their colorful titles.
- Scarlatti - Keyboard Sonatas.
- Poulenc - Concert champêtre (1928).
Where to start listening: any recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations played on harpsichord (rather than the more common modern piano recordings) shows the instrument's distinctive plucked timbre. Then try the long harpsichord cadenza in the first movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.