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{hahrp'-si-kohrd}
The harpsichord (clavecin in French, cembalo in Italian, and
Cembalo in German) is a stringed instrument played by means
of one or two keyboards, or manuals. Technically, the harpsichord
belongs to the PSALTERY (plucked zither) family, along with
the VIRGINAL and SPINET. It produces sound by a mechanical
action that plucks each string with a quill plectrum, rather
than striking it with a hammer (like the PIANO) or touching
it with a metal tangent. The result is a distinctive crispness
in tone quality and a clarity between simultaneous melodies--qualities
ideally suited to the 16th- through 18th-century composition
that constitute the primary repertoire of the instrument.
The keys are long wooden strips positioned on a fulcrum and
extending into the case below the strings. A vertically elongated
wooden jack rests on the far end of each key. Depressing the
key causes the jack to rise, pulling the plectrum against
the string. Unlike the actions of the piano and clavichord,
this plucking mechanism is not sensitive to variations in
the speed of key depressions, and note-by-note variations
in loudness or articulation are not possible. (In keyboard
instruments "articulation" refers to the way in
which succeeding tones can be separated or joined by the performer.)
When the key is released the jack falls and the plectrum again
makes contact with the string, creating an "edge"
or "aftersound" that is unique to the harpsichord.
The strings are positioned on two wooden bridges, one of which
transmits the string vibrations to a large wooden soundboard
under the instrument.
Harpsichords include between one and three choirs (complete
sets) of iron and brass wire strings. Each choir produces
a different tone color and, often, a distinct dynamic (loudness)
level. One choir may be tuned an octave higher for added brilliance.
Another may be muted by pieces of leather pressed against
the strings, resulting in a softer, mellower quality. By means
of hand-pulled levers called stops, similar to those on an
organ, the player selects or mixes from this limited palette
of available timbres and dynamic levels.
History
References to harpsichord-like instruments can be found as
far back as the 14th century. Almost all the early surviving
instruments (16th and 17th centuries) are Italian and are
small and lightly constructed, reflecting the harpsichord's
primary function, in Italian music, as an accompaniment rather
than a solo instrument. Its tonal capabilities were enlarged
during the 18th century, as larger instruments with more brilliant
tone were built, primarily in northern Europe and in England.
Beginning in the later 18th century, the piano rapidly replaced
the harpsichord, and interest in the older instrument revived
only with a revival of interest in baroque and Renaissance
music primarily in the 20th century.
Although harpsichords built during the first half of the 20th
century were largely modernized instruments, with design features
often derived from piano construction, the overwhelming trend
since the 1950s has been toward the building of harpsichords
patterned after 17th- and 18th-century models, in line with
the movement emphasizing the historically faithful ("authentic")
performance of music from earlier periods.
Repertoire
Prior to the mid-17th century, composers generally made little
distinction between music for harpsichord, organ, and clavichord.
While sacred music with sustained tones was usually played
on organs, and dance music on harpsichords, many "generic"
keyboard works and accompaniments could be played on either
instrument. But a large number of solo works conceived specifically
for harpsichord (some also playable on the clavichord) and
of chamber music parts for the instrument were written between
1650 and the later 18th century. The harpsichord also became
the primary continuo (harmonic accompaniment) instrument of
baroque music. High points in today's standard harpsichord
repertoire include works by the English virginalists (William
Byrd, John Bull, and Orlando Gibbons); richly ornamental dance
collections and character pieces by the 18th-century French
composers Francois Couperin and Jean Philippe Rameau; several
hundred single-movement sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti; and
the clavier works of J.S. Bach, which include instructive
pieces (two- and three-part inventions and sinfonias) and
solo harpsichord concerti in addition to some of Bach's most
rigorous contrapuntal works (the Well-Tempered Clavier and
the Goldberg Variations).
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