The History of the Harpsichord

The 15th Century: What we know today as a harpsichord seems to

have evolved in the early 1400s in Flanders

The earliest surviving representation is an altar carving from Germany ca.1425.

The second is from England: a beautiful stained glass window attributed to John Prudd c1440 in the Beauchamp chapel of St.Mary's Church, Warwick England … it clearly shows its Flemish influence in the case decoration.

By the 16th century:

Italian makers dominated the harpsichord development.

The Italian case is light and the stress of the strings supported by internal knees.

The keyboard range has doubled from the earlier northern instruments. And, the harpsichord has taken the musical world by storm.

Here is an Italian Harpsichord:

This model is from the 16th century

Here is my mom playing Harpsichord:

The 17th Century:

The 17th Century:

During this century, the harpsichord range was increased.

Most early instruments cover less than 4 octaves, this was gradually expanded to 5 octaves.

Often this was done by retuning the bass octave to omit sharp notes, thus reaching deeper notes with no change to the instrument.

Instrumental range (1677) has been extended by splitting the lowest two sharp keys and squeezing two new sets of strings into an existing design.

18th Century:

18th Century:

The number of strings increased, large instruments often having three choirs per note.

The choirs were now designed to be easily selected by the player in various combinations for different sound effects.

The essential mechanical layout and sound of the Flemish instruments of the mid-1500s were retained in northern instruments during the 1700s.

This was the instrument for which the Couperins, J.S.Bach, Handel, Haydn, and the other great northern composers wrote.

19th Century:

19th Century:

Essentially, use of the harpsichord ceased by 1800. The precision and clarity of the baroque had been replaced by mush and bombast.

19th-20th Century:

Several German firms experimented with plucked pianos late in the 1800's.

By 1900, a young Polish pianist, Wanda Landowska, had figured out how to make good music with them

1912, the French firm of Pleyel brought out a model designed for her.

Ralph Kirkpatrick and others used similar instruments to join her in developing a wholly new sound that blended piano and organ techniques of the time.

19th-20th Century:

A French violinist, Arnold Dolmetsch, made a number of instruments at several workshops based on English harpsichords of the late 1700s, but without their sonority - they attracted few admirers.

Some of the surviving large harpsichords were modified by replacing a set of strings by strings an octave below normal pitch - at least one such modified instrument was attributed to J.S.Bach.

Harpsichord Facts: They have been made in varying shapes, sizes

and sounds over the years dating back to the 14th century.

Some of the strings were plucked with a quill

Some with metal plectra

At least one harpsichord was designed to strike the strings with a metal staple in the manner of the dulcimer.

Here are some songs played on the Harpsichord: This is a simple sound clip in a major key

signature and played with a midi harpsichord  

Do you recognize this melody?

Three major Harpsichord Composers:

J.S. Bach

Domenico Scarlatti

Francois Couperin

J.S. Bach from Germany(1685-1750)

Domenico Scarlatti from Italy(1685-1750)

Francois Couperin from France(1668-1733)

Sources pulled from the internet are available upon request.The end!