"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.
Für Klavier oder Cembalo. Erstmalig veröffentlicht von A. Kranz
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Item no.: 418879
Praeclassica
for: Harpsichord
Single part Harpsichord
Item no.: 421434
Cravistas Portuguezes
Volume 2
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 288886
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 296552
Fingerübungen und Etüden 1571-1760
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music lesson book
Item no.: 282917
Urtextausgabe
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Item no.: 609150
Urtext Edition,
Study score (pocket score)
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Study score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 166942
K 306-357
Oeuvres complètes pour clavier, volume 7
Le Pupitre 37
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177114
Corpus Of Early Keyboard Music 18
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Item no.: 139474
Parte quarta (No. 151-200)
EMB Urtext
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 197563
Corpus Of Early Keyboard Music 15
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Item no.: 346723
for: Organ (manuals) [harpsichord]
Item no.: 348610
K 507-555
Oeuvres complètes pour clavier, volume 11
Le Pupitre 41
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177123
le pupitre 57
Tome 1 – Volume 1
Livre de 1649
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177106
(1–44)
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 265340
Bärenreiter Urtext
with Fingerings
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 172511
for: 2 harpsichords, strings, basso continuo
Single part harpsichord 1
Item no.: 188603
Eine praktische Musiklehre
Heft 1 – Übungsheft
for: Instrument [voice]
Study book
Item no.: 103240
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 460268
Miscellaneous Suites and Pieces. First Part
Urtext of the Halle Handel Edition
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 116296
Erstveröffentlichung
for: Harpsichord, strings
Set of parts
Item no.: 361256
K 156-205
Oeuvres complètes pour clavier, volume 4
Le Pupitre 34
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177111
Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 57
for: Harpsichord
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 580927
A Self-Paced Primer in Playing from a Figured Bass
for: Harpsichord [organ manuals]
Music lesson book
Item no.: 565277
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
4 music scores (Urtext)
Item no.: 582227
Eine praktische Anleitung fur Pianisten, Organisten und Cembalisten
for: Harpsichord
Music lesson book
Item no.: 615003
Praeclassica
for: Harpsichord
Single part(n)
Item no.: 421306
for: Harpsichord, strings, basso continuo
Cello, double bass (orchestral part)
Item no.: 191468
Embellished Version
Bärenreiter Trtext
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 116761
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 138800
Le pupitre vol. 52
for: Organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
Music score
Item no.: 177099
Dover Piano And Keyboard Editions
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 284761
Ein Lehrwerk auf der Basis von Quellen des 16. bis 19. Jahrhunderts
Set mit Buch und Notenband
for: Harpsichord
Book, music score
Item no.: 493072
für Cembalo solo
for: Harpsichord
Piano score
Item no.: 381255
72 nicht ausgesetzte Kirchenlieder des 17. Jh. (Melodie und Bass) für Klavier (Orgel) als Übungsstücke zum Basso-continuo-Spiel
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music lesson book
Item no.: 348924
(London c.1742)
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 377346
Edition Urtext
Without fingering
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 401402
for: 2 harpsichords, strings, basso continuo
Single part harpsichord 2
Item no.: 188135
for Piano (Harpsichord)
Breitkopf Urtext
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 285692
for: Harpsichord, strings, basso continuo
Violin 1 (orchestral part)
Item no.: 173890
Henle Urtext Editions
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 401124
for: 2 horns, string orchestra, harpsichord
Piano reduction, solo parts
Item no.: 139356
Livre 3
Le Pupitre 23
Collection de musique ancienne publiée sous la direction de François Lesure
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177102
Un choix d'exercices et de pièces pour débutants en deux volumes
for: Harpsichord
Music lesson book
Item no.: 466495
Dover Piano And Keyboard Editions
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 136169
aus dem "Wohltemperierten Klavier" Teil 1
– Urtext –
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 420092
Variations on Songs and Dances
Breitkopf Urtext
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 304381
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 116759
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