Harpsichord

What it means

The harpsichord is a keyboard instrument whose strings are not struck but plucked. When the key is pressed down, a jack rises, on whose tongue sits a quill or a plectrum; this plucks the string. When the key is released, the jack falls back, the tongue gives way, and a damper settles on the string. From this follows the most important property of the instrument: the volume of a single note cannot be changed by the touch. Larger instruments have two manuals and several stops that bring in different choirs of strings, often including a four-foot stop, which sounds an octave higher.

Musical use

From the sixteenth into the eighteenth century the harpsichord was the central keyboard instrument: as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and above all as a continuo instrument that supplies the harmonies from the figured bass. Its music lives not from dynamic shading but from articulation, ornamentation, voice-leading, and registration. Toward the end of the eighteenth century the fortepiano gradually displaced it, because the latter can grade the touch dynamically; the transition was gradual and took place over decades. In the twentieth century the harpsichord returned with early music and also acquired new repertoire.

Performance practice

Because the strength of touch hardly changes the sound, expression arises from time: from the length of the notes, from tiny delays, from the separation or connection of neighbouring notes. Practise the releasing movement deliberately, for the damping is as audible as the plucking. Use ornaments as a means of letting a note stand out. Changes of stop and of manual articulate large forms but should not happen constantly. The instrument goes out of tune more easily than a piano and is usually tuned by the player; allow for this before every rehearsal. Keep it away from heating and draughts, and close the lid after playing.

Bear in mind that the choice of registration is a question of structure: a change between the manuals or the addition of a further choir marks formal sections and should take place where the music has a caesura. Constant changing wears out. Check the quills before playing, because broken quills make individual notes silent. Expect frequent retuning, especially with changes of temperature, and plan time for it before every rehearsal. Keep the touch calm and even.