"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.
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177122
Six Concertos after Vivaldi and Others
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 262345
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 177115
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1558303
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 197574
Schott Piano Classics
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 754313
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 817216
for: Harpsichord, strings, basso continuo
Piano reduction
Item no.: 296591
from MS Drexel 5612
Corpus Of Early Keyboard Music 44
Bound copy temporarily out of stock!
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 168307
for: Piano [harpsichord/organ]
Item no.: 287999
for: Harpsichord
Item no.: 603219
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 352023
for: Organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
Item no.: 177299
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 256179
300 Years of Piano Music
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 256133
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 388727
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1558298
for: Harpsichord
Score
Item no.: 391916
for: Harpsichord, piano
Score
Item no.: 255932
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 564569
aus der Suite in B-Dur, HWV 434
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 3536
Edition without fingering
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 778193
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 1670723
BWV 801
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1099
K. 159 (Longo 104)
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1964
K. 55 (Longo 355)
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 4614
aus: Pieces de Clavessin
Paris 1705
for: 2 harpsichords [2 pianos]
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 6127
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 174696
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Item no.: 459446
Trascrizione dell'autore per 2 clavicembali
for: 2 harpsichords
Music score
Item no.: 648655
Musica Per Tastiera Vol. 2
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 648714
aus: Compositioni musicali per il Cembalo, divise in due parti ...
Hamburg, c. 1735
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 3595
aus: Compositioni musicali per il Cembalo, divise in due parti ...
Hamburg, c. 1735
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Sheet music
Item no.: 4011
für zwei Cembali
for: 2 harpsichords
Ensemble score
Item no.: 628543
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 796109
Classic Chorale Preludes
Arranged for Keyboard and Any Solo Instrument
for: Melody instrument (C/B-flat/E-flat/F), organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
Piano score, Solo part (pdf download)
Item no.: 692671
Transkription für Orgel oder Cembalo
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 777896
for: Harpsichord
Book
Item no.: 999089
for: Harpsichord
Book
Item no.: 999113
Text und Notenband
for: Organ [harpsichord]
2 Books
Item no.: 202977
"Was der Generalbass sey?" Teil II: Beiträge zu Theorie und Praxis
Schola cantorum Basiliensis
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 190538
for: Organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
Item no.: 426030
für junge Pianisten
Band 2: Sonatinen Nr. 4-6
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 380933
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Item no.: 297839
Performers' Facsimiles 132 (Faksimile) (Facsimile)
for: Organ (manuals) [harpsichord]
Item no.: 347656
(K 115)
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 648664
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 648611
Nr. 1–56
Lüneburg Ratsbücherei
for: harpsichord [organ/piano]
Music score
Item no.: 463726
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