"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.
Part 1: BWV 846-869
Henle Urtext Edition
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 401105
Based on historical sources
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music lesson book
Item no.: 671934
Erstveröffentlichung
for: Harpsichord, strings
Score
Item no.: 335591
BWV 992, 993, 989, 963, 820, 823, 832, 833, 822, 998
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 296588
A Historical Guide to the Basics
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music lesson book
Item no.: 155243
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 648705
für Cembalo und Percussion
for: Harpsichord, percussion
Score
Item no.: 635025
an indroduction to contemporary harpsichord music from around the world (part 1)
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 634781
Band 1: Sonaten 1-6
Klaviermusik der Vorklassik
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 352405
Ordres 6-12
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 461358
Für Klavier oder Cembalo
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Item no.: 138863
on Harpsichord, Vibraphone and Bells
for: Harpsichord, percussion
Ensemble score
Item no.: 136768
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 137548
Canzonen I VI / Capriccio / Battaglia
for: Piano [harpsichord/organ]
Item no.: 134917
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 148939
Complete Harpsichord Works 1
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 277854
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Book
Item no.: 388825
New Haven, Yale University, Misc. Ms. 164 [Ms. «Higgs»] e Biblioteca del Conservatorio “S. Pietro a Majella” di Napoli, Ms. 74
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 549575
Nach Handschriften aus den "Notenbüchlein" von A. Katharina Winteler, Alt St. Johann 1851 und Elbeth Forrer, Stoffel 1855
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 409148
Corpus Of Early Keyboard Music 5/4
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Score
Item no.: 303821
Adapted for the Organ by Edward Miller
London 1785
for: Organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
Music score
Item no.: 280723
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Organ manuals [harpsichord/piano]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 483971
di diversi composizioni toccate, kyrie, canzoni, capricci e recercari in partitura a quattro
transcriptions for keyboards
Monumenti Musicali Italiani XII
Girolamo Frescobaldi Opere complete XII
for: Harpsichord [organ]
Music score
Item no.: 744999
Vierter Teil der Clavier-Übung
Partitur
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Score
Item no.: 349586
Notenband zu: "Historisches Cembalospiel" von Jürgen Trinkewitz
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 492703
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 1551571
Gesamtausgabe. Originale Vorworte, Spielanweisungen und Verzierungstabellen
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 116109
Dover Piano And Keyboard Editions
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 144300
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 469219
Henle Urtext Editions
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 778190
Urtext
for: 2 harpsichords [2 pianos]
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 692285
Sudien und Übungen
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Book
Item no.: 1005085
May 2018 (A and B Papers)
for: Instrument [voice]
Music lesson book
Item no.: 681362
for: harpsichord [organ/piano]
Music score
Item no.: 932097
Musica Britannica 94
for: Organ [harpsichord], orchestra
Music score (hardcover, anthology)
Item no.: 930048
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 930635
For The Harpsichord
for: Harpsichord
Solostimme
Item no.: 1625060
BÄRENREITER URTEXT
for: Harpsichord
Stimme, Urtextausgabe
Item no.: 870807
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 796109
Swiss Composers Series
for: Piano [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 1026632
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
Trascrizione dell'autore per 2 clavicembali
for: 2 harpsichords
Music score
Item no.: 648655
Convivio Musicale 65
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 648660
Musica Per Tastiera Vol. 2
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Music score
Item no.: 648714
for: Harpsichord [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 667422
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