The Harpsichord (photo) (audio)

Like a dulcimer or psaltery, a keyboard mechanism is attached to a series of strings in a Harpsichord. A not-so-distant ancestor of the piano, the first Harpsichord was made in the fourteenth century. An early name for the Harpsichord was clavicymbalum or dulcimer.

The Harpsichord produces different pitches by plucking the

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strings with plectrums made of leather or quills. The plectrums are operated by mechanisms called jacks. The simplest of this mechanism – the virginal or spinet is made up of one plectrum operated by jacks that pluck one string when the key is pressed. The Harpsichord, however, may pluck several strings when one mechanism is operated or one key is pressed. The strings are made up of thin-drawn steel and are not always at the closest possible place next to the keys. This is primarily due to the number of strings needed. To accommodate this arrangement, the Harpsichord is not shaped in a oblong way but in a grand piano-type style.

The two most prevalent styles of

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Harpsichords was produced by the Flemish and Italian. The Italian styled instruments were small and had a thin sound. The Flemish style, perfected by the Ruckers family of Antwerp often had two keyboards and boasted a full, rich sound.

Unlike a clavichord, a Harpsichordist cannot alter the pitch of a note by the pressure applied to the key. Rather, when the plectrums pluck the strings, a uniform timbre is produced. In order to produce different types of sounds, a technique called the stop was innovated. This great advancement in Harpsichordsichord music allowed the musician to vary in pitch, coloration and sound. The so-called lute stop (named as such because it creates a sound that is similar to that of a lute) is created when the plectrums pluck the string at or near the ends of the strings rather than at the middle.