History of the harpsichord

The harpsichord was an important keyboard instrument in Europe from the 15th through the 18th centuries, and as revived in the 20th, is widely played today. This article gives a history of the harpsichord; for information on the construction of this instrument, its variant forms, and the music composed for it, see harpsichord.

Origins

The origin of the harpsichord is obscure. The New Grove summarizes the earliest historical traces of the instrument thus: "The earliest known reference to a harpsichord dates from 1397, when a jurist in Padua wrote that a certain Hermann Poll claimed to have invented an instrument called the 'clavicembalum'; [The prefix "clavi-" means "with keys"; for "cembalum" see cimbalom. The harpsichord is called the "cembalo" in several languages.] and the earliest known representation of a harpsichord is a sculpture in an altarpiece of 1425 from Minden in north-west Germany." [New Grove, online edition, article "Harpsichord"] .

thumb|left|Psaltery_of_the_14th_century_from_the_book_M. Severinus BoethiusWhoever invented the harpsichord did not have to proceed from scratch. The idea of controlling a musical instrument with a keyboard was already well worked out for the organ, an instrument that is far older than the harpsichord. Moreover, the psaltery was a widely used instrument of the Middle Ages. Like the later harpsichord, it had metal strings which were held at controlled tension with tuning pins and transmitted their vibrations through a bridge to a soundboard, rendering them audible. The insight needed to created the harpsichord was thus to find a way to pluck strings mechanically, in a way controlled by a keyboard. The 14th century was a time in which advances in clockwork and other machinery were being made; hence the time may have been ripe for the invention of the harpsichord.

It is possible that the standard harpsichord mechanism, with jacks holding plectra mounted on retractable tongues, may only gradually have won out over alternatives. A Latin manuscript work on musical instruments by Henri Arnault de Zwolle from about 1440 includes detailed diagrams of three types of jack action, as well as a mechanism describable as a crude (and premature) predecessor of the piano action. [See Stewart Pollens (1995) "The Early Piano"]

Another chain of development in the early harpsichord was a gradually increasing size. The psaltery was a hand-held instrument, far smaller than the fully-evolved harpsichord. Early harpsichords were evidently small in both pitch range and string length. This can been seen, for instance, in the work of Sebastian Virdung, his "Musica getutscht" (Basel 1511). Virdung describes three instruments he calls the "Virginal", the "Clavicimbalum", and the upright "Claviciterium". These had pitch ranges of 38, 40, and 38 keys, respectively, far smaller than later instruments. Frank Hubbard believes that all three must have been "ottavini", meaning instruments that sound an octave above normal pitch. Since pitch range is linked to string length, an ottavino is one way of building a small instrument. Ottavini were also common later on in the early history of the harpsichord. [Source for this paragraph: Hubbard 1967, particularly pp. 165-166]

Italy

The earliest complete harpsichords still preserved come from Italy, the oldest specimen being dated to 1521. (The Royal Academy of Music in London, has a clavicytherium, lacking its action, which may be older.) Even the earliest extant Italian instruments represent an already well-refined form of the instrument, showing no traces of their more primitive origin.

The Italian harpsichord makers made single-manual instruments with a very light construction and relatively little string tension. The Italian instruments are considered pleasing but unspectacular in their tone and serve well for accompanying singers or other instruments. Towards the end of the historical period larger and more elaborate Italian instruments were built, notably by Bartolomeo Cristofori.

Flanders

A major innovation in harpsichord construction took place in Flanders some time around 1580 with the work of Hans Ruckers and his descendants, including Ioannes Couchet. The Ruckers harpsichord was more solidly constructed than the Italian was. Because they used iron strings for the treble, as a result the scaling (the length of the vibrating part of the string for a given pitch) was longer, (always with the basic two sets of strings; usually one 8-foot and a 4-foot, but occasionally both at 8-foot pitch), with greater string tension, and a heavier case, as well as a very slender and responsive spruce soundboard, the tone was more sustaining than with the Italian harpsichord (also because the plucking point was further away from the nut), and was widely emulated by harpsichord builders in most other nations.

The Flemish makers of ca. 1600 were apparently the first to build two-manual harpsichords. They built them merely to permit easy transposition: the keyboards sounded the same strings, but one fourth apart. [Hubbard 1967, 64-67] Thus, the player could effortlessly transpose at this interval (e.g., to accommodate a singer) by playing on the second manual.

The Flemish harpsichords were often elaborately painted and decorated, and bore Latin mottoes [Hubbard 1967, 46] . The illustration at the start of this article is representative.

Fine instruments continued to be made by Flemish builders in 18th century, generally along French lines, notably by the Dulcken family.

France

French builders were responsible for important further development of the Ruckers-type instrument. The first step, taken in the mid 1600's, was to change the purpose of the second manual in two-manual instruments: whereas in the Flemish school this had been for allowing the player to transpose, the French makers used the second keyboard to permit rapid changes (i.e., while playing) between different choirs of strings; in other words, they were "expressive doubles". [Hubbard 1967, 105]

The French harpsichord reached its apogee in the 18th century, notably with the work of the Blanchet family and their successor Pascal Taskin. These French instruments were founded on the Flemish design, but extended in range, from the roughly four octaves of the Ruckers instruments to about five octaves. The 18th century French harpsichord is greatly admired has been widely adopted as a model for the construction of modern instruments.

A striking aspect of the 18th-century French tradition was its near-obsession with the Ruckers harpsichords. In a process called "grand ravalement", many of the surviving Ruckers instruments were disassembled and reassembled, with new soundboard material and case construction adding an octave to their range. It is considered likely that many of the harpsichords claimed at the time to be Ruckers restorations are fraudulent, albeit superb instruments in their own right. A more basic process was the so-called "petit ravalement", in which the keyboards and string sets, but not the case, were modified.

England

The harpsichord was important in England during the Renaissance for the large group of major composers who wrote for it, but apparently many of the instruments of the time were Italian importsFact|date=February 2007. Harpsichord building in England only achieved great distinction in the 18th century with the work of two immigrant makers, Jacob Kirckman (from Alsace) and Burkat Shudi (from Switzerland). The harpsichords by these builders, built for a prosperous and expanding social elite, were notable for their powerful tone and exquisite veneered cases. The sound of Kirckman and Shudi harpsichords has impressed many listeners, but the feeling that it overpowers the music has led to very few modern instruments being modeled on them. The Shudi firm was passed on to Shudi's son-in-law John Broadwood, who adapted it to the manufacture of pianos and became a leading creative force in the development of that instrument.

Germany

German harpsichord makers roughly followed the French model, but with a special interest in achieving a variety of sonorities, perhaps because some of the most eminent German builders were also builders of pipe organs. Some German harpsichords included a choir of 2-foot strings (that is, strings pitched two octaves above the primary set). A few even included a 16-foot stop, pitched an octave below the main 8-foot choirs. One still-preserved German harpsichord even has three manuals to control the many combinations of strings that were available. This represents the northern school of German harpsichord building as featured by builders such as Hieronymus Hass and Christian Zell. The southern school features instruments inspired by Italian harpsichord building: simple large double manual instruments, often undecorated, using brass strings and an Italian construction of the soundboard. These instruments were built by Michael Mietke, Heinrich Gräbner and the Silbermann family. Many modern builders have copied the Mietke instruments and they have proven to be an alternative to the French type harpsichord.

Obsolescence and revival

At the peak of its development, the harpsichord lost favor to the piano. The piano quickly evolved away from its harpsichord-like origins, and the accumulated traditional knowledge of harpsichord builders gradually dissipated. The old harpsichords were not valued, often destroyed (for example, they were used in the Paris Conservatory for firewood [For further details see Hubbard 1967, 116.] ), and the instrument was something of a ghost for the duration of the 19th century.

Interest reawakened around the dawn of the 20th century, and the harpsichord was gradually revived. A recurring theme in this revival has been the tension between the goal of authentic reconstruction of earlier instruments through rediscovery of old technology, and the use of modern technology--anachronistic, but often thought helpful in improving the quality of the instrument.

An early authenticist was Arnold Dolmetsch, working early in the century in Surrey in England. Dolmetsch's efforts proved premature, as the first half of the century came to be dominated by modernist efforts. Such instruments, made for instance by the Pleyel firm of Paris, were heavily influenced by the modern grand piano, notably in using heavy metal frames, far sturdier than would be needed to support the tension of harpsichord strings. These instruments typically included a 16-foot stop to bolster their sound, following a (relatively unusual) practice of 18th century German builders.

A notable player of the Pleyel harpsichords was Wanda Landowska, whose playing and persona greatly increased the popularity of the harpsichord in her time. The piano-influenced instrument also inspired the creation of new compositions for harpsichord by 20th century composers, a number of them written for Mme. Landowska.

Starting around the middle of the century, the authenticist approach was given new impetus by the work of the builders Frank Hubbard and William Dowd, working in Boston, and Martin Skowroneck, working in Bremen, Germany. These builders based their construction on painstaking research: they took apart and inspected many old instruments and consulted the available written material on harpsichords from the historical period. These mid-century authenticist instruments proved very popular, and many other builders soon followed the example of Hubbard and his colleagues. The authenticist instruments ultimately vanquished the heavy instruments of the earlier 20th century, which for the most part are no longer constructed.

Since the late 1950's, harpsichords have often been constructed by amateurs from kits, a system pioneered by the American builder Wolfgang Zuckermann. The early Zuckermann kits were pragmatically rather than authentically designed, using plywood and straight "bentsides". They were an important force in increasing the popularity of the harpsichord. More recent kits have followed historical lines.

Notes

References

*Boalch, Donald H. (1995) "Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord, 1440-1840", 3rd edition, with updates by Andreas H. Roth and Charles Mould, Oxford University Press. A catalogue, originating with work by Boalch in the 1950's, of all extant historical instruments.
*Hubbard, Frank (1967) "Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making", 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; ISBN 0-674-88845-6. An authoritative survey by a leading builder of how early harpsichords were built and how the harpsichord evolved over time in different national traditions.
*Kottick, Edward (2003) "A History of the Harpsichord", Indiana University Press. An extensive survey by a leading contemporary scholar.
*O'Brien, Grant (1990) "Ruckers, a harpsichord and virginal building tradition", Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521365651. Covers the innovations of the Ruckers family, the founders of the Flemish tradition.
*Russell, Raymond (1959) "The Harpsichord and Clavichord" London: Faber and Faber.
*Skowroneck, Martin (2003) "Cembalobau: Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse aus der Werkstattpraxis = Harpsichord construction: a craftsman's workshop experience and insight." Bergkirchen: Edition Bochinsky, ISBN 3-932275-58-6. A study (written in English and German) of harpsichord building by a leading figure in the modern revival of historically authentic methods of building.
*Zuckermann, Wolfgang (1969) "The Modern Harpsichord, 20th-century instruments and their makers". October House Inc.

External links

* [http://www.sankey.ws/history.html A brief history of the harpsichord]
* [http://www.hpschd.nu/main.html Harpsichord maker Carey Beebe has a comprehensive website about harpsichords]
* [http://www.hpschd.nu/lx/lx-master.html Multilingual harpsichord lexicon]
* [http://www.bigduck.com/harp1.html A harpsichord site with images]
* [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/hpsi.html Hear the sound of various harpsichords]
* [http://www.bigduck.com/mottos.html Latin mottoes painted on harpsichords]
* [http://www.harpsichord.org.uk Extensive source of harpsichord information]
* [http://www.albany.edu/faculty/bec/hpschd-l/ HPSCHD-L is a mailing list devoted to early stringed keyboard instruments.]
* [http://HarpsichordPhoto.org/ HarpsichordPhoto is a site devoted to photographs of early stringed keyboard instruments.]
* [http://www.learningmusician.com/features/1106/JackPeters/ Interview with harpsichord builder Jack Peters.]