HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, DOUBLE VIRGINALS (Fr. clavecin; Ger. Clavicymbel, Kiel-Flugel; Ital. arpicordo, cembalo, davicembalo, gravecembalo; Dutch, davisinbal)

This article appears in Volume V13, Page 16 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HAN-HEG

HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, DOUBLE VIRGINALS (Fr. clavecin; Ger. Clavicymbel, Kiel-Flugel; Ital. arpicordo, cembalo, davicembalo, gravecembalo; Dutch, davisinbal) , a large keyboard

instrument

INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

(see PIANOFORTE), belonging to the same family as the

virginal

VIRGINAL, or PAIR OF VIRGINALS

and spinet, but having 2, 3, or even 4 strings to each note, and a case of the harp or wing shape, afterwards adopted for the grand pianoforte. J. S. Bach's

harpsichord

HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, DOUBLE VIRGINALS (Fr. clavecin; Ger. Clavicymbel,
Kiel
- KIEL
-Flugel; Ital. arpicordo, cembalo, davicembalo, gravecembalo; Dutch, davisinbal)

, preserved in the museum of the Hochschule fur Musik at Charlottenburg, has two manuals and 4 strings to each note, one 16 ft., two 8 ft. and one 4 ft. By means of stops the performer has within his power a number of combinations for varying the tone and dynamic power. In all

instruments

INSTRUMENTS

of the

harpsichord

HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, DOUBLE VIRGINALS (Fr. clavecin; Ger. Clavicymbel,
Kiel
- KIEL
-Flugel; Ital. arpicordo, cembalo, davicembalo, gravecembalo; Dutch, davisinbal)

family
the strings, instead of being struck by tangents as in the clavichord, or by hammers as in the. pianoforte, are plucked by means of a quill firmly embedded in the centred tongue of a jack or upright placed on the back end of the key-lever. When the

finger

FINGER

depresses a key, the jack is thrown up, and in passing the

crow

CROW (Dutch, kraal, Ger. Krdhe, Fr. corbeau, Lat. corvus)

-quill catches the

string

STRING

and twangs it. It is this twanging of the

string

STRING

which produces the brilliant incisive tone peculiar to the harpsichord family. What these

instruments

INSTRUMENTS

gain in brilliancy of tone, however, they lose in power of expression and of

accent

ACCENT

. The impossibility of commanding any emphasis necessarily created for the harpsichord an individual technique which influenced the music composed for it to so

great

GREAT

an extent that it cannot be adequately rendered upon the pianoforte.
The harpsichord assumed a position of

great

GREAT

importance during the 16th and 17th centuries, more especially in the orchestra, which was under the leadership of the harpsichord player. The most famous of all harpsichord makers, whose names form a guarantee for excellence, were the Ruckers, established at Antwerp from the last quarter of the 16th century. (K. S.)

End of Article: HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, DOUBLE VIRGINALS (Fr. clavecin; Ger. Clavicymbel, Kiel-Flugel; Ital. arpicordo, cembalo, davicembalo, gravecembalo; Dutch, davisinbal)

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