Harpsichord

An early ancestor of the piano, the harpsichord is a plucked keyboard instrument known for its distinctive, crisp timbre. Often beautifully decorated, harpsichords were designed to be seen as well as heard. The earliest mention of the harpsichord dates back to the late 14th century, referred to by the name clavicembalum. The instrument did not gain popularity, however, until around the 16th century, whereafter it became a regular feature in households of the European upper classes. Its body has a similar shape to that of the piano, but it utilizes a plucking mechanism instead of hammers. The depressed key activates a small plectrum, originally made from pieces of bird quill, which plucks the string and produces the sound. Following the invention of the fortepiano in the 18th century, harpsichords gradually fell out of fashion until the rise of historically informed performance practice in the 20th century, thanks to artists such as Wanda Landowska and, later, Gustav Leonhardt. The majority of repertoire written for the harpsichord stems from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, but since its revival in the 20th century, composers have produced many wonderful new works for the instrument. Since the revival of interest in Baroque music back in the 1960s, the harpsichord has, once again, found its home at the heart of an orchestra when playing music of this period.