Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed. It thus produces a diffrent tone from the piano, which produces sound by hitting strings with a hammer.

In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard. In a broader sense, "harpsichord" designates the whole family of similar plucked keyboard instruments, including the smaller virginals, muselar, and spinet.

The harpsichord was widely used in Renaissance and Baroque music. During the late 18th century it gradually disappeared from the musical scene with the rise of the piano. But in the 20th century it made a resurgence, used in historically informed performance of older music, in new (contemporary) compositions, and in popular culture.

Twentieth century examples

A notable modern harpsichordist was Wanda Landowska. Manuel de Falla wrote a chamber concerto for harpsichord (1923-6). Bohuslav Martinu published pieces for harpsichord in 1935 and 1959.