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HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, DOUBLE VIRGIN...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 16 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, See also:DOUBLE VIRGINALS (Fr. See also:clavecin; Ger. Clavicymbel, See also:Kiel-See also:Flugel; Ital. arpicordo, cembalo, davicembalo, gravecembalo; Dutch, davisinbal) , a large See also:keyboard See also:instrument (see See also:PIANOFORTE), belonging to the same See also:family as the See also:virginal and See also:spinet, but having 2, 3, or even 4 strings to each See also:note, and a See also:case of the See also:harp or wing shape, afterwards adopted for the See also:grand pianoforte. J. S. See also:Bach's harpsichord, preserved in the museum of the Hochschule See also:fur Musik at See also: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 See also:power a number of combinations for varying the See also:tone and dynamic power. In all See also:instruments of the harpsichord family the strings, instead of being struck by tangents as in the See also:clavichord, or by hammers as in the. pianoforte, are plucked by means of a See also:quill firmly embedded in the centred See also:tongue of a See also:jack or upright placed on the back end of the See also:key-See also:lever. When the See also:finger depresses a key, the jack is thrown up, and in passing the See also:crow-quill catches the See also:string and twangs it. It is this twanging of the string which produces the brilliant incisive tone See also:peculiar to the harpsichord family. What these instruments gain in brilliancy of tone, however, they lose in power of expression and of See also:accent. The impossibility of commanding any emphasis necessarily created for the harpsichord an individual technique which influenced the See also:music composed for it to so See also:great an extent that it cannot be adequately rendered upon the pianoforte. The harpsichord assumed a position of great importance during the 16th and 17th centuries, more especially in the See also:orchestra, which was under the leadership of the harpsichord player.

The most famous of all harpsichord makers, whose names See also:

form a See also:guarantee for excellence, were the Ruckers, established at See also:Antwerp from the last See also:quarter of the 16th See also:century. (K.

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

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