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The New Grove musical dictionary summarizes the earliest historical traces of the harpsichord: "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'; [1] and the earliest known representation of a harpsichord is a sculpture (see below) in an altarpiece of 1425 ...
A harpsichord [a] is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one or more strings.
Musical Instruments and Their Decoration. Cincinnati, Ohio: Seven Hills Books,. ISBN 0-911403-17-5. Russell, Raymond (1973). The Harpsichord and Clavichord: An Introductory Study, 2nd ed. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-04795-5. Yorke, James (1986). Keyboard Instruments at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London Victoria and Albert Museum.
History of the harpsichord, Edward L. Kottick, 2003, 1.ed., Indiana University Press Ruckers A harpsichord building tradition, Grant O´Brien, 1990, 1. ed., Cambridge University Press A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music, Jeffery T. Kite-Powell , 2007, Indiana University Press
Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls was, as the title states, the first printed collection of music for keyboard in England. ' Virginals ' was a generic word at the time that covered all plucked keyboard instruments – the harpsichord , muselaar and virginals , but most of the pieces are ...
The archicembalo / ɑːr k i ˈ tʃ ɛ m b əl oʊ / (or arcicembalo, / ɑːr tʃ i ˈ tʃ ɛ m b əl oʊ /) was a musical instrument described by Nicola Vicentino in 1555. This was a harpsichord built with many extra keys and strings, enabling experimentation in microtonality and just intonation.
Spinet by Zenti from 1637, now in the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels. The angling of the strings also had consequences for tone quality: generally, it was not possible to make the plucking points as close to the nut as in a regular harpsichord. Thus spinets normally had a slightly different tone quality, with fewer higher harmonics ...
A 1773 Shudi harpsichord equipped with Venetian swell; now in the Museum of Musical Instruments in Brussels. Charles Burney preferred the tone of Shudi's harpsichords to Kirkman 's and his instruments were highly valued; his customers included Frederick the Great , Empress Maria Theresa , Joseph Haydn , Muzio Clementi , the Prince of Wales ...