Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The harpsichordist Wanda Landowska was a key figure in the 20th-century revival of the harpsichord. Her instrument of choice was a (then) modern design, the Pleyel "Grand Modèle de Concert". The harpsichord was largely obsolete, and seldom played, during a period lasting from the late 18th century to the early 20th. [1]
This is the more common arrangement for modern instruments, and an instrument described simply as a "virginal" is likely to be a spinet virginals. The principal differences in construction lie mainly in the placement of the keyboard: Italian instruments invariably had a keyboard that projected from the case, whilst northern virginals had their ...
Tuning an instrument nowadays usually starts with setting an A; historically it would commence from a C or an F. The harpsichord uses the bass clef (F clef). Some modern instruments are built with keyboards that can shift sideways, allowing the player to align the mechanism with strings at either A = 415 Hz or A = 440 Hz.
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 ...
In no other country had the modern type of harpsichord become so firmly established. Every concert hall and radio station had acquired or had ready access to a modern instrument, invariably a large two-manual harpsichord with the ‘Bach’ disposition. [12] Conservatory teaching was based on this standard concert model.
The clavicytherium in the Royal College of Music, London. The earliest harpsichord known, dating from about 1480, is a clavicytherium. German writing on the inside of the back indicates it may have been built in Ulm, [11] and currently resides in the musical instrument collection of the Royal College of Music in London.
Alastair McAllister at work. Alastair McAllister (born Mildura, 3 August 1942) is an Australian harpsichord builder known for his historical integrity, design and workmanship, and for producing modern copies of instruments that closely match their prototypes in sound and touch.
Wolfgang Joachim Zuckermann (11 October 1922 – 30 October 2018) was a German-born American harpsichord maker and writer. He was known for inventing a highly popular kit for constructing new instruments and wrote an influential book, The Modern Harpsichord.