Instrument
The earliest complete harpsichords still preserved come from Italy, the oldest specimen being dated to 1521. The Italian harpsichord makers made single-manual instruments with a very light construction and relatively little string tension. The Italian instruments are considered pleasing but unspectacular in their tone and serve well for accompanying singers or other instruments. Towards the end of the historical period larger and more elaborate Italian instruments were built, notably by Bartolomeo Cristofori. A major innovation in harpsichord construction took place in Flanders some time around 1580 with the work of Hans Ruckers and his descendants, including Ioannes Couchet. The Ruckers harpsichord was more solidly constructed than the Italian. Because they used iron strings for the treble, as a result the scaling (the length of the vibrating part of the string for a given pitch) was longer, (always with the basic two sets of strings; usually one 8-foot and a 4-foot, but occasionally both at 8-foot pitch), with greater string tension, and a heavier case.
French builders were responsible for important further development of the Ruckers-type instrument. The first step, taken in the mid 1600's, was to change the purpose of the second manual in two-manual instruments. The French harpsichord reached its apogee in the 18th century, notably with the work of the Blanchet family and their successor Pascal Taskin. German harpsichord makers roughly followed the French model. Some German harpsichords included a choir of 2-foot strings (that is, strings pitched two octaves above the primary set). A few even included a 16-foot stop, pitched an octave below the main 8-foot choirs. One still-preserved German harpsichord even has three manuals to control the many combinations of strings that were available.
The harpsichord was the largest and the most important domestic keyboard musical instrument from the sixteenth through the mid-eighteenth centuries. During the clatter part of the eighteenth century. The harpsichord began to lose his favour, due mainly to the introduction of the piano. Several German firms experimented with plucked pianos late in the 1800's. By 1900, a young Polish pianist, Wanda Landowska, had figured out how to make good music with them and, in 1912, the French firm of Pleyel brought out a model designed for her. This instrument included a 16-foot stop to bolster their sound, following a (relatively unusual) practice of 18th century German builders. Wanda Landowska greatly increased the popularity of the harpsichord in her time. The piano-influenced instrument also inspired the creation of new compositions for harpsichord by 20th century composers, a number of them written for Landowska. The modern harpsichord, the harpsichord as we know it today, has inspired the greatest composers of our times.
They have given the modern harpsichord an extraordinarily rich repertoire. They have brought a new image to the modern harpsichord. Leaving its former reputation far behind, casting off the weight of tradition and using the ideas, technology and techniques of today, they have been totally free to discover the potential and the rich expressiveness of this old instrument, as never imagined before.