A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism that plucks one or more strings with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic. The strings are under tension on a soundboard, which is mounted in a wooden case; the soundboard amplifies the vibrations from the strings so that the listeners can hear it. Like a pipe organ, a harpsichord may have more than one keyboard manual, and even a pedal board. Harpsichords may also have stop buttons which add or remove additional octaves. Some harpsichords may have a buff stop, which brings a strip of buff leather or other material in contact with the strings, muting their sound to simulate the sound of a plucked lute.
A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ.
The virginals is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
The Ruckers family were harpsichord and virginal makers from the Southern Netherlands based in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th century. Their influence stretched well into the 18th century, and to the harpsichord revival of the 20th.
Pascal-Joseph Taskin was a Belgium-born French harpsichord and piano maker.
The claviorgan is a combination of a stringed instrument and an organ. Its origin is uncertain but its history can be traced back to the fifteenth century.
Hieronymus Albrecht Hass was a German harpsichord and clavichord maker. He was the father of Johann Adolph Hass, who also made harpsichords and clavichords.
Johann Adolph Rudolph Hass, usually known as Johann Adolph Hass, was a German maker of clavichords, harpsichords and possibly organs. He was the son of Hieronymus Albrecht Hass, also a maker of keyboard instruments.
Finchcocks is an early Georgian manor house in Goudhurst, Kent. For 45 years it housed a large, visitor-friendly museum of historical keyboard instruments, displaying a collection of harpsichords, clavichords, fortepianos, square pianos, organs and other musical instruments. The museum was run by the owners of the house, Richard and Katrina Burnett. It is now owned by Neil and Harriet Nichols who use it as a family home and a venue for residential piano courses.
The Kirkman family were English harpsichord and later piano makers of Alsatian origin, active from the 1770s until the late 1800s.
The Couchet family were Flemish harpsichord and virginal makers in Antwerp, closely associated with, and descendants of, the Ruckers family.
The harpsichord was an important keyboard instrument in Europe from the 15th through the 18th centuries, and as revived in the 20th, is widely played today.
Major George Henry Benton Fletcher was a collector of early keyboard instruments including virginals, clavichords, harpsichords, spinets and early pianos. His collection is currently housed and kept in playing condition by the National Trust in Fenton House, a beautiful late 17th century merchant's house in, Hampstead, north London.
Moritz Georg Moshack was a builder of Danish clavichords. Three of his instruments are known to exist: a fret-free clavichord dating to 1768 at the Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo, Norway; a single manual harpsichord dating to 1770 at the Falsters Minder Museum, Nykøbing, Falster, Denmark; and the fret-free Clavichord dating to 1770 at the Danish Music Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Artus Gheerdinck (1564–1624) was a Dutch harpsichord builder.
Albert Delin was a harpsichord maker in the Low Countries.
Girolamo Zenti was an Italian harpsichord maker and organ builder in the 17th century. He is known as the probable inventor of the bentside spinet and for having traveled unusually extensively to practice his trade at the courts of Europe, including Rome, Florence, Paris, London and Stockholm.
The Antunes family were Portuguese harpsichord- and early piano builders in the 18th and 19th centuries.
John Philip Kitchen MBE is a Scottish organist, conductor, early music scholar, and music educator based in Edinburgh. He serves as the Edinburgh City Organist. Kitchen is known for his extensive recording portfolio of organ music, and his research and demonstration of historical keyboard instruments, He made major contributions to the discography and scholarship on the organ works of William Russell, and Johann Ludwig Krebs.
Raymond Anthony Russell,, was a British organologist and antiquarian. He was an expert on early keyboard instruments, and assembled an important collection which now forms the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments of the University of Edinburgh.
