Editing Harpsichord (section)

==History==
[[File:Ms 7295 f 128 Henri Arnault de Zwolle.jpg|thumb|upright|left|An early diagram of a vertical harpsichord (clavicytherium) by [[Arnault de Zwolle]], {{Circa|1430}}]]
{{Main article|History of the harpsichord}}
{{listen|type=music
|filename=Bach C Major Prelude Equal.ogg|title=Johann Sebastian Bach – Prelude in C major, BWV 846|description=Performed by Robert Schröter on a French harpsichord
|filename2=Domenico Scarlatti - Allegretto - D minor.ogg|title2=Domenico Scarlatti – Sonata in D minor K. 9, Allegretto|description2=Performed by [[Martha Goldstein]] on an Italian harpsichord
|filename3=Johann Sebastian Bach - The English Suite -1 - 12EPrelude.ogg|title3=Johann Sebastian Bach – English Suite No. 1 in A major, BWV 806 – prelude|description3=Performed by Martha Goldstein on a Flemish harpsichord
|filename4=Adriano_Banchieri - The Battle.ogg |title4=Adriano Banchieri – The Battle |description4=Performed by Sylvia Kind on a harpsichord of the type made in the early 20th century}}
The harpsichord was most likely invented in the late Middle Ages. By the 16th century, harpsichord makers in Italy were making lightweight instruments with low tension brass stringing. A different approach was taken in the [[Southern Netherlands]] starting in the late 16th century, notably by the [[Ruckers]] family. Their harpsichords used a heavier construction and produced a more powerful and distinctive tone with higher tension steel treble stringing. These included the first harpsichords with two keyboards, used for [[transposition (music)|transposition]].<ref name="Kottick, Edward L">{{Cite book |author=Kottick, Edward L. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/933437874 |title=A history of the harpsichord |date=15 February 2016 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-02347-6 |oclc=933437874}}</ref>

The Flemish instruments served as the model for 18th-century harpsichord construction in other nations. In France, the double keyboards were adapted to control different choirs of strings, making a more musically flexible instrument (so-called 'expressive doubles'). Instruments from the peak of the French tradition, by makers such as the [[Blanchet (harpsichord makers)|Blanchet family]] and [[Pascal Taskin]], are among the most widely admired of all harpsichords, and are frequently used as models for the construction of modern instruments. In England, the [[Kirkman (harpsichord makers)|Kirkman]] and [[Burkat Shudi|Shudi]] firms produced sophisticated harpsichords of great power and sonority. German builders such as [[Hieronymus Albrecht Hass]] extended the sound repertoire of the instrument by adding [[eight-foot pitch|sixteen-foot]] and [[eight-foot pitch|two-foot]] choirs; these instruments have recently served as models for modern builders.<ref name="Kottick, Edward L"/>

Around the year 1700 the first [[fortepiano]] was built by [[Bartolomeo Cristofori]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ehrlich|first=Cyril|title=The Piano: A History|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]], USA; Revised edition|year=1990|isbn=0-19-816171-9 }}</ref> The early [[fortepiano]] uses percussion, the strings being struck with leathered paper hammers instead of being plucked. Unlike the harpsichord, the fortepiano is capable of changes in dynamic volume, giving it its name.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wraight|first=Denzil|date=2006|title=Recent Approaches in Understanding Cristofori's Fortepiano|journal=[[Early Music (journal)|Early Music]]|volume=34|issue=4|pages=635–644|issn=0306-1078|jstor=4137311|doi=10.1093/em/cal050|s2cid=191481821}}</ref> By the late 18th century the harpsichord was supplanted by the piano and almost disappeared from view for most of the 19th century: an exception was its continued use in opera for accompanying [[recitative]], but the piano sometimes displaced it even there.

Twentieth-century efforts to revive the harpsichord began with instruments that used piano technology, with heavy strings and metal frames. Starting in the middle of the 20th century, ideas about harpsichord making underwent a major change, when builders such as [[Frank Hubbard]], [[William Dowd]], and [[Martin Skowroneck]] sought to re-establish the building traditions of the Baroque period. Harpsichords of this type of historically informed building practice dominate the current scene.