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For The Love Of Harpsichord

As you can see in the image above I love playing the harpsichord in my Luna Manse. For many of us this is our favorite anniversary gift this year. This instrument was widely used in  Renaissance and Baroque music so a perfect choice for our world.

The harpsichord was an important keyboard instrument in Europe from the 15th thru the 18th centuries. The ancestor of the harpsichord was the psaltery which was created in 1300. In 1400 what we know today as a harpsichord seems to have evolved in the early 1400s in Flanders.  By 1500, however, Italian makers had taken over. All harpsichords appear to be simple jacks sliding in a guide between a keyboard and a jack rail.  In the 1700s the number of strings increased changing its range. In the 19th century this instrument went out of fashion but was revived in the 20th century and is still played today. Anyone that watched The Addams Family TV show is familar with the sounds of this instrument played by the butler, the handsome Lurch.

I have traveled far and wide over the realm to find these harpiscords set up and I found them in a wide range of environments from the swamps, to the the big city, a formal dining room in Felucca, a lavender bedroom and the more unusual…next to a row of chicken coops. Maybe the music increases egg productivity. One harpsichord even had a tip jar next to it noting, ” All tips are welcome “. Below are a few of these places with the landlords and landladies.

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