Since the harpsichord has no sustain pedal like the piano, and since the inner mechanism plucks the strings with the same force regardless of how hard one hits the keys, the only way to make it louder is literally to play more notes at the same time. We can hear the tang of the strings, the colors of the instruments, the roar of crescendos as cataracts of notes tumble up and down the keyboard. Newer recordings of Bach take this to heart.

This is where the harpsichord concertos of Bach were premiered. Zimmermann’s had two rooms, the largest, about 26’ x 32’, the size of a very ample living room.

Bach’s Coffee Cantata, the closest thing to an opera he ever wrote, was probably written for performance here. Bach ran (along with the music in four churches, a school, and much else in Leipzig) the Collegium Musicum, a student musical group. But calling them concerts doesn’t quite catch the flavor. Johann Sebastian Bach understood this, as he did so many things, and basically invented the harpsichord concerto, mostly for concerts at the local coffee house, Zimmermann’s. Zimmermann's Coffee House had two rooms, the largest, about 26' x 32', the size of a very ample living room. Then we can really hear its capacity for nuance and, yes, power. Even large harpsichords need smallish rooms and a modicum of company. We are left to wonder: If we can’t hear it, why is it there? The answer, of course, is that it shouldn’t be. Indeed, before we stood conductors on their feet in front of everyone, they were often in the middle of the orchestra, seated at and playing the harpsichord.īut placing that plucked keyboard in a large hall with many instruments will bury the sound. It has a delicate, refined sound, yet can help to keep the players onstage together. The harpsichord is a beautiful instrument that has often been misapplied. And that doesn’t even count Lurch on The Addams Family. In popular culture, never helpful for appreciating the fine or unusual, the harpsichord is shorthand for-at best-stuffy, rich, out-of-touch, let-them-eat-cake. Let’s face it, the harpsichord is an acquired taste. On Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection, Saturday Nov.

Bach harpsichord