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Some of the greatest keyboard music ever written – most of it heard these days on the [[piano]] - were first heard on the harpsichord. [[J. S. Bach]], [[Handel]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXeHd7Ovgjo]], the Frenchmen [[Couperin]], and [[Rameau]] wrote widely for the instrument. The hundreds of sonatas by [[Domenico Scarlatti]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vpG1PgFF34]] have profound significance in the development of the sonata form. The instrument is still used in recitals of early music and in its place as a continuo instrument in baroque chamber pieces. There are recordings of the Bach keyboard concerti played as originally intended. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpqm1hxgH-w]]

Some of the greatest keyboard music ever written – most of it heard these days on the [[piano]] - were first heard on the harpsichord. [[J. S. Bach]], [[Handel]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXeHd7Ovgjo]], the Frenchmen [[Couperin]], and [[Rameau]] wrote widely for the instrument. The hundreds of sonatas by [[Domenico Scarlatti]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vpG1PgFF34]] have profound significance in the development of the sonata form. The instrument is still used in recitals of early music and in its place as a continuo instrument in baroque chamber pieces. There are recordings of the Bach keyboard concerti played as originally intended. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpqm1hxgH-w]]

The disadvantages of the harpsichord, and the reason it lost popularity to the [[clavichord]] and the newly developing piano, was its inability to lengthen a note or to increase or decrease the volume more than a trifle, meaning there was a lack of tonal variety, and emotional complexity. Whilst both [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Mozart]] played the harpsichord in their early days, they moved very quickly to the new [[forte piano]]. Also, it became out of tune very quickly and needed a constant supply of new “quills” to keep it going.  

The disadvantages of the harpsichord, and the reason it lost popularity to the [[clavichord]] and the newly developing piano, was its inability to lengthen a note or to increase or decrease the volume more than a trifle, meaning there was a lack of tonal variety, and emotional complexity. Whilst both [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Mozart]] played the harpsichord in their early days, they moved very quickly to the new [[piano|forte piano]]. Also, it became out of tune very quickly and needed a constant supply of new “quills” to keep it going.  

As a piece of trivia, it may be of interest that one Francis Hopkinson, whose signature appears on the [[Declaration of Independence]], was a musician known for introducing new ways of tuning and quilling harpsichords. (He also wrote the first American secular song.)

As a piece of trivia, it may be of interest that one Francis Hopkinson, whose signature appears on the [[Declaration of Independence]], was a musician known for introducing new ways of tuning and quilling harpsichords. (He also wrote the first American secular song.)